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Loading ...Vote for Equality gets the message
While we’ve had some lovely judicial and legislative victories lately, you may have noticed that the LGBT community doesn’t necessarily do well when it comes to ballot measures. In fact, according to Vote for Equality educators David Fleischer and Regina Clemente, we’ve lost 33 of the last 34 ballot initiatives relating to same-sex marriage.
Vote for Equality is working to change that with a bold, smart social science experiment. So many people wailed, “What were they thinking?” after the Prop 8 results that Vote for Equality decided to find out.Vote for Equality is the organizing arm of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, and with the help of dozens of volunteers, they are organizing a “1,000-hour conversation” – one-on-one conversations with California residents to find out what people really think about gay marriage through door-to-door canvassing and phone banking.
By studying the conversations we have, we can gain insight about what really moves people and learn how to make future campaigns more effective.
The canvassing is combined with a fascinating look at ad campaigns from past ballot initiatives. Taking a hard, honest look at what has and hasn’t worked in the past will help us make more persuasive campaigns in the future.
One of the most important focuses of the messaging trainings is on understanding the point of view of the opposition or the undecided voter. Ads that move us won’t necessarily reach someone outside the community.
A voter who is strongly opposed to gay marriage won’t respond to an ad that just tells her she’s wrong – she’ll probably just dig her heels in even harder. And a voter who isn’t tuned in to the gay marriage debate won’t necessarily be moved by things that are meaningful to those of us who are.
Reaching that tuned-out or undecided voter is tricky. It’s important to have a clear message – and to repeat it. A voter who half-sees a commercial while he’s making dinner and talking on the phone needs to see it five to ten times before the message really sinks in.
And about those messages…
Fleischer and Clemente’s first session focused on contrasting the ads the GLBT community tends to use with the ads of anti–gay marriage activists. Ads for our team tend to be focused on fairness and rationality, because duh: If you really think it out, same-sex marriage bans make no sense.
Unfortunately, the other side bypasses the brain and goes straight for the gut and the adrenal glands. Our commercials sit the voter down for a nice chat over a cup of herbal tea. The other side grabs him by the lapels and starts screaming about how the gays are going legally force him to turn his church into a venue for naked gay circuit parties and there is NOTHING HE’LL BE ABLE TO DO ABOUT IT.
And with a lot of voters, that wins. You can’t think rationally when you’re panicking. It’s like asking someone to finish up her taxes before dealing with the zombie attack.
Ads from anti–gay marriage forces tend to focus on loss of control (“It will be illegal for your church to voice its views on homosexuality”) and wide-eyed children being turned gay by storybooks. In other words, they jab at the voter’s instincts to defend his rights and protect the innocent.
Both of those themes come up over and over, so we need to stop being surprised by them and deliver quick responses. And since the other side is already working of the voter’s emotions, it might be time to be less afraid of using emotional messages ourselves.
We don’t have to whip up the hysteria any further, but getting people in touch with a different set of feelings can’t hurt. In training for door-to-door canvassing, we learned to talk about personal experiences rather than falling back on detached logical arguments. It’s scarier, yes, but it does get the conversation going.
Perhaps the hardest – and most interesting – challenge is learning to empathize the voters who are against gay marriage. As hurtful as they’ve been to the LGBT community, most of them don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “Myoohoohahaha! Can’t wait to get started on the oppressing!” And most would be offended at the suggestion that they’re bigots.
Starting a debate by jabbing a finger in someone’s face and telling that he’s wrong and an awful person will cause him to shut down. It certainly won’t help him change his mind.
As hard as it is sometimes, we need to assume the best and give people credit for being the good people they are sincerely trying to be. That’s when we can get a real dialogue going instead of just a slogan-shouting competition.
There are a lot of questions to be answered – and hours and hours of conversations to go – but Vote for Equality is making some exciting progress toward creating clear, direct, honest messages that can help change minds.
On the other hand, what if we made a really awesome commercial about a storm instead?
To learn more or volunteer for Vote for Equality, contact the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.
There is no rhyme or reasoning when you deal with idiot morons, Lb if your God is so great and dear to you, what are you waiting for? PLEASE, go on and die so you can be in your “gold house” on the “gold street” with the 14 virgins, etc…
Meanwhile, leave me alone, you are an idiot, don’t want or need you to like me!
Move to Canada or another country if you don’t like LGBT people (Canada don’t want YOU. oops, number of countries for ppl. like you are getting smaller, hey I know, what about IRAN, there’s “no gay people” there)!
Cause you know what, I AIN’T Going NO WHERE, so come on, show us that good hateful (you want Jesus’ love) heart of yours, people’s true colors always shine through! AMEN LORD BABY JESUS!
I love the way they act like GOD belongs to them and that Gay people don’t pray! God is always giving me what I pray and ask for and when I get Marriage Equality, SHE will show you (Lb and others) who’s prayers she has been listening to!
“It’s like asking someone to finish up her taxes before dealing with the zombie attack.”
