Petrelis Files

Obama's Anti Gay Marriage
Mailer Sent to ME Voters

I hope that my phony and scary headline sends fearful chills up the spines of the leaders in the effort to retain gay marriage in Maine. Such propaganda has not been mailed in Maine. Yet.

Last October, days before CA voters erased gay marriage out here, the anti gay marriage forces, led by strategist Frank Schubert, sent out an old-fashioned paper mailer to voters, featuring an anti gay marriage quote from then-candidate Barack Obama and smiling visages of him and Michelle Obama.

After months of being rebuffed by gay leaders at the No on 8 campaign, I, of course, didn't waste a minute trying to contact them and make them aware of the Obama-quote mailer. Instead, I contacted veteran gay reporters Cynthia Laird at the Bay Area Reporter, and Rex Wockner in San Diego, and they helped raise the alarms. I also snapped a pic of the mailer and it went viral. Click here for some of the history from the BAR.

The No on 8 leaders had not prepared for such a mailer, even though that negative Obama quote had been public for months, and the No on 8 folks ineptly tried to respond, the final weekend of the campaign.

I mention this history because Schubert, who is leading the fight to erase gay marriage in Maine in November, and as expertly reported by Jeremy Hooper over at GoodAsYou for the past few days, is re-using his very effective TV ad from CA last year, to sway voters in Maine.

If Schubert and crew up in Maine have left any doubt in our minds about their strategy to duplicate their winning plan from CA, including the use of what worked so well out here, let me try and dispel that doubt.

Expect Schubert to employ the anti gay marriage remarks of Obama, either in mailers or TV spots in Maine, probably with the same images too from CA.

If the gay leaders in Maine want my two cents, I suggest they prepare for such a mailer, and also avoid the huge mistake made by the No on 8 forces, which made no plans to use the letter from Obama to the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club of San Francisco in June 2008. Obama said:

As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same sex couples under both state and federal law. ...

And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states. ...

Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks.

While this statement is not Maine specific, the voters should still heavily bombarded with Obama's pro gay love message.