The Roundup: Best Week Ever for Anti-Proposition 8 Videos

by Michael A. Jones

Published October 25, 2008 @ 08:07PM PT

Viral videos to defeat Proposition 8 have been busting out all over this week. Whether you’re a Republican, a Grammy-winning violinist, a life coach, or a Jewish mother, this has been your week to circulate an online video against the ridiculous Proposition 8. Here's a collection of some of the best videos out there right now that we haven't written about before. Got others? Post them in the comments section, and we'll be sure to highlight them.

Backwards - No On Proposition 8

This as was launched by Republicans Against 8 earlier this week. "Would you run backwards? Would you bike backwards? Then why take California backwards? Why go back to a time when some Californians didn't have the same rights. That's where Prop 8 would take California: Backwards." This video is great on message, although how many others are reminded of David Hasselhoff in that first clip of the guy running on the beach? Still, Republicans Against 8 has it right: Proposition 8 is bass-ackwards.

Prop 8 Has Nothing to Do With Schools

In the words of California's Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell, the ads in favor of Proposition 8 talking about how gay marriage will be indoctrinated into school children are simply not true. O'Connell hits a homerun with this line: "Prop 8 has nothing to do with schools or kids. Our schools are not required to teach anything about marriage. And using kids to lie about that...is shameful." One has to wonder if the supporters of Proposition 8 have any shame, of course. This video is important, as it also reminds voters that the California Teachers Association and nearly every major newspaper in California has denounced Proposition 8.

California Clergy Urge You To Vote No on Proposition 8

As I mentioned earlier this week, the fact that so many clergy have publicly come out and condemned Proposition 8 is a massive step for the LGBT rights movement. Finally, for perhaps the first time, we have a faith-based infrastructure responding to the radical right religious movements in this country that are funding such initiatives as California's Prop 8, Florida's Amendment 2, and Arkansas's Proposed Initiative Act 1. In this video, more religious leaders are speaking truth to power. As Rev. Russell Willoughby, a Christian minister featured in the video says: "By denying a group, any group, the right to marry, then we are denying them basic civil rights that others enjoy."

Proposition 8: Unattractive

So for all of us who harbor Project Runway as a guilty pleasure, this video is for you. It's Tim Gunn, and he calls Proposition 8 out for what it is: "Unattractive." I can forgive Tim Gunn now for being so hard on my favorite contestant from season 4, Elisa. (She's the one who licked her fabric and wrote in her journal backwards, ala Leonardo da Vinci.)

No On Prop H8

Animation! This video is courtesy of Michael Morris from Milkfat. If you like your animation with a massive dose of sarcasm, then this video should do the trick. It skewers all of those supporters of Proposition 8, like the President of Pepperdine University, who say that because Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, school kids have been forced to read story books about same-sex princes. It would be ludicrous, if it wasn't true. Sigh. Check out the animation from Milkfat, and make sure your children grow up to be Stegasauruses!

And She's the California Constitution

In another one of their "Mac vs. PC" parodies, this ad from No On Prop 8 conveys a simple but giant message: If you're into discrimination, go play with something else other than the State Constitution. I don't know about you, but this series of ads might just be the most effective and creative set of ads out there against Proposition 8.

Dave and Lonnie Talk About Gay Marriage

More animation! It's always great to see cartoon characters go through a conversion of the heart, as Lonnie does in this brief one-minute clip. "Oh, I get it: It's about love." Now I'd love to see someone come up with an ad where the cast of Scooby Doo, the Snorks, and SpaceCats come out against Proposition 8.

No On 8. Unfair. Unnecessary. Wrong.

Why are so many in California saying no to Prop 8? This ad gives the litany of reasons given by everyone from the League of Women Voters to the Los Angeles Times. The potluck of quotes featured include those from La Opinion (the Proposition is "completely unnecessary"), the California Teachers Association ("California laws should treat everyone equally"), and the California Nurses Association (the Proposition is being pushed "by out of state special interests").

Protect Our Children - Vote No on 8

Videos that consist mostly of text usually don't do it for me (they kind of remind me of a glorified powerpoint), but this one works. Its message? If you want to redefine marriage for the thousands of children living in households with same-sex parents, think of the message you are sending them about the worth of their family. By voting yes on Proposition 8, are you saying that their family is worth less than yours? It's a good question, and the images of the kids are enough to grab your heart strings.

Dolores Huerta Says No for Proposition 8

There are two really great Spanish language ads out there against Proposition 8 (scratch that...there are many Spanish language ads, but there are two I'm going to highlight in this paragraph!). The first is a 30-second spot featuring Dolores Huerta, a labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers. This clip is embedded below. The second is a great new ad featuring America Ferrera, Tony Plana and Ana Ortiz, and it's due to start airing throughout California on Monday. I can't figure out how to embed this clip, but if you go to No On 8, it's right on their homepage.