New TV ad to feature Gallaudet University employee suspended for supporting marriage
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Opponents of Maryland’s Question 6, a referendum on same-sex “marriage,” are running a television ad using footage of suspended Gallaudet University administrator Angela McCaskill and warning that if the referendum passes, supporters of traditional marriage could face similar penalties.
McCaskill, the chief diversity officer at the university, was placed on leave earlier this month after a homosexual blogger publicized her signature on a petition to put a same-sex “marriage” bill passed by the state legislature in front of the state’s voters.
Angela McCaskill, chief diversity officer at Gallaudet University, has been suspended for her views.
The ad, put out by the Maryland Marriage Alliance, mentions four cases in which it says people have been penalized for their views on same-sex “marriage,” including McCaskill’s case, the Chick-fil-A uproar last summer, a sports reporter in Canada who was fired after posting his pro-marriage views on Twitter, and Vermont innkeepers who were sued after refusing to host a same-sex ceremony on their property.
“They promised us Question 6 protects people who oppose gay marriage, but it doesn’t,” the commercial says. “When marriage has been redefined elsewhere, as Question 6 does, people who believe in traditional marriage have been punished. Who will be next?”
“We’re all at risk under Question 6,” the ad concludes.
Maryland Marriage Alliance says the law does not go far enough to protect the rights of individuals who favor traditional marriage. “Homosexual activists continue to cry that individual and religious liberties are not at risk. The suspension of Dr. McCaskill is proof of the disingenuous and untruthful nature of that argument,” said Chairman Derek McCoy in a statement.
“Dr. McCaskill has worked on the campus of an American college for the deaf and hard of hearing for over 20 years,” McCoy added. “If the marketplace of ideas and freedom of expression is not prized in that environment, how can we ever expect it to survive elsewhere if same-sex marriage activists prevail?”
Gallaudet University officials have threatened to sue over the ad. The university’s public relations officer Katherine Murphy told The Baltimore Sun, “The video they are using [in] the ad is actually copyrighted by us. We’re in touch with our attorneys…to ask them to take down the ad.”
Maryland Marriage Alliance spokeswoman Deana Bass said the group has not received any formal complaints about the spot, and has no plans to remove it.
“It is a fair use of the footage,” Bass told The Baltimore Sun. “At this point [what happened to McCaskill] is in the public space. We want people to understand what is at stake with Question 6.”
McCaskill’s lawyers have also denounced her inclusion in the ad, saying she did not authorize the use of her image, nor did her signing of the referendum petition mean that she opposes same-sex “marriage.” Her views, she says, are private, adding that she only signed the petition to bring a contentious issue before voters.
One of her lawyers, T. Wyndal Gordon, told WJLA-TV that if his client “had her druthers,” the commercial would be pulled.
Meanwhile, a group pushing for same-sex “marriage” at the national level has produced an ad that will run in Maryland and three other states where the issue is on the ballot this November. The ad, produced by LegalizeLove.com, features homosexual couples in tuxedos and wedding gowns reciting along with President Obama a fabricated “speech” that was created by splicing together a number of the president’s statements about same-sex unions.
“Because of a tight national race, we understand the president might not be able to hammer home his support for gay marriage himself,” said Eduardo Cisneros, an organizer for the group. “So, we are stepping in to make sure that this new TV spot using his own words gets that message out no matter what.”
