A Chilling Account of an Anti-Gay Campaign

Heather MacDonald’s “Ballot Measure 9”--a comprehensive, incisive documentary on the emotion-charged campaign surrounding the 1992 Oregon anti-gay measure--is all the more chilling because of its methodical, cool approach.

Wisely, MacDonald not only lets gay activists have their say but also allows Lon Mabon, chairman of the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance, and numerous associates and supporters, to express their profoundly negative view of gays and lesbians. Many will recall how the vote went, but so skillful is MacDonald that she actually generates suspense as to its outcome.

“Ballot Measure 9” is a truly frightening film. It shows how a group of well-organized members of the extreme religious right used the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality as a license to indulge in vicious, no-holds-barred rabble-rousing.

A lesbian points out that the Bible was used in the same way to oppress African Americans and women, but clearly these religious fundamentalists are the last to consider the implications of extensive biblical scholarship arguing that the Bible’s homophobic passages are apocryphal.

In any event, we’re shown the OCA using timeless “big lie” tactics, hurling specious statistics and depicting gays and lesbians as the most depraved minions of Satan imaginable. It raised homophobia in Oregon to a life-endangering level during the campaign.

The OCA is especially adept at exploiting the right-wing buzz phrases “special rights” and “family values” against gays and lesbians. At the same time, the OCA’s media offensive united the state’s gays and lesbians as never before, and they fought back in a manner that invited the general public to perceive the larger civil and constitutional rights issues. As a young high school student asks an OCA panel: “Who’s next?”

Through MacDonald’s interplay of interviews with representatives of both sides, a lot of blunt truths emerge as the campaign grows increasingly bitter.

“Ballot Measure 9” makes painfully clear just how widespread ignorance of homosexuality is. As one lesbian remarks, it’s as if the OCA believed everybody was born heterosexual, but that gays and lesbians chose to be “wicked.” We see that those who believe that sexual orientation is a matter of choice also believe that gays and lesbians are somehow able to “recruit” youngsters to their “cause,” a fear greatly heightened in the age of AIDS.

MacDonald reveals the OCA painting most gays as child molesters in the face of decades of scientific research that indicates otherwise; that more young adults, the majority presumably the parents of young children, than older people were in favor of Ballot 9 suggests just how potent the OCA message is.

“Ballot Measure 9” is a stirring, deeply troubling account of what combatants on both sides would agree is a first round in what is rapidly becoming a nationwide human rights struggle, one sure to figure in next year’s presidential campaign.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film is appropriate for teens but is too intense for those younger.

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‘Ballot Measure 9’

A Zeitgeist Films release. Producer-director Heather MacDonald. Executive producer James D. Brubaker. Principal cinematographer Ellen Hansen. Editors MacDonald, B.B. Jorissen. Music Julian Dylan Russell. Running time: 1 hour, 12 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Los Feliz 3, 1822 N. Vermont Ave., (213) 664-2169.