A couple of unwitting spokes-puppies have been put in the middle of a peculiar political debate taking place in the media in Colorado Springs.
First, there’s Norman a brown and white spaniel puppy with large floppy ears, whose face is gracing buses and billboards and television commercials. Norman is like any other spaniel puppy - except that he moos. You see, Norman was born different. He is the face of borndifferent.com, which explains that just as 15% of the population is born left-handed, 3% of the population, according to researchers, is born gay.
Norman’s canine opponent is Sherman, a dog of unidentified breed who is featured, in a less extensive, rival advertisement campaign. Sherman barks. He, you understand, was born a dog. He would never moo. Furthermore, in the unlikely event he felt tempted to, Sherman would take active steps to “cure” himself of such unnatural impulses.
Norman and Sherman are pawns in the latest skirmish in the culture wars that continue to divide the US. Specifically, Norman the mooing spaniel is the creation of gay rights activists who support measures such as the right for gay couples to marry and receive the same protections as straight couples. The $900,000 Born Different campaign, funded by the Denver-based Gill Foundation, makes the argument that gay people are born gay and that to discriminate against them would be no different than discriminating against any other minority group.
“This is Norman. He’s just like every other dog except for one thing,” says the voiceover in the advert playing on the Born Different website, as Norman moos with cow-like confidence. “Norman never chose to be different. He was just born this way. Norman is not the only one in the Springs who is different.”
By contrast, Sherman is the creation of Focus On The Family, a conservative Christian organization based in Colorado Springs that strongly opposes gay marriage. FOTF is headed by James Dobson who is one of the most influential evangelists in the country, and wields considerable political power. He also counsels women not to work outside the home until their children have grown up and he warns that people should think long and hard before marrying a person of a different race.
“This is Sherman. He’s a dog,” says the ad on the FOTF website titled, No-Moo-Lies, as it shows the silhouette of what might be a basset hound on a page that looks remarkably like the Born Different website. “He barks. Why? Because that’s what dogs do.” It continues: “If he could talk he’d tell you to keep your eyes and ears open between now and November to make sure you hear the truth about what marriage should mean in Colorado. Sure, making a dog sound like a cow is cute, but messing with marriage, the building block of all societies, is not. Indeed, it would be a dog-gone shame.”
While we at Pop Art Pet found this to be interesting (and a little unsettling), the only commentary we have to add is, live and let live people! And for the love of dog, don’t drag unbiased animals into your silly human politics!