Basic Rights Oregon, And So it Begins
This commercial enumerates the list of violent acts that resulted from the anti-gay climate in the state of Oregon in 1992. It shows newspaper articles of lesbian and gay deaths from a firebomb, a Catholic church desecrated with anti-gay, anti-Hispanic and anti-Jew graffiti, and how an official from the anti-gay group Oregon Citizen's Alliance beat up a woman.
Despite being pro-gay, the scary imagery puts the commercial into the Negative portrayals section by conveying the unfortunate impact of being gay. It is not a pretty picture.
The closing line is, "It all starts with discrimination and you can stop it. Vote No on 9, it's a danger to us all."
While the ad aims to motivate people to vote against anti-gay ballot measure 9, which would have specified that gays were "perverse" and "abnormal" in the state constitution, it did not specify the goals of the measure.
The group behind this commercial, Basic Rights Oregon, was able to create a number of commercials to fight the measure, which ultimately failed by a narrow margin.
During the heated environment in states that debated gay rights measures, reports of anti-gay violence increased dramatically.
Another effort from the OCA behind Measure 9 returned in 2000 to prohibit schools and community colleges from encouraging,
promoting or sanctioning homosexual and bisexual behavior.
Filter Ads