This is so funny and so, so right.
To lb Gage:
http://whatmarriagemeans.org/
Your delusional. Respectfully that is.
http://whatmarriagemeans.org/
Your delusional. Respectfully that is.
Chris, If constitutional law grants all people equal protection under the law, no judge, politician, can change that law.
Voters cannot change constitutional law, (freedom of speech, to assemble).
Massachusetts is challenging Doma in the Supreme Court for this very reason.
If enough civil equalities are denied to a certain group, then all others will be forced to obey those very same laws, something even the far right doesn’t want to loose.
It’s our constitution that protects us, we haven’t used it to our full advantage, and it’s high time we did.
Bring suits over and over again, against any and all, states the country, who deny anyone their equal civil rights, and lets not forget civil disobedience.
First I would like to apologize for my verbose nature. I’m trying to fix it (honestly).
Sam, I don’t feel the need for anyone in any community to give me acceptance for any personal reasons. I know who and what I am and I am proud of it regardless of what anyone else may think.
I would also like to say that I have always had great respect for anyone with even half your experience.
I also agree that passing laws granting us equality is the first step in combating the bigotry we face.
One of the main reasons why I think we should try to open up dialogue with the straight community to give them a better chance to accept and understand us is to help pass these laws.
From what I understand (which may not be completely accurate and please correct me if I am wrong) to make a very very simplified summary, there are 3 groups of people who create/pass/change laws.
1. Judges. From what I remember in college (which admittedly is a bit grayed out here and there) one of the reasons behind our judicial system being made up of people who are not elected and do not need to care about being re-elected, is to protect minorities from mob rule. Thus judges are able to go against what the public wants (for example: marriage between a man and a woman only) and then change the law (allowing gay marriage) since the public can’t really do anything directly to stop the judges. If the system worked the way it was supposed to work, then everything would be a hell of a lot better off than it is now. Like for example Prop 8 would have never existed… This leads to group #2:
2. The Mob. Unfortunately, as evidenced with Prop 8, when a judge changes a law that the majority of the public supported before it was changed, the public (apparently) can then go and change it back if the majority (read Mob) support it. Thus the original intent of the judiciary’s responsibility to protect the civil rights of the minorities from the majority is completely thrown out the window.
3. Politicians. This last group contains elected officials like members of congress and the president who can make/influence the laws we are governed by. The problem with this third group for us is that they only retain their power if they make sure their public likes them. This greatly influences them to instead of having the words “spread equality and justice” at the top of their list of things to do, they are much more inclined to have “keep the majority of my voters happy” at the top of their list. If a politician goes against the public, then the mob can kick them out at the next election.
So while our country was supposed to be by the people for the people with some exceptions (Read: Mob Rules unless said mob wants to do nasty things like infringe upon the civil rights of minorities) we now just have mob rules for the most part (Hello Prop 8).
And unfortunately we are a minority. And a rather small one at that. So since it at least appears that our country is run mostly by the majority, then in order to get those laws we both want passed, we might want to reach out to the majority. Because if we don’t then it might play out like this:
We try really really hard to convince Judges of the logical reasoning behind allowing us to marry -> Judges change the law -> Mob gets angry and then changes them back on their own (Prop
We try really really hard to convince Politicians of the logical reasoning behind allowing us to marry -> Politicians change the laws -> Mob gets angry and ejects old politicians and puts in new ones -> New politicians change the laws back
In a better world we wouldn’t need to convince the straight community to accept us to pass laws providing us with equal rights. But I don’t think we live in that world.
Wow that was long. Sorry again for its length!
It does, of course, make sense to apply market research techniques to political campaigns.
I’m not sure it makes sense to conclude “the other side takes the low road in these campaigns, so maybe we should, too”.
I think the message from the research (as well as history and common sense) will be that we should be who we are, and be honest and direct about what we want.
Yes, we want to stifle fears (I can imagine a version of the Rainbow commercial with our actors cut in between “debunking” some of the statements…
“My sister will have to marry a female dalmation …” says the original ad.
Cut in to our actor “Hogwash, your sister may LOOK like a Dalmation, but allowing Jane to marry Joan no more makes you have to do anything than allowing Jane to marry Dick. Why would it? Don’t give in to fear.”
But we should not be afraid to show our faces since someone might be “offended”. That’s what lost Prop 8.
chris, Why do you feel the need for approval from the straight community?
From my experience, I’m 63, was a go go boy at Stonewall, marched in the first Gay Parade, helped the movement get rid of Anita Bryant, was a victim of a hate crime, I received 110 stitches to the back of my head, been through the court system, and they let him go, later he shot a cop in the back, two of my close friends were murdered for being gay, never a conviction, and that’s not the half of it.
Have you ever heard of a poll that black people took, that says 50% of whites think we should end segregation.
Where is your dignity, having the need of someones approval, or trying to be acceptable to someone with prejudice, is not the way.
I want my equal rights, to go along with my equal taxes. I don’t want or need anyone’s approval.
