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October 28, 2008

Republicans Against 8 Pairs With Milk Scribe Dustin Lance Black for PSAs

Republicans Against 8 Pairs With Milk Scribe Dustin Lance Black for PSAs

The latest round of grassroots No on 8 public service announcements started with a simple conversation. Republicans Against 8 campaign director Scott Schmidt ran into Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, who Schmidt says wanted to know if there was anything more than fund-raising he could do to fight Proposition 8, California's proposed ban on same-sex marriage.

With Black stepping in as director, the two started making some calls, got a bunch of people together, and combined efforts to create two new PSAs, which began making their way around the Web Monday.

“This community has many, many talents that run beyond phone banking and fund-raising,” Schmidt told Advocate.com.

Schmidt said the effort is an example of the “unprecedented cooperation in the gay community to beat Prop. 8. I am a Republican, Lance Black isn’t one. ... It doesn’t matter who you are -- Democrat, Republican, Trojan, Bruin -- we want to work together to accomplish the same goal.”

The two ads feature an impressive roster of everyday gay citizens, including a Vietnam veteran and a Boeing rocket scientist, two people who say they have devoted their careers to protecting the rights and lives of Americans. The ads urge Californians to now step up and return the favor on November 4.

Schmidt says several high-profile Republicans have been instrumental in fighting Prop. 8.

“Having Governor Schwarzenegger on board since the beginning made it easier to get other people,” he said. “San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, L.A. sheriff Lee Baca. ... Big government shouldn’t be telling people who they can marry.”

Schmidt said having Black on board gave the effort an added bit of authenticity. The No on 8 logo that appears throughout the ads is a re-creation of a logo from San Francisco's 1978 No on 6 effort. Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative, would have prohibited gay people from teaching in California.

Schmidt said buttons featuring the No on 8 logo would be handed out at Monday's San Francisco premiere of Milk, the biopic about pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk. (Ross von Metzke, The Advocate)

Keywords:  California marriage  Harvey Milk  Prop 8 
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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: Pete
    Date posted: 2008-10-29 4:53 PM
    Hometown: Studio City, California

    Comment:

    To the NYC writer, let me say this one more time: Barack Obama has said publicly that he is AGAINST Proposition 8, calling it "Divisive and Discriminatory." In addition, Michelle Obama has said the same. That's all I said, but you failed to even mention those facts.


  • Name: Sam
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 10:35 PM
    Hometown: Menlo Park, CA

    Comment:

    My, those Log Cabin Republicans sure are a generous bunch, aren't they? Paying for a WHOLE website to run a clip! Too bad they left it TILL THE LAST FRIKKIN MINUTE!!! TOO BAD THEY COULDN'T HAVE PAID FOR A REAL TV AD! Goddamned cheapskates. They're rich - they're Republican, but they can't afford to shell out what us POOR and MIDDLE CLASS have shelled out? Screw them. If they want to be Republicans - I say give them the rights the Republicans would make us ALL have.


  • Name: Wayne
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 7:15 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    Barack Obama has said publicly that he is AGAINST Proposition 8, calling it "Divisive and Discriminatory." In addition, Michelle Obama has said the same. Perhaps I am more aware of this as a resident of California than the writer who is a resident of New York------------ BEING AS YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE "AWARE", WOULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY IT IS THEN, THAT OBAMA HAS ANTI GAY "YES ON PROP 8" ADVOCATES OPENLY SHILLING FOR THE PASSAGE OF PROP 8 ON OBAMA'S "FAITH TOURS" IN CALIFORNIA?


  • Name: Jim
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 6:52 PM
    Hometown: Los Angeles

    Comment:

    PLEASE! Just came from the No on Prop 8 HQ in West Hollywood- they claim they've bought more media time than Yes on 8. They also claim they will launch new ads. Less than 6 days to go, and still the same old stuff. How about offering these PSAs to No on 8 to run? They need all the help they can get.


  • Name: Rick
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 6:25 PM
    Hometown: Tarzana, CA

    Comment:

    Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver have both indicated that they are against Proposition 8, neither one has participated in a TV ad saying that. It would be tremendously helpful to LGBT civil rights if they would do so.


  • Name: Pete
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 6:13 PM
    Hometown: Studio City, California

    Comment:

    To the writer below who claimed that Barack Obama supports Proposition 8, I would like to correct the record. Barack Obama has said publicly that he is AGAINST Proposition 8, calling it "Divisive and Discriminatory." In addition, Michelle Obama has said the same. Perhaps I am more aware of this as a resident of California than the writer who is a resident of New York, but I think it is important to state the facts.


  • Name: anthony newsome
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 4:15 PM
    Hometown: dublin

    Comment:

    the second video is fabtastic, really really good and the only pity is that it possibley wont get aired on national tv, perchance Ellen and Ophera could slip it into their programmes, that key to its brillance is using real people and not hammed-up actors, is it possible for advocate to tag them onto their home page and for everyone to email them to friends and foe alike, anthony


  • Name: Tom
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 3:05 PM
    Hometown: San Jose

    Comment:

    And on what obscure little website are these wonderful PSA going to find themselves? I've been so depressed by the TV ads, all of which merely respond to the allegations of the opposition. Once again we've abandoned our role for defining what it means to be gay to those who hate us, just as we did for Proposition 22 back in 2000. We've learned nothing!


  • Name: Rico Camacho
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 3:02 PM
    Hometown: San Francisco

    Comment:

    Standing together - Understanding that Love is Universal. We are AMERICANS - Defending Rights.


  • Name: Matt
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 11:51 AM
    Hometown: Lincoln

    Comment:

    Nice, but the ads need to be on TV instead of the web. More people will see them on TV.


  • Name: Wayne
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 8:52 AM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    ABC News has a headline article on-line today about how Obama's surge this election cycle will help to doom gay equality. Obama's refusal to speak out against his own supporters within the African American community who are advocating the passage of Prop 8, not to mention Obama's own "Faith Tours" which have "Yes on Prop 8" advocates shilling for the passage of Prop 8; prove that Obama is not helping the cause of equality. In fact, Obama is actually working against it! (sad when the mainstream press does more actual reporting on Gay issues than the so called "Gay Press" ).


  • Name: Bob Smullen
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 8:43 AM
    Hometown: Hackensack, NJ

    Comment:

    I love it. Though it is absurd that we Queer folks should have to remind everyone else that we are human -- that is exactly what we must do to counteract the image of us as sub-human. This is just the sort of appeal that needs to be made to our fellow countrymen.


  • Name: Hal Prince
    Date posted: 2008-10-28 2:20 AM
    Hometown: Palo Alto, CA

    Comment:

    Wow! These are terrific ads, much better than the dreary ones on TV.


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