The first television ad on Minnesota's
proposed constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage
features a straight, older couple.
Yvonne and Fred Peterson of Duluth are
featured in the spot titled Grandparents.
The couple, married 59 years, talk
about marriage equality while seated on a park bench.
“If someone had asked me if gay
people should get married, I would have said no,” Yvonne said.
“The world is changing,” Fred said.
“Gay and lesbian people want to get married for the same reason
that I wanted to marry my wife. Why shouldn't other people be able
to enjoy the happiness and the love that we've enjoyed through our
lifetime?”
“Love is love and it does belong to
everybody,” Yvonne added. (The video is embedded on this page.
Visit
our video library for more videos.)
The ad is paid for by the national
group Freedom to Marry.
“The Petersons highlight the very
reason public education is so important in the fight for marriage for
all committed couples,” Thalia Zepatos, director of public
engagement for Freedom to Marry, said in a statement. “They
started out with an opposing view and have come to see that marriage
for everyone benefits us all. Local stories are the best
conversation starter – and conversation is the best vehicle for
helping people to see that the protections and responsibilities that
come with marriage should be for everyone, no matter whom they love.”
According to Minnesotans United for All
Families, the Minnesota group working to defeat the amendment, the ad
buy cost mid-six figures and will run for several weeks on television
and cable networks in the Twin Cities and Duluth.