Gay rights law’s backers launch TV ad campaign

BANGOR – Gay rights supporters on Tuesday launched the first volley in an advertising war that will last through the Nov. 8 election, at which voters will consider repealing a new state law that extends the state’s anti-discrimination laws to gays and lesbians.

“Discrimination happens in Maine and … there is a very real human cost,” said Ted O’Meara of Maine Won’t Discriminate upon the release of the 30-second television ad, which features testimonials of Mainers who say they were victims of discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

“What happened to them, the discrimination they faced, should never happen again,” O’Meara continued. “No one should be fired from their job or endure harassment and threats simply because they are gay.”

The campaign’s first ad, titled “Voices,” comes two weeks before voters head to the polls to consider Question 1, which will read: “Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?”

The ad appeared to be a response to criticism of failed gay rights efforts of the past that lacked the personal accounts that experts say are most effective in convincing voters of the existence of a problem.

Although the voices and images in the newest commercial are not those of the people who originally testified before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee in March, the message is still effective, according to University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer.

“It is a good step toward putting actual people and their problems out there,” he said after viewing the ad Tuesday morning.

Backers of the repeal effort have argued that such discrimination is rare in Maine and have questioned many of the stories, calling them “bogus.”

While Maine Won’t Discriminate’s $200,000 ad buy marked the first major advertising effort in the campaign, it was unclear Tuesday whether those pushing the law’s repeal would offer a response.

In an e-mail last week to supporters, the Coalition for Marriage – a political action committee affiliated with the Christian Civic League of Maine – said it had enough money to make a limited television advertising buy after a producer donated time to the effort.

League spokesman Tim Russell was noncommittal Tuesday.

“We’re still reviewing our options at this point,” he said.

Even if the anti-gay rights contingent doesn’t hit the airwaves, Michael Heath, the league’s controversial executive director, nevertheless will find himself on television.

A lightning rod in the debate for his sometimes harsh condemnation of homosexuality, Heath appears in the Maine Won’t Discriminate ad in slow-motion footage of a rainy State House rally in April.

Richard Powell, a University of Maine political scientist and expert on campaign advertising, said Tuesday that the unflattering portrayal of Heath appeared to be part of an effort to motivate the law’s backers.

If rallying supporters is the goal, Powell also said it was reasonable for Maine Won’t Discriminate to focus its advertising efforts in the Portland and Bangor television markets while forgoing the relatively rural Presque Isle market, where voters have been less inclined to support gay rights initiatives.

A poll released this week showed strong opposition to the repeal effort in southern Maine, with northern Maine split on the issue. Powell predicted that Bangor, in particular, would be a critical swing area in the 2005 vote.

The Nov. 8 vote will mark the fourth time in 10 years Maine voters have considered the issue. During that time, they have been difficult to predict.

In 1995, voters soundly defeated an attempt to repeal local gay rights ordinances. In 1998 and 2000, however, voters narrowly rejected attempts to add sexual orientation to the list of protected classes under the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, disability, religion, ancestry and national origin.

On the Net: www.mwd2005.org; www.coalitionformarriage.net.