Perry's New "Openly Gay" Ad Met with Open Hostility

Rick Perry’s latest TV ad is getting a lot of attention, but most all of it is negative.

Here’s the ad:

It’s been viewed almost 3 million times in just a few days and 98% of its youtube ratings have been “dislike.” The comments have now been disabled for it, but the post on Rick Perry’s Facebook wall has continued to get thousands of comments (mostly negative). You can view it here.

If you view the conversation there, it’s easy to see why this kind of ad is not helpful. I admire and commend the witness to the importance of faith, but, on the issue of homosexuality, it lacks the nuance the issue deserves and instead uses it as a political tool.

It ends up just being red meat for those who fail to distinguish between a person’s attractions and their actions. And it gives ammo to pro “gay marriage,” “pro-gay” groups who like that the Christian approach to homosexuality so easily comes off as bigoted and overly simplistic. Something I’ve always appreciated about Catholic teaching is the depth and charity regarding its teaching on issues like homosexuality. And it’s sad that such a high profile opportunity (like this ad) ends up getting used to further entrench an overly simplistic and inadequate understanding of the issue, rather than to bring more understanding to it.

What I really mean is that he should have just used a different analogy. Not because we don’t need to fight for traditional Marriage and values, but because the issue of being “openly” homosexual deserves a little better platform that doesn’t reduce it to the antithesis of prayer in schools. There are lots of things he could have said instead to make his point.

What do you think?