When I was at Netroots Nation last week, I sat in on a meeting organized to work on the No On 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign to protect the recently-passed marriage equality legislation in Maine from repeal. Aside from being a gay man and caring about this very much, I was impressed by one big thing: that in what is an election less than ten weeks out, the No On 1 campaign sent four staff members, including their campaign manager and finance director. I'm not much the cynical "oh, they've just after the netroots ATM" type. Rather, I've talked to my friend Joe Sudbay over at AMERICABlog about them, who is from Maine, and knows many of the staff personally. These folks respect the netroots, respect our ideas and suggestions on the campaign (including lessons learned from folks who worked on Prop 8 in California), and are asking in good faith for our help.
Exhibit A is their first TV spot now up, which gets everything right about how to get at the "ick" factor of LGBT couples in an ad that the Prop 8 committee got wrong.
It shows straight individuals and straight families allied with LGBT couples (did you catch the word "together" repeated three times?). It shows LGBT couples in loving relationships. The Maine residents featured talk about progressive values of respect, fairness, and how LGBT families can make loving and committed families too. I watched it several times.
Losing Prop 8 hurt, and the one other thing I sensed at the meeting was that there are a ton of folks itching to get it right- uphold marriage in a statewide vote, and send a message to the rest of the nation. And right the mistakes we made in California. I want to do that as much as I am concerned that if we lose a second vote, it will not only depress activism and enthusiasm on our side, but will embolden the hate groups and individuals to keep on giving when one of them points to two major successful campaigns in the last two years to say, look, we know how to win these things. Give to us and we'll make sure we get it done in other states. And folks who are undecided around the country will take note of the results.
One of the worst results is that it will make the Obama Administration, which is already cautious and timid on LGBT issues, even more cautious.
We can't let that happen. The right-wingers- National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Diocese have already pumped hundreds of thousands in. The Mormons have done it through more covert means. The same consulting firm that ran the Yes on 8 campaign in California- Schubert Flint- is consulting for them. We have to match it. And I just learned that if we raise $10,000 by Friday, a Maine resident will double it. Let's get it started.
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