The Washington Center

TWC 3233 Campaigning for a Cause

A comparison between Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family and the Broad
Committee for Equality

Dbora L. Aponte Martnez

Professor Robert SanGeorge
October 15th, 2013

This research paper will focus on two related issues: LGBTTQI 1 adoption rights and gender
perspective in public schools in Puerto Rico. Two bills were introduced by members of the
Puerto Rican Senate in March 2013. The first one would amend Puerto Ricos Civil Code to
remove the requirement for an adoptive couple to be of the opposite sex. This bill, if passed,
would allow same-sex partners to jointly adopt children as well as to carry out step parent
adoptions. The other bill is for the inclusion of a gender perspective in all public schools
curriculum. This essentially means that schools would revise their curriculum (text books,
lessons, activities etc.) and adjust it on the basis of gender equality.
The two campaigns that will be compared and contrasted are Puerto Rico for the Institution of
Family2 and the Broad Committee for Equality.3 These are the two major and most influential
campaigns when it comes to LGBTTQI rights in Puerto Rico. One of them supports expanding
rights to the LGBTTQI community while the other one works towards maintaining the
traditional heterosexual family unit intact.
Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family is against marriage equality, abortion, LGBTTQI rights,
gender perspective and equality in schools. The Broad Committee for Equality is the complete
opposite of Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family: a progressive, nonpartisan coalition who is
pro marriage equality, pro-choice, pro LGBTTQI rights and also supports gender perspective in
schools.

1 Acronym meaning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer and Intersexual
2 http://prporlafamilia.com/
3 http://cabepr.blogspot.com/

I.

Campaign Objectives

The Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family campaign objective is to stop these two bills and
spread traditional family values in order to defend the real and original family structure which is
the heterosexual family according to them.
The Broad Committee for Equality website mentions the campaigns objective which derives
from the following mission statement: our values are equality, respect towards diversity, social
justice, solidarity and inclusion. We understand that these bills go hand-in-hand with our values
and legitimate aspirations to guarantee basic human rights to every human being regardless of
gender identity or sexual orientation. Their campaign intends to make legislators from the
Popular Democratic Party (majority legislators) and the governor (PPD also) keep their word and
pass legislation in favor of the LGBTTQI community as they promised during their respective
political campaigns.
II.

Target audiences

The Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family campaigns target audience is composed of both
genders, straight people from ages 18 and up, mostly affiliated with a Christian religion
(predominantly Roman Catholics which is the dominant religion in Puerto Rico 4), heterosexual
married couples with children and people who are mainly conservative and uphold traditional
values.

Their campaign also targets social media users (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and

BlogSpot).
4 The Global Catholic Population. Pew Research, 13 Feb. 2013. Web.
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/

There are audience categories that were not relevant to this campaign such as income and
education.

The campaign targeted people from all types of socio-economic backgrounds,

incomes and levels of education.

Puerto Rico for the Institution of Family wanted to reach out and retain their solid target
audience who is already convinced of the traditional values that the organization defends. Puerto
Rico for the Institution of Family did not risk their target audience to reach out to others; instead
they concentrated on mobilizing their own conservative religious communities.
The Broad Committee for Equality campaigns target audience is composed of both genders but
also includes transgendered and intersexual individuals. Their target audience is aged 18 and up
and composed of people with at least some college education who can understand, accept and
join the struggle for diversity and inclusiveness. Their campaign also targets social media users
(mainly on Facebook and via their blog on Word Press).
The Broad Committee for Equality target audience is wider than Puerto Rico for the Institution
of Familys target audience because their message is inclusiveness and equality which establishes
the need to reach out to more people who do not necessarily understand the concepts of equality,
tolerance, diversity, inclusiveness and so forth.
There were some categories that were not relevant to this analysis such as political affiliation,
income and marital status because the Broad Committee for Equality expanded their target
audience to include people from all political parties (conservative but socially moderate
individuals, moderates, liberals and progressives), income backgrounds and marital statuses.

III.

