The gay-marriage war hits TV

The gloves are off in the fight over gay marriage, said Ben Smith in Politico. The National Organization for Marriage, a key backer of the successful campaign against same-sex marriage in California, is launching a $1.5 million ad campaign to “energize” gay-marriage opponents in key states “by making the case that it will impinge directly on their own lives.” (watch the National Organization for Marriage TV ad)

The first ad, titled “Gathering Storm,” said The Christian Broadcasting Network, points out that “threats to religious and personal liberties will become very real if same-sex marriage is legalized.” The main goal of this campaign is to “educate the public about the pressuring of courts and legislatures by gay-rights activists to redefine marriage against the wishes of voters.”

Claiming that gay marriage would actually hurt any of the people in these ads is an “infuriating” lie, said Alex Pareene in Gawker. But watch the anti-gay-marriage ad audition reel, and the whole nasty episode starts seeming a little bit funny.

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The fight against same-sex marriage is no joke, said National Review in an editorial. Support for gay marriage isn’t growing, despite what its proponents say. So, before the courts foist gay marriage on us from coast to coast, supporters of traditional marriage have a right, even a duty, to fight for what it means to our culture and to our children, who do best with a mother and father who are married to each other.

The “theocons” on the Right must think society has no “interest in the welfare of its gay citizens,” said Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic. “One day, they will understand the callousness and bitterness and willful ignorance they currently represent. As civilized society leaves them increasingly behind.”