CFE Takes On "Bald-Face Lies" in Anti-Marriage Equality Ad Campaign

CALIFORNIA PASTOR DENOUNCES NATIONAL GROUP’S ANTI SAME SEX MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN AS “BALD-FACE LIES.”
CFE Press Release

April 8, 2009

Los Angeles, CA – “A conservative group purporting to ‘protect marriage’ and ‘the faith communities that sustain it’ has resorted to a radio and television ad campaign of disinformation and deceptions aimed to incite unfounded fear,” said Samuel M. Chu, Executive Director of California Faith for Equality (CFE) and a pastor at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. “These ads are nothing but bald-face lies.”

“This week, the National Organization for Marriage has invoked the same scare tactics religious conservatives used in the Prop 8 campaign here in California. Their ads feature actors who claim to be real people, concerned doctors, parents and teachers and their message that same sex marriage will harm children, families and churches is patently untrue.

“I speak for a broad and diverse group of clergy and religious leaders who are extremely disturbed by these ads. We believe a foundational value of faith is truth. These ads are immensely misleading in claiming that marriage for same-sex couples dictates what is taught in schools, affects people’s health choices, or curtails religious freedom. Marriage equality is about ending discrimination and extending equal protection to gay and lesbian families, not about subverting any family or school system whose beliefs and freedoms are to be protected in the same way.”

“CFE opposes this ad campaign and will organize our constituents to lead the charge against these erroneous claims. We will hold the National Organization of Marriage accountable for their misleading and manipulative tactics to spread unfounded fears in our communities and misrepresenting the broad spectrum of faith communities who supports not only equal protection for gay and lesbian families, but the protection and freedom of all religious and minority groups. This ad campaign will not succeed.”