Harnessing fear for a good cause

How many people in Maine (or around the nation) care about us gays, our rights, and our ability to get married? I don't mean the kind of caring where a person says, "Yeah, that would be nice." I mean a gut level caring -- this affects me -- strong enough to cause a person to brave a cold November day to get to the ballot box in an off-year election. How many? Maybe 15% when gays themselves, family members, good friends, allies, and strong progressives are all counted? Surely not much more than that. How many are against us? Another 15% who are fundamentalist enough -- feel their religion is threatened enough -- to stop us? Yeah, the percentage is much higher in Alabama, but the vote on gay marriage this year is in Maine, which doesn't have a high Fundie population.

So what about the other 70% of the voters? How do you get them to the ballot box?

The Maine pro-gay forces have been running a rock-solid campaign, with very little of the missed opportunities, failed efforts, and dissatisfaction with campaign leaders that spoiled the effort in California last year (Maine also has a much smaller population). They have responded promptly to each claim made by the opposition (not too hard since the same anti-gay arguments were used only last year in Calif.). Yet, the lead the pro-gay side had is slipping, the race is too close to call, and will depend on get-out-the-vote efforts. Alas, those in favor of gay marriage are less likely to vote.

Back to the question: How do you get that 70% to the ballot box (and voting on your side)?

As I wrote (way back in December 2007 when I highlighted an article on campaign psychology in Newsweek) the answer is to use fear.

About 6 weeks ago I wrote about the research that went into finding a suitable anti-gay message in Calif. Saying bad things about gay couples didn't produce enough fear in the campaign focus groups. Saying how harmful it is to teach kids about gay couples (or implying that gays are out to recruit your kid through the schools) did. Never mind that the message is a pack of lies (Maine schools teach very little about any kind of marriage, kids heads won't explode when learning about two daddies, the gay kid won't feel so isolated). As my friend and debate partner reminded me, when has campaigning (especially lately) been about honesty? It worked in Calif. It's working and may triumph again in Maine.

Might our future efforts demand we harness fear on the pro-gay side? If so, what kinds of fearful messages might we use? Some highly annoyed commenters offer some suggestions for fearsome campaign ads:

* Fundie churches can't dictate their dogma to the pew-sitter because not enough of them still sit in pews. So they're going to try to write their dogma into law you must follow. You think the gay marriage issue has nothing to do with you? If Fundie churches are successful in banning gay marriage, they'll next ban divorce and contraception. They're gathering signatures in California.

* Fundie churches don't want to just stop at gay marriage. They also don't want gay domestic partnerships. They don't want gays to be protected at the workplace. They don't want hate crimes to protect gays. They don't want gays in the military. They think it is proper to bully kids who merely look like they might be gay.

* An obvious religious person forcefully enters the home of a lesbian couple, searches for their marriage license (or DP certificate) and tears it up while the couple watches. Such an ad featuring a Mormon was made for the Calif. vote on gay marriage. It's uncertain whether it was aired.

* A sweet little girl pleads: "I love my mommies. They got married last year. Some people want to destroy their marriage. They want to destroy my family. Please vote to protect my family. Don't let them destroy your family too."

Stoop to their level? At least these ads are honest. Or is it better in the long run to stress reason, logic, and fairness? Are the anti-gay ads such a turn-off that they lose support from their own members? Is it enough to call out the fear-mongering?

Those first three suggestions make me lament the way they would probably cause more empty pews even in churches who are pro-gay. Alas, the Fundie distortions are already doing a good job of that. I'd want them to have a taste of their own medicine, but my faith tells me not to be vindictive.

I broke off writing this essay to attend the Detroit area's monthly service for gays at a United Methodist Church about a half hour's drive from my house. It is so wonderful to step into a Christian gathering in which everyone is or has a connection with someone gay. The evening message was from a man who is serving as a preacher, though his credentials are only as a Lay Speaker (someone who is not a full pastor, but has had some training in giving sermons). His son is gay and it was after the son came out that the father learned about how the denomination proclaims "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" as our Book of Discipline says it. He found it surprising that he learned about it 25 years after it became denomination doctrine. Much of his message was about the suicide rate of gay teens and young adults is 8 times that of straight youth. And we start mobilizing forces when we find out suicide for military men for Afghanistan and Iraq is twice the corresponding civilian rate. Something is wrong here.

Being with and worshipping with gay Christians is a nice way to redirect my thinking towards a much happier look at the gay marriage issue. Washington DC City Council has before it an ordinance to legalize gay marriage. They will probably vote on it soon. The Fundies are, of course, speaking loudly against it. But there is also Clergy United for Marriage Equality in DC and they are also speaking out. Here you'll find the text of their proclamation and all 200 signatories. It was a joy to see the list. I scanned it and saw several from 4 or 5 United Methodist churches, some of those I know from lists of Reconciling Congregations. The list includes even a few Rabbis and an Imam. Being gay incompatible with Christianity? Not here.