Framing the issues and messages

The PRFI campaign centers their message based on religious/biblical concepts. They believe
that God has a purpose for heterosexual marriage and that purpose is reproduction; man was
made for woman and that should not be questioned. They frame their message according to
these principles. The main argument and the primary message they use is that children need a
mother and a father, a normal heterosexual family unit, to develop into normal adults. Theyve
also stated as their secondary message that allowing same-sex couples to adopt children would
ruin these childrens lives because they would grow up confused about their sexuality.
On the issue of gender perspective in schools, PRFI frames the issue similarly. Theyve indicated
that a gender perspective would confuse children and teens in public schools and would make
them question what is natural according to them which is being heterosexual. In other words, a
gender perspective in public schools would make children and teens gay.
The BCE campaign frames the issue as a human rights issue, stating on their website the
following: the rights of the LGBTTQI community also fit in our democracy and justice
without equality is not justice. Their argument and primary message is that everyone without
exception should be equally protected under the laws. These laws also include adoption rights
and zero tolerance for bullying in schools which supports the implementation of a gender
perspective in public schools curriculum to guarantee equality and a protocol to handle
homophobic bullying cases.
Their main hook for the first issue is the general well-being of the child. In most cases, one
person in a same-sex couple has the sole custody of a child and the other person cannot have it
because the law does not permit it. BCE has stated that if something were to happen to the

person who has sole custody of that child (ex. Long-term sickness, death, incarceration etc.) the
other parent is unable to protect that child because they do not have the childs custody and
cannot file for joint custody under the present law.
The BCE does have an advantage in their campaign because they are using a real-life same-sex
couple composed of two women who have raised a child who is now a teenager to exemplify
their struggle. This same-sex couple has been trying for a long time to get joint custody of the
teenager but the court keeps denying their request.5
The BCE campaign is very fact-based. Apart from the same-sex couple exemplifying the
campaigns struggle and support for the same-sex adoption bill, theyve carried out other
statistical studies and surveys dealing with homophobic bullying in public schools.
Joe Keohane argues in his article6 titled How Facts Backfire that facts dont necessarily have
the power to change our minds. The BCE campaign has indeed proven Keohanes argument:
even though they have presented empirical information to refute the information presented by the
PRFI campaign, leaders and followers of the PRFI campaign have become even more rooted in
their beliefs.
IV.

Use of visual images

The PRFI uses a lot of visual images in their campaign in comparison to CBEs campaign which
doesnt concentrate on the use of visual images. PRFI main logo is a four unit (mom, dad, son
5 http://aldia.microjuris.com/2013/02/21/tribunal-supremo-deniega-adopcion-por-personas-del-mismosexo/
6 Joe Keohane, How facts backfire, Boston Globe, July 11, 2010
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/

and daughter) heterosexual family in bright pink holding hands. In addition to its logo, the
campaign has partnered with other religious organizations to fund multiple billboards on
important avenues with the face of a crying baby and the following message: I need a mom and
a dad. Say no to same-sex adoption.
The main visual image of CBEs campaign is a LGBTTQI flag. Apart from this image, they also
have a low-budget poster campaign in which they ask people at their events to pose for pictures
holding up a poster that says equality.7
In Nathaniel Swiggers dissertation titled Seeing is believing: The strategy behind campaign
imagery and its impact on voters he concludes that strong visual images have a major influence
when it comes to campaigns:
The results from these experiments show a strong connection between image and substance.
Regardless of whether or not citizens in an actual campaign would feel the same way about an
issue as the subjects in this experiment, there seems little reason to think that they would not
learn the same things about the issue from its campaign ad imagery. It now seems clear that
individuals form substantive impressions about an issue based on the visual information
presented in a campaign ad. This information signal exists independent of the verbal information
in the ad and affects overall perceptions of the issue. If anything, it seems that repeated exposure
over the course of the campaign would increase the strength of this information signal.
Campaigns looking to manipulate people, then, might do well to remember that people believe
their eyes as well as their ears.8

7https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?
set=a.526537200719060.1073741827.506080469431400&type=1&l=8f1f44a820

Based on Swiggers dissertation, the PRFI would have a major advantage on the issue because of
its expansive use of strong visual images, such as the crying baby, that appeal not only to its
target audience but to many people outside it too.
V.

Online and offline outreach tools

PRFI has participated in public hearings regarding both projects. They have also signed petitions
(online and offline), hosted protest events in front of the Capitol and started a campaign
requesting their target audience to call their legislators in regards to both projects.

