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The fearmongering clip was branded 'dishonest' by the 'yes' campaign for same-sex marriage in a responsive ad.
Both the "yes" and "no" campaigns for same-sex marriage in Australia have released television ads.
The "no" campaign was the first to do so, in a bizarre clip full of misinformation released Tuesday by the Australian Christian Lobby. In the ad, titled "Widespread and Compulsory," mothers express fears that the legalization of same-sex marriage would lead to school programs that might dismantle the gender binary for their children.
"School told my son he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it," one woman claimed. Another said that young schoolchildren are now being "asked to role-play being in a same-sex relationship."
"When same-sex marriage passes as law overseas, this type of program becoms widespread and compulsory," declared a third.
The fearmongering ad encourages viewers to "say no" to same-sex marriage, which will be voted on this fall by Australians through a nonbinding mail-in ballot.
The caption of the YouTube video further expanded on the ad's nonsensical logic:
Radical gay sex education programs will become more widespread and compulsory as it has overseas.
More and more kids will be taught their gender is fluid and not based on biology.
If same-sex marriage becomes law, parents will not have a leg to stand on if they don't want their kids taught radical sex education, and gender ideologies.
Within a day of this ad's airing, the "yes" campaign released its own ad debunking these myths. The clip features Dr. Kerryn Phelps, the former president of the Australian Medical Association, who called the "no" video "dishonest" and "misleading."
"Over the coming weeks we'll be hearing a lot about whether our family and friends who are gay and lesbian can get married," Phelps said. "Sadly, some are trying to mislead us, like this ad does, by saying marriage equality will have a negative impact, including on young people."
"The only young people affected by marriage equality are young gay people who, for the first time, will have the same dignity as everyone else in our country and they deserve that."
The legality of the mail-in ballot is currently be challenged in court by activists, who rightly worried that it would spark a harmful smear campaign regarding LGBT people. Australians will vote November 7 on same-sex marriage. However, the results will not establish marriage equality. The country's Parliament will vote on the issue, after taking the poll into consideration.