Try telling the Aryan Nation to have a chit chat with blacks gays or Jews.
Try telling the religious right you need their support and understanding.
The way you fight ignorance, hatred, bigotry, and inequality, is with laws, laws that must be passed, laws that can’t take anyone’s rights away, that’s where our efforts and money should be going.
After we get our equality, have all the chit chat, tea parties you want. Until then the passing of laws is the only way.
I think that in our advertisements we need to play the sympathy card and use cute little children. If our opposition can do it, then so can we.
We need advertisements that show how much the gay marriage ban hurts the children of gay families, while simultaneously showing that the majority of gay parents are not pedophiles, that not all their children turn out gay (and that the parents don’t CARE what their child’s sexuality is) and basically diminish all those subconcious fears that the conservative right has put in people’s heads about us.
If written correctly, a commercial can do this in just a few words.
First off, I don’t respect people unless they give me the respect I deserve. Please don’t bring up bible scriptures to tell me that I’m evil or sinful. If God is sewn into this book, then I want proof. I give people the same amount of time that they give me, to listen, follow, or refute their beliefs. I was baptised at age 13 as a christian, but have little respect for someone to bash me to death, because “their interpretation” of the book, makes them think that their personal beliefs are right by a higher being. You “religious right people” live your lives as “SIN-FREE” as possible. It is a sin to hate anyone on this planet, by their ethnicity,disability,gender,beliefs,etc. etc. Sexual Orientation is not something that can be taught, and if so, where do I find that class? is it in school,college, or group meeting?
Why would I choose to be so discriminated against? This is not a choice, it is a life I have been given to defend, minorities whether they are ethnical, or sexual. Everybody has the right to live their lives. Just like the “heterosexual community”.
Sam, even if we end discrimination in the workplace, in adoption, and attain full marriage equality in every state, our lives and children’s lives will still be unnecessarily hard if we don’t try and reach out to the straight community to help them understand us.
We don’t live in a perfect world, we all know this. Laws can be bent. If your employer wants to fire you for being gay and its illegal for them to do so, all they have to do is wait for you to make a mistake (even a small one) or to come up with another excuse to get rid of you. Some communities will still reject us and our adopted children even if we are legally married.
I agree that our civil rights should have never been put to a vote by the majority and we should have them by law. But we obviously don’t live in that perfect world. We have to try to work within the real world to not only attain our civil rights but have them treated with respect after we do get them as well.
And if we can further our goal of equality in both name (the law) and reality (how average people treat us) by trying to attain the understanding and approval of the straight community, then why shouldn’t we try to do so?
This is a website I am creating for a class, hoping to illustrate to people that gay marriage should be legalized. I am acting as a clearinghouse, compiling information from many different places into one location.
We need to keep a wide variety of tools in our toolbelts, and use them all at the right times and with the right people. Just 1 tool alone will never allow us to get this job done. Some people will respond to calm, logical arguments supported by verifiable facts. Others will respond to personal appeals from GLBT relatives, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. And some we can never ever reach and must write off as lost causes — these few extremists we should use as objects of our humor and derision, scorning them, ostracizing them, ridiculing them, and pushing them out of society to the extreme fringes to make examples of them to others. These include the radical-right Bible-thumping fundamentalists. It does no good to give away our power to this last type by treating them with respect — they don’t deserve respect, they’ve done everything to make themselves odious in disrespectful, and our best response to these types is to work at making them into the laughingstocks of the entire nation. In this regard, I love people like John Stewart (Daily Show) and many of our own GLBT comics. Treat fools as fools. Also, as their own Bible says, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.”
Do you realize how misguided you sound? This Bible you speak suggests that slavery is ok. In fact, Biblical passages were once utilized to support slavery in the United States.
Similarly, the Bible also suggests that one can sell their daughter into slavery and that it is even ok to kill a slave. Furthermore, Biblical law mandates avoiding certain protein sources and even abstaining from wearing clothing crafted from mixed fibers. For some interesting unrelated but perhaps even more eye opening passages check out the following: Exodus 21:1-11, Judges 11:29-40, Isaiah 13:16, Deuteronomy 21:18-21. That’s just to wet your appetite, there is plenty more where that came from.
On a related note, the least watered down translation of the Bible known as the King James Version does not even contain references about homosexuality in the New Testament. By the way, don’t you Evangelicals place particular emphasis on the New Testament because of all those little oddities found in the Old Testament. Or is there a double standard at play, in which you will revert to the Old Testament when it conversantly suits your outdated interests.
Finally, the Bible is a book that teaches us to live better lives. Namely, Jesus Christ told us to love our neighbors as we would ourself. Something that too many Christians fail to embrace because of Old Testament hangups. With this in mind, we need to begin focusing our attention on the teachings of Jesus himself.
By the way, since we have a system of separation of Church and State in this country. As a result, most religious leaders would likely opt out of performing same-gender wedding ceremonies. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of gay marriages would constitute a contract between two people and the state. This is something that should not offend you.