They

organized a big march titled Puerto Rico stands up for the traditional family that had a great
turnout with thousands of people. They have also held panels on both projects as an educational
outreach strategy too. PRFI has on their website a tab exclusively for donations in which they
specify their bank account number and a tab with press releases plus another one with articles
written by their members.
Jakob Nielsen in his article titled Streams, Walls and Feeds: Distributing content through social
network and RSS9 identifies three main things an organization or company needs to achieve to
have a successful social media outreach tool: 1) the messages posted contain something of
substance, 2) they were timely, and 3) they provided the kind of information users expected from
the organization or company. If we were to use these guidelines to compare both campaigns, the
PRFI campaign would only meet the first and third requirement because they post multiple

8 Swigger, Nathaniel. Seeing is believing: The strategy behind campaign imagery and its impact on
voters. Diss. University of Illinois, 2009. Print.
9 Jakob Nielsen, Streams, Walls and Feeds: Distributing content through social network and RSS, NN
Group, October 12, 2009, http://www.nngroup.com/articles/writing-social-media-facebook-twitter/

messages a day with an enormous variety of links. The BCE campaign barely posts on their
Facebook page unless theyre hosting an event or press conference.
The BCE campaign has also participated in public hearings regarding both projects and their
online outreach tools are similar to those of the PRFI campaign. The main difference in online
outreach tools is that BCEs campaign does not have a Youtube or Twitter account. Their main
online outreach tool is a Facebook page and their Word Press blog. Another major difference is
that they do not have a donation tab in any of their online outreach tools.
According to a Pew Research Survey on Internet and Campaigning conducted in 2010 10, 1 out of
5 adults use Twitter and other social media sites for political purposes and 24% of all US adults
get their news from the Internet. Another interesting fact is that 65% of online adults who use
social media sites describe their experience in positive terms.11 This means that the PRFI
campaign has another advantage when it comes to online outreach because it uses more online
outreach tools than the BCE campaign which only has a Facebook page and a Word Press blog.
The BCE does compensate with its offline outreach tools. They hold open meetings and
educational panels on both projects as well as press conferences on different issues including
their protest events.

10 Smith, Aaron. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Pew Research, 27 Jan. 2011. Web.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Politics-and-social-media.aspx
11 Madden, Mary, and Kathryn Zickuhr. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Pew Research, 26 Aug.
2011. Web. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx

According to Malcolm Gladwells article The Revolution will not be tweeted 12 social networks
increase motivation but they do not increase real commitment or sacrifice in comparison to the
face-to-face meeting mechanism which the BCE handles very well through its open meetings.

VI.

The balance between negative and positive messages and images

PRFI is a little bolder when it comes to messaging and visual images. As I mentioned before,
they have billboards all over Puerto Ricos main avenues that feature a crying baby. They havent
been coy at all with their word choice using phrases such as unnatural, shameful acts against
God and gay sinners that will rot in hell. These arent exactly positive messages but they do
attract and mobilize PRFIs target audience.
The BCE isnt very big on the use of visual images but their campaign messages try to appeal to
an educated, inclusive and just audience. Their messages are more directed towards the concepts
of justice, equality and human rights for all. They concentrate on framing their issue in a positive
manner, as a human rights issue, instead of attacking their opponents.
VII.

Funding

The PRFI campaign is funded mainly by peoples donations. Their website has a tab for
donations in which they specify their bank account number. The BCE campaigns website does
not have a mechanism for online donations.

12 Malcolm Gladwell, The Revolution will not be tweeted, The New Yorker, October 4, 2010
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell

Cameron Chapman is his article titled Non Profit website design: examples and best practices 13
mentions the key factors to a successful Non Profit website: 1) Make your site donor-friendly, 2)
Make your site media-friendly, 3) Make it volunteer-friendly, 4) Make sure the purpose of your
organization is immediately apparent, 4) Make sure your content takes center stage and 5)
Include a news section or a blog. If we were to compare PRFIs website and BCEs blog using
these guidelines, the PRFI website would have an obvious advantage because it meets all of the
requirements for a successful Non Profit website design. BCE uses a Word Press design that
includes a blog/news section and is media friendly but doesnt have any donation or volunteer
information.

13 Cameron Chapman, Non Profit website design: examples and best practices, Smashing Magazine,
May 14th 2009, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/14/non-profit-website-design-examples-andbest-practices/