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10/06/2009

Video: Donald ducks into 'Yes on 1' stable

by Jeremy Hooper

Last week we told you all about Donald Mendell, the guidance counselor who has a history of opposing gays in the Pine Tree State, claiming that gays "ridicule tradition and belief in natural law" and that their marriages constitute "a change that strikes to the heart of the Sacraments." So with "charming" rhetoric like that, it was of course only a matter of time before "Yes on 1" tapped him to be their latest spokesperson:

Love how Mr. Mendell says "this Maine teacher is a gay activist" (in reference to his co-worker at his very own school, by the way) as if he's a mere layman. It would seem that those who live in glass political ads shouldn't throw "activist" stones!

More to come on this...

**UPDATE: Here's the full Robert Skutch interview. If you listen with open ears, you might not find it as scary as Stand For Marriage Maine wants it to seem:









*Source: Here & Now, 5/3/05

**UPDATE2: It's completely absurd for them to turn to the Alameda Unified School District's Safe Schools curriculum as if it has anything to do with marriage equality! They do remember that they took away our right to marry in CA, right?! They should, considering that they are now using many of the same players (NOM, Schubert Flint, etc) on the Maine campaign!

Conversations about this kind of curriculum are due to the fact that gay people exist! And guess what? THAT IS GOING TO BE THE CASE WITH OR WITHOUT MARRIAGE EQUALITY (even though the 'with' is obviously inevitable)!

**UPDATE3: Since they will surely turn off the ratings and comments within a few hours (as they've done with all of their YouTube vids), we wanted to show you how it's looking for them right now:

Your thoughts

Thank you for mentioning that Prop 8 actually WON in California, yet had nothing to do with changes in School curriculum. Since I live in CA and sat thru all the disgusting Prop 8 ads like these, it drives me crazy when I hear them use California scare tactics. So lame. Bringing up California actually proves that voting on civil marriage rights has nothing to do with what is taught in schools.

Posted by: remix | Oct 6, 2009 1:54:50 PM

A few days ago, Jeremy had a link to a Sean Chapin video about the difference between understanding something and accepting it. Building on that, if we were to follow the anti-gays' rhetoric, that means that my high school indoctrinated me to believe in ethnic cleansing. What Social Studies teacher in the 1990s *wouldn't* bring up the tragedies of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia? But according to these people's logic, I learnt about it, therefore I have been forced to accept it. And today I ask, what responsible Social Studies teacher *wouldn't* talk about marriage equality? Not because they're trying to brainwash their students, but because it's topical and directly related to how our government works! Also, if New Hampshire holds on to gay marriage, that means that 100% of the land surrounding Maine will be gay-marriage-friendly. Are we to expect that Maine will retract the scope of the public schools to extend no further than the state borders? Do these people even think about what they're saying? They make my head hurt.

Posted by: DN | Oct 6, 2009 3:52:26 PM

phhhhht. . .let me know if you have any interest in the comment screencaps before the takedown, if nothing else it's a funny read.

Posted by: Jon | Oct 6, 2009 4:05:01 PM

Won't somebody please think of the children?????!!!!!?????

Posted by: Brian | Oct 6, 2009 4:54:32 PM

Adding comments has been disabled for this video. And no ratings either. Such thin skins!

Posted by: John Ozed | Oct 6, 2009 6:15:21 PM

I had a conversation with a woman who knew the teacher in the 'No on 1' ad. She said she had been surprised to see her in the commercial because the teacher hadn't been that out-spoken on the issue of gay marriage. When she asked her about it, the teacher said her primary motivation was the slur to/ misinformation about the educational system, and the teachers and schools. If that guy is in the same school, I think he better watch out.

Posted by: ColdCountry | Oct 6, 2009 7:22:23 PM

By the way, I love how, even though the comments were deleted and disabled on the YouTube page, you can still see them all on the old 'view all comments' page at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=Izj7bCUE2Hg&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DIzj7bCUE2Hg%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded Not sure if the link I provided will make it through here, but the old comments apparently stay live even if they're deleted.



Posted by: remix | Oct 6, 2009 7:57:14 PM

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