THE CHALLENGE

Colorado Springs is home to Focus on the Family and James Dobson, one of leaders of the opposition to marriage equality in America.

One of the main tenets of the antigay movement is that people are born straight, and being gay is a choice. Any gay person who wants the right to get married simply needs to “choose” to become straight.

Tim Gill, one of the leaders in the fight for marriage equality, theorized that it would help the cause if we could shift people’s beliefs towards the idea that people are born gay. Gill gave us a $1M budget and 30 days to prove that it’s possible to move the needle on “born vs choose” in this conservative region.

The target was the “moveable middle”, with an emphasis on “soccer moms” 30 to 50, women who had little, if any, connection with the issue. The strategy: to give them a way to relate to the issue, with a strong emotional hook, and follow up with a factual rationale.