Maine Anti-Gays Copy California Bigots Again

I wrote on this last Friday, but now the Yes on Question 1 campaign, primarily funded by anti-gay group Stand For Marriage Maine, has used the exact footage from California’s bigoted Yes on 8 commercials in their newest commercial.
The only significant difference is the casting of Charla Bansley, a Maine anti-gay activist and teabagger, and Maine’s head of Concerned Women for America, in the role of the teacher. Bansley is a teacher at a private Christian school, and wrote an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News in 2000 calling for the abolishment of the Department of Education:

The best thing the Department of Education could do to improve
the quality of education is to close its doors and send back our
money.

A private school teacher who wishes to abolish public education wields little credibility in deciding its content. Bansley has been quoted describing same-sex relationships as a “Public display of psychosis.” Moya Watson has a good perspective on what impact Bansley’s hateful words have on families, and Julia Rosen of the Courage Campaign breaks down the egregious lies about Maine’s public curriculum that Bansley perpetuates.
And still, I wish that when opponents of equal rights say, “My child will be taught about same-sex marriage in public schools,” activists won’t answer, “That won’t happen.” but rather, “Yes. So what?”

Same-sex relationships should be taught in public schools when healthy relationships are taught in schools: from the first picture book describing a romantic relationship. The lawsuit filed by the Mormon parents in both ads against the state of Massachusetts alleged that the reading of the book “King & King” constituted sexual education without parental consent. Along these standards, any mention of romantic heterosexual relationships should constitute sexual education.
Truly fighting for equal rights requires a social change and public pressure. Why did textbook companies begin to consciously include photos of students of color in their course materials after the civil rights movement? Because diversity–of ethnicity, of community, and of culture -is the norm, not the exception. The idea of an “other,” of a “minority,” or even the implication of a same-sex marriage being “non-traditional,” alienates and isolates queer individuals and families worldwide.
Teach children about same-sex marriage in schools. Never refer to queer-identified individuals as “homosexuals.” Treat churches who refuse to perform same-sex marriages like those who refuse to perform interracial marriages.
But if Maine’s Question 1 is defeated, churches will remain the same, school curriculum will retain its heteronormativity, and “homosexuals” will still fear living openly. Maine conservatives have nothing to worry about.
Here is the Yes on 1 ad from Maine, titled “Everything To Do With Schools”:

Transcript
(Narrator) Opponents of Question 1 say that legalizing homosexual marriage has nothing to do with schools.
(Teacher) But it has everything to do with schools!
(Mother) After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, our son came home and told us that school taught him that boys can marry other boys. He’s in second grade!
(Teacher) It’s already happened in Massachusetts. Vote Yes on Question 1 to prevent homosexual marriage from being taught in Maine schools.
Here is the Yes on 8 ad from California, titled “Everything To Do With Schools”:

Transcript
(Narrator) Some say that gay marriage doesn’t have anything to do with schools.
(Teacher) But it has everything to do with schools!
(Mother) After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, our son came home and told us that school taught him that boys can marry other boys. He’s in second grade!
(Father) We tried to stop public schools from teaching children about gay marriage, but the court said we had no right to object or pull him out of class.
(Teacher) It’s already happened in Massachusetts. Gay marriage will be taught in our schools unless we vote Yes on Proposition 8.