An
anti-gay
ad
campaign
promoting
President
Bush’s
plan
to
overhaul
Social
Security
created
a
stir
this
week
when
online
ads
appeared
on
various
popular
conservative
Web
sites
claiming
that
the
American
Association
of
Retired
Persons
supports
gay
marriage.
The
ad,
which
ran
briefly
on
Tuesday,
also
asserts
that
the
AARP
does
not
support
U.S.
troops.
It
features
a
picture
of
an
American
soldier
with
a
red
“X”
mark
and
a
second
image
of
two
gay
men
kissing
at
a
wedding
ceremony
with
a
green
check
mark.
The
text
of
the
ad
read,
“The
real
AARP
agenda.”
In
a
related
development,
USA
Next,
the
conservative
group
behind
the
ad,
has
hired
Chris
LaCivita
as
a
media
consultant,
according
to
the
New
York
Times.
LaCivita
is
also
working
as
a
private
contractor
for
DCI
Group,
a
public
and
government
affairs
firm
in
D.C.,
the
Times
reported.
DCI
is
headed
by
prominent
gay
Republican
activist
Charles
Francis.
Francis
is
head
of
the
Republican
Unity
Coalition,
a
gay-straight
alliance
that
seeks
to
make
homosexuality
a
non-issue
in
the
party.
Francis
declined
to
comment.
Adam
Mendelsohn,
a
spokesperson
for
DCI
Group,
said
LaCivita
is
not
an
employee
but
has
worked
as
a
part-time
consultant
for
the
past
two
years.
LaCivita
is
also
head
of
Progress
For
America,
a
conservative
advocacy
group.
According
to
the
Roll
Call
newspaper
he
was
the
political
director
of
the
National
Republican
Senatorial
Committee
during
the
2002
cycle
and
the
top
political
strategist
for
NRSC
Chair
and
Sen.
George
Allen
(R-Va.).
LaCivita
is
also
a
former
Marine
who
advised
the
group
Swift
Boat
Veterans
for
Truth
on
its
media
campaign
against
Sen.
John
Kerry
during
last
fall’s
presidential
election.
The
anti-gay
ad
first
appeared
on
the
American
Spectator
Web
site
on
Tuesday,
according
to
blog
site
DailyKos.
The
Times
reported
that
USA
Next
plans
to
spend
as
much
as
$10
million
on
commercials
and
other
media
to
attack
the
AARP
and
the
issue
of
same-sex
marriage
is
one
of
the
angles
it
plans
to
use.
“We
are
going
to
be
revealing
areas
where
the
AARP
is
out
of
touch
with
a
large
number
of
their
members,
including
the
issue
of
marriage,”
said
Charlie
Jarvis,
chief
executive
of
USA
Next
as
quoted
in
Wednesday’s
New
York
Times.
“We
will
engage
AARP
with
an
aggressive
campaign
to
educate
the
people
about
where
they
really
stand
on
the
issues
and
how
out
of
touch
they
are
with
the
large
majority
of
their
own
members.”
USA
Next
officials
responded
to
a
Blade
inquiry
but
declined
to
go
on
the
record.
The
group
promotes
itself
as
a
conservative
alternative
to
AARP.
USA
Next
is
also
hiring
various
consultants
who
worked
with
the
Swift
Boat
Veterans
for
Truth
last
year,
including
Creative
Response
Concepts
and
Regnery
Publishing,
the
publisher
of
“Unfit
for
Command”
a
book
that
criticized
Sen.
John
Kerry’s
tenure
in
the
U.S.
Navy,
according
to
the
Times.
Gay
rights
advocates
were
quick
to
condemn
the
ad.
“The
manipulation
of
the
truth
knows
no
bounds
for
these
people,”
said
Matt
Foreman,
executive
director
of
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force.
“AARP
is
not
an
anti-gay
organization
nor
are
they
pro
gay.
They
have
different
missions.
To
accuse
them
of
being
a
shill
for
marriage
is
beyond
belief.
The
way
in
which
the
right
is
always
pitting
us
against
core
American
values
is
chilling
and
it
has
an
effect.
It’s
a
way
to
marginalize
our
issues
as
outside
mainstream
values.”
David
Certner,
director
of
federal
affairs
for
the
AARP,
said
his
group
will
continue
to
focus
solely
on
the
debate
over
Social
Security
privatization.
“We
are
engaged
in
a
debate
about
Social
Security
privatization
and
we
are
trying
to
point
out
the
shortcomings
of
private
accounts
being
carved
out
of
the
current
system,”
Certner
said.
“Some
have
chosen
rather
than
to
engage
that
debate
to
attack
AARP.
We’ve
been
attacked
from
both
the
left
and
right
over
the
years
but
as
far
as
I
know
the
military
is
not
an
issue
for
us.
Nor
are
gay
issues.
I
can’t
recall
us
ever
weighing
in
on
these
issues
in
one
way
or
the
other.”
Certner
said
the
AARP
is
nonpartisan
and
noted
the
heat
the
group
took
from
liberals
last
year
after
endorsing
the
Bush
administration’s
Medicare
prescription
benefits
bill.
Kathy
Keller,
associate
state
director
for
communications
for
the
AARP’s
Ohio
chapter,
said
the
ad
was
likely
created
because
AARP
strongly
opposed
Ohio’s
“Issue
1”
last
fall,
an
amendment
to
the
Ohio
Constitution
that
sought
to
ban
not
just
gay
marriage
but
civil
unions,
domestic
partnerships
and
other
living
arrangements
for
couples.
Despite
being
opposed
by
many
groups
and
politicians,
including
the
state’s
Republican
governor
and
two
Republican
senators,
the
measure
passed
overwhelmingly.
“Issue
1
in
Ohio
was
a
measure
that
impacted
all
unmarried
couples,
heterosexual
and
homosexual,”
Keller
said.
“It
was
going
to
have
a
horrible
effect
on
older
adults
by
wiping
out
their
health
and
inheritance
benefits.
They
are
just
trying
to
take
the
focus
off
Social
Security
by
bashing
AARP.
Next
they
will
say
we
are
in
favor
of
bombing
Holland.”
David
Smith,
vice
president
of
policy
for
the
Human
Rights
Campaign,
said
that
USA
...
