The campaign to
ban gay marriage in California is running a television ad
starting Wednesday featuring a girl telling her mother she
learned in school that she could marry a princess.
Back in the ad is Richard Peterson, a law professor at
Pepperdine University, despite the university's
demanding last week that all references to Pepperdine be
removed from the ad.
The campaign to
ban gay marriage in California is running a television ad starting
Wednesday featuring a girl telling her mother she
learned in school that she could marry a princess.
Richard Peterson,
a law professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu,
appears on-screen asking, "Think it can't happen? It's
already happening. When Massachusetts legalized
marriage, schools started teaching second-graders that
boys can marry boys. The courts ruled that parents
have no right to object."
An announcer then
says that California would also require schools to
teach children about same-sex relationships if gay marriage
remained legal in the state. Opponents of gay marriage
are backing Proposition 8, which would amend
California's constitution to nullify the state supreme
court decision that gave same-sex couples equal marriage
rights.
Last week,
Pepperdine president Andrew Benton ldemanded that the
organization behind the commercial, Protect Marriage, remove
all references to the school in another ad featuring
Peterson. "The reference to Pepperdine must
disappear," Benton told the Los Angeles Times on
Friday.
This week's ad
has a small disclaimer below his name that says Peterson's
title is for "identification purposes only."
"The first thing
the Yes on 8 people did was remove Pepperdine [in
last week's commercial]," Jerry Derloshon, Pepperdine's
executive director of public relations, told The
Advocate on Thursday. "What the campaign has done is put
in a disclaimer. Many people have accepted that
this was a faculty member speaking a position and his
employer was identified. The disclaimer underscores
that Pepperdine remains neutral."
Equality
California executive director Geoff Kors told reporters
Tuesday that the Yes on 8 campaign is raising more
funds than the opposition and that poll numbers
are tipping toward support for the ban. (Michelle
Garcia, The Advocate)
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