Strategist behind Proposition 8 is loved, feared

Strategist behind Proposition 8 is loved, feared


Schubert is feared not only because he wins - voters have defeated same-sex marriage measures 32 times, including some campaigns led by him - but because he is able to seed doubt in swing voters with ads that show how legalizing same-sex marriage would affect children.

The website of the group ProtectMarriageMaine.com, which opposes same-sex marriage in the current campaign in Maine, predicts that "children will pay a severe price" - with lifelong consequences - if marriage in Maine is redefined:

Social science provides clear evidence that children raised outside of intact families experience a wide range of problems that limit their prospects for long-term success.

Sounds familiarThe website's wording sounds similar to the findings of a study Schubert is touting, a much-criticized recent University of Texas research project about children whose parents had a same-sex relationship.

The study, funded by $800,000 from conservative organizations, compared children of people who said they had a same-sex relationship in their lives to kids raised in other family structures.

[...] critics say the study is misleading because the parents are not necessarily same-sex couples who raised children together.

Led by Gary Gates, a national expert on gay demographics at the Williams Institute at UCLA's Law School, 200 scholars signed a letter to Social Science Research, the well-regarded academic journal that published the paper, saying they had serious concerns about the scholarly merit of the study.

Twice given the most valuable public affairs professional award by a national political consultants group, his Schubert-Flint Public Relations firm did $2.3 million in gross billings in 2010, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.

Earlier this year, Schubert split from his longtime business partner, Jeff Flint, to start a firm devoted solely to social issues, primarily opposing same-sex marriage initiatives.

After Prop. 8, he said, there was a pervasive sense of fear in the business community that if somebody hired me, despite my track record, that they would become the subject of criticism by gay activists.

James Salt, executive director of the 45,000-member group Catholics United, said, People like Frank Schubert have a corrosive effect on the Catholic faith.

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