Memo to the Ruth Institute: You're Actually Hurting the "Marriage" Cause

The Ruth Institute, an off-shoot of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage political organization, is sponsoring a "super cool" video campaign for young adults where they encourage couples to film video testaments to their love. Hey, there's even a cash prize!

Needless to say, gay people aren't allowed to participate.

In fact, the Ruth Institute, like the National Organization for Marriage, was created to prevent the legal recognition of same-sex marriages. You might say, "Well, thankfully they're not just out there bashing gay people. Maybe this is a good thing. At least they're talking about what they're for, not just what they're against."

Unfortunately, I see this as simply a deeply cynical PR move designed solely to blur the issue and make their intolerant message more appealing to the mushy middle of American politics. "See? Our fight against same-sex marriage isn't about gay people! It's just because we want to support heterosexual marriage!"

But it absolutely reminds me of those "White Pride" rallies the KKK used to hold in the South, or the impromptu "Straight Pride" rallies you still sometimes hear about in certain high schools. "Hey, we have nothing against black people! We're just celebrating our own heritage!"

Sometimes these folks will even go a step further and try to co-opt the language of their political opponents, saying, "The fact that you won't let us celebrate our racial heritage means you're the real racist!"

"Paging George Orwell, paging George Orwell."

Truthfully, cynical, up-is-down propaganda campaigns like this absolutely creep me out — although this Reel Love campaign may be even creepier than a White Pride rally, because they'll almost certainly ensnare some unsuspecting folks who actually think this campaign is about celebrating love.

Unfortunately, these unsuspecting folks could even be the contest winners, who may not realize the Ruth Institute's true agenda, what their "real" love will be used for, until after they receive their thirty pieces of blood silver. (Fortunately, judging by the comments on Youtube, most young adults are far too smart for this ploy.)

Still it makes me shiver just to think about it: using a couple's genuine love for each other for the purpose of hate. Are there really people with hearts so black they do things like this?

(Incidentally, can you be against same-sex marriage and not be consciously motivated by hate? On an individual level, I absolutely believe you can. But frankly, I don't believe you can found an anti-same-sex marriage institute, much less come up with a campaign this cynical, and not be motivated mostly by negative feelings of prejudice — just as I don't think White Pride and Straight Pride rallies aren't motivated almost 100% by pure bigotry.)

But let's be charitable and assume that absolutely everyone involved with these organizations is motivated not by any hatred or prejudice whatsoever. Let's say their concern is solely over the institution of marriage, which, if the sociologists are to be believed, is holding an increasingly less prominent and less hallowed place in society, for better or for ill.

Here's the thing: this campaign, and the entire Organization for Marriage, is doing real, lasting damage to that institution. Why? Because they're associating the whole issue of marriage with far-right politics in general and anti-gay sentiment in particular.

That association is going to work on some Americans -- and, in fairness, many of these are the Americans who most need to work on their commitment to marriage; in one of the marriage issue's great ironies, it's conservative Christians, and Southerners who are significantly more likely to divorce than liberals, liberal Christians, Northerners, or atheists. (To be fair, this is probably simply a question of education and age of entry into marriage, not any character flaw on the part of conservative Christian Southerners.)

The point is, far-right, anti-gay politics is not where this country is headed, especially among younger Americans. Poll after poll shows younger people, even young conservative Christians, are increasingly tolerant on the subject of gays and same-sex marriage. It's older folks, raised in a different, less tolerant and inclusive time, who are having a hard time accepting the changing mores.

But the more the folks at the Ruth Institute and the National Organization for Marriage try to associate "marriage" with "anti-gay," the more they make the whole issue seem old, out-of-touch, and irrelevant. In another great  irony, the Reel Love campaign may make their organization more politically palatable, but it will also help to hasten the breakdown of marriage itself.

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