It's OK to be Gay, in Video Format Please

August 12, 2007 9:51 AM

Does anyone know of any public service announcements or other advertisements that contain a message that says it's ok to be gay? Examples of what I am talking about can be seen here and here

I am not looking for ads that are
*pro gay marriage/civil unions
*against homophobia or hate crimes
*about safe sex and HIV
unless they also explicitly have the "it's ok to be gay" message. Since "gay" is a synonym for funny or lame for many people, it makes it really hard to search youtube, so if anyone has any links they know of, or can describe some of the elements in a commercial they remember seeing so that I can find it myself, I would really appreciate it. Language is unimportant.

posted by davidstandaford to human relations (9 answers total)

I found one that wasn't specifically about gay sex but it's a really neat commercial and in the end it says "Whatever you're into, make sure it includes a condom."
posted by alona at 10:08 AM on August 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

And here's another one against discrimination, this one's actually pretty good.

By the looks of the ones I've found, it seems MTV has quite a few of these.
posted by alona at 10:12 AM on August 12, 2007

Have you checked out Commercial Closet? It's an archive of advertising containing LGBT portrayals. There are currently 375 ads in the PSA section alone.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:54 AM on August 12, 2007

roger: Thanks for the suggestion. I was aware of the Commercial Closet, but I need to be able to embed the videos, and their site doesn't let you do that, and most of there ads that are more than 3 or 4 years old aren't on youtube yet, so even if I find a good one on their website, there isn't much I can do with it.
posted by davidstandaford at 11:08 AM on August 12, 2007

Here's one that has both "It's ok to be gay" and "wear a condom" as themes
posted by paddingtonb at 11:16 AM on August 12, 2007

In Norwegian - I'm going by the translation in the description, since I don't speak Norwegian.
posted by desjardins at 11:19 AM on August 12, 2007

This French safe sex ad has a very amusing (though stereo-type packed) look at gay sexuality. The young man at the centre of the whole thing though is an 'everyman' and the overall message is one of love being at the centre of relationships, regardless of the sexes of the people involved.

If you liked this, here's the one for straight boys and straight girls.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:19 AM on August 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

The UCC did a series of ads that emphasized their inclusiveness. The ads weren't specifically about sexual orientation, but gay couples were among the groups in the ads: [1] [2] [3]. (I think there are a few others on Youtube, too.)
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:56 AM on August 12, 2007

There was an anti-discrimination radio PSA that ran in heavy rotation for years in the 90s that included gays. It was a humorous dialogue between a clueless bigoted boss and his assistant on who should be the next head of the division or something. The assistant would say "How about Jones? He has years of experience and some impressive degrees." and the boss would reply "In that wheelchair? Doesn't make quite the right impression!" And so on. I specifically remember the boss rejecting someone named Johnson for being "A little light in the loafers if you know what I mean."

The punchline was that they worked their way through the whole office with the big boss rejecting each person in turn for bigoted reasons. At the end he says "A whole office full of people and no one qualified to lead! Isn't that ridiculous?" And his flunk mutters "Yeah, ridiculous."

The irony is that this spot often played during the right wing radio shows. I have no idea how to find a copy.
posted by LarryC at 1:20 PM on August 12, 2007