FOF Launches Campaign To Defeat Lawmakers 'Soft' On Gay Issues

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FOF Launches Campaign To Defeat Lawmakers 'Soft' On Gay Issues

by Paul Johnson, 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief

June 1, 2006 - 12:01 am ET

(Washington) Focus on the Family, a longtime opponent of LGBT civil rights, has launched an aggressive advertising campaign attacking senators in 13 states who have stated they will not support the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The amendment will be debated in the Senate next Monday and a vote is expected on Tuesday.

The ads are running in daily newspapers and on radio stations in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota.

Both Democrats and Republicans are targeted.

All of the politicians are up for re-election this November. FOF said that it chose states where it thought the ads would have the most impact - such as predominantly Republican states with a Democratic senator.

Most Capitol Hill observers predicted the ad campaign would have little affect on next week's amendment vote but could influence voters in the fall.

Focus on the Family is based in Colorado. Ads running in the The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News target Sen. Ken Salazar (D).

Salazar opposes gay marriage but will vote against the proposed amendment.

The ads show a freckle-faced boy and have the caption, "Why doesn't Senator Salazar believe every child needs a mother and a father?" They ask readers to call the Colorado Democrat and "urge him to support the Marriage Protection Amendment."

"Sen. Salazar from the beginning has portrayed himself as a moderate," FOF spokesperson Amanda Banks told the Denver Post.

This isn't the first time that Salazar and the conservative group have clashed.

Last year he called FOF's political tactics "un- Christian" and accused it of "hijacking" Christianity for the Republican Party.

©365Gay.com 2006

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