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Loading ...Billboard campaign highlights gay families
08.14.2008 11:21am EDT
(Milwaukee, Wis.) A Milwaukee group aims to show that gay and lesbian families are everywhere with an aggressive billboard and bus shelter ad campaign.
The ads, from the Cream City Foundation, all bear the slogan ” Family. It’s all about LOVE!” and direct people to a Web site that offers more information on the issues facing same-sex couples and their children.
In 2006, Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. Since then LGBT activist groups have been focusing on efforts to get bills granting recognition of domestic partnerships passed in the legislature.
Marketing expert Denise Crawley said the photos used in the campaign were selected following intensive focus groups.
“We tried single people, we tried couples by themselves. None of those sorts of images worked as well as presenting people in the sense of family,” Crawley told Milwaukee Public Radio.
The ads feature with young children and teens pictured with their gay and lesbian parents, and LGBT kids with their mothers and fathers.
“We also heard from people that they thought that gay people don’t have families, certainly thought they don’t have children. Don’t even think to ask about a significant other, about their mother, about their sister,” Crawley said.
Several of the families represented in the campaign were present at the news conference, but were identified only by their first names.
One of the couples, Kristie and Karen, said that it was difficult to decide whether to expose their children in the ads.
“The last thing a parent wants to do is to put their child in harms way and, while I don’t feel like we’re necessarily doing that, it’s a little nerve-wracking. And there were days I did feel sick to my stomach about it and we talked about that a lot. But, we felt like the cause was worthwhile and we need to do it,” Karen said
“My true feeling was, I came back to the code, you have to be a part of the change you want to see in the world and there was no other way to do it. And I think our families and our kids know, that it’s a worthwhile cause.”
Crawley said that in addition to educating the straight population, she hopes the ads encourage more gay people to come out.
“The fact that there are still hate crimes and there are still unfair laws, there are so many people who are still closeted,” she said.
“There are plenty of people who still have people come into their homes and have dinner parties and people don’t know that they’re gay. And we’re not going to be able to make inroads into more fair laws and opportunities if more people don’t realize how many gay neighbors they have.”
The foundation did not say how much it cost to produce the ads, but noted that it received funding from the Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund and that Clear Channel had donated a large number of billboards.
And what kind of ignorant person would think that there is anyone anywhere that does not have a family? Please, deliver us from such ignorance and stupidity. Some may be estranged or orphaned, but that happens to people of all kinds for a variety of reasons. If someone believes I do not have a family, they surely must be blind and not have a brain and further, are being led by a power-hunger bigot who is evil and wants to control the world. And most LGBT people I know have children and parents and uncles/aunts and cousins, and step-children and … well the list goes on. And more to the point, they love their families and cherish such familial interaction. When a Rainbow person is shunned by their relatives, they do suffer, and I venture to say more than a hetero would.
I don’t believe the focus on the billboards is to show that GLBT people are members OF a family - but that GLBT people have families of their own. It IS true that a lot of people don’t realize that gay and lesbian people create and raise families of their own. Are they ignorant? Well, since ignorance is defined as a lack of knowledge - yes, they are ignorant and that is what these billboards are trying to addreess. Ignorant Americans shouldn’t be a shocking concept, we don’t have a moron in the White House for 8 years because everyone here is so intelligent.
“…The last thing a parent wants to do is to put their child in harms way…”
Okay then, so what do they do? Put Billboards up with larger than life pictures. It’s like Wanted Posters in a post office. They trust the hate-mongers of Wisconsin from not acting out on the local citizens used in the campaign? Least they could have done is used non-descript actors from somewhere else. Hurts me to say that…but who are we kidding? Talk Radio and the Christian Church has taught them all to HATE HATE HATE/BASH BASH BASH us gays and lesbians.
Roger - lets not get carried away. This is Milwaukee NOT Mississippi. This was well thought out and brave endeavor on the part of these women and I’m sure with mutual consent of their family members. GLBT people risk all sorts of backlash in every part of the world every day - are we then not to take any risks because of what MIGHT happen? I applaud these women and their family for their courage.
I hope Wisconsin is more liberal than my state. In most of Kentucky, this would be an invitation to violence.
Well, Milwaukee is certainly more liberal than Kentucky - not sure about the rest of the state. But we do need people who are willing to stand up, speak out and hopefully change hearts and minds. All civil rights movements go through growing pains and it takes courage and determination and a belief that the potential benefits are worth the risks.
I really don’t see why some people feel a need to tell everyone their sexuality. If your not having sex with them they don’t need to know, on that same note you should never feel like you have to hide who or what you are. I feel there’s far to much hypocrisy in the gay community. Take for example gay bars. I love the idea of a place for gay men to meet other gay men, but then some people think you’d have to be gay to enter a gay bar, That’s where we cross the line. Yes we should have equal rights, but they would have to be equal. You can’t make a place for only gays but complain if you can’t enter somewhere because your gay. Saddest part of our struggle is that some of our leaders don’t really seem to understand the word equal. I personally think that once our demands become more fair to both gays AND straights then many more straights will be willing to allow it. As sad as this sounds I really don’t think we’ve earned equal rights. Its not because we’re gay but because of what some gays think they should have.
SIMPLE… VISIBILITY…. nothing ever changes without it….. THE MORE GAYS are VIISIBLE….. then stigma goes away…like take the boons in some red states…. When an African AMerican walks in a predominantly white area… IVE WATCHED them get stared at because they havent been visible… I LIVE IN LA… everyone of all types are visible…so no one gets that and we all relatively accept each other…but UNTIL gays are COMPLETELY visible…we will never be treated equal..in media..in culture… in schools…everywhere!
Thank you to those who recognize that we did tons of market research testing in Southeastern Wisconsin before putting this campaign up. One criticism similar campaigns got was that people didn’t think the folks on billboards were real - we wanted people to know these are their REAL neighbors - not models or actors. We know that 98 of 100 zipcodes in Southeastern Wisconsin have gay couples registered in the last census. This campaign is to challenge stereotypes and to educate people who don’t think about whether they know or care about anyone gay. Consider visiting the website for the campaign: gayneighbor.org and reading some of the stories and submitting your own story. On the media page you can read the speeches given by some of the folks on the billboards too. They are wonderful.
This campaign gives gay people a context. It shows common values of love, joy, family and commitment. It is an invitation to get to know the LGBT community, to learn and to create allies. I hope to see you on gayneighbor.org
To the topic of whether children should be in these ads: My wife and I are participants in this campaign and two of our teenagers absolutely insisted on being in the campaign. They did this freely and happily. They wanted to show that they love their moms and we are a happy, healthy family. I think it’s therapeutic for them to participate, because it gives them a positive opportunity to assert their “normalcy.” It can be hard on kids to deal with all the nonsense they hear about gay parents and the campaign gave them a healthy way to counter that.
Quasi,
I think a tall, cool glass of Chardonnay would be just about right for you…just saying, you come across as so uptight.