Suspended Gallaudet Official Wants Hate Groups To Stop Using Her In Ads

Within days of Gallaudet diversity head Angela McCaskill's suspension for signing Maryland's petition to repeal same-sex marriage, her name and image were being used by hate groups as the latest example of homofascism. McCaskill wants them to stop.

“No one has the right to decide what my signature meant,” McCaskill said at a news conference. Gallaudet University suspended McCaskill, and this Maryland Marriage Alliance ad warns that it could happen to anyone: “She’s not alone. When marriage has been redefined elsewhere, as Question 6 does, people who believe in traditional marriage have been punished.” “That kind of threat is real,” said Derek McCoy, Maryland Marriage Alliance. “She has been neutral. She has not opined one way or another. The marriage alliance folks have taken a position for her. Well, that’s the same thing Gallaudet did on the other side of the spectrum,” her attorney Wyndal Gordon said. While same-sex marriage supporters have condemned McCaskill’s suspension, the ad escalates the debate over redefining marriage. “I’m sure folks on the other side don’t like the ad because it’s telling the truth,” McCoy said.

The NOM-affiliated Maryland Marriage Alliance says they will not discontinue the ad campaign.  Gallaudet says that their "legal counsel is working to have the footage that is copyrighted by Gallaudet removed from the advertisement.”  McCaskill has also appeared in clips produced by the Family Research Council, apparently without her consent.