A NEW advertising campaign, “Not Alone”, is making the rounds on social media. It flashes through a conspicuously diverse array of Americans brought together by a shared feeling of alienation. “I’m a little bit nervous about people hearing I’m this way, and then thinking, uh well, she’s not welcome here,” a woman begins. Another cuts in: “I would say I’m different; we’re all different.” A man confesses, “Pretty scary… You wonder, how many people can I really, truly, honestly be open with?” These people are ready to come out. After a few more suspense-building displays of vulnerability and hand-wringing, they finally confess: they believe that “marriage is between a man and a woman.”

In the week since the Supreme Court recognised a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, many Americans have celebrated the expansion of freedom and civil rights. But some, predictably, are uncomfortable with the change, and a few are outraged. Mike Huckabee, a Republican candidate for president, sputtered on Sean Hannity’s radio show about the need to “resist and reject judicial tyranny.” Ted Cruz, another conservative aspirant, described the day of the ruling as “some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.” The “Not Alone” ad campaign, funded by Catholic Vote, a conservative non-profit, may be the most creative expression of this backlash.

Appropriating the language of historically oppressed groups, the video’s subjects present themselves as people who are bravely ready to leave the ideological closet and speak their mind. Yet proponents of heterosexual marriage have never been persecuted for their beliefs. And few would accuse them of having bitten their tongue. So the ad’s tagline, “We’re here because we have something to say and we’re no longer afraid to say it,” is not just odd but also intellectually dishonest.