San Francisco mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty, a gay dad, has a new ad out featuring him and his daughter. The wonderful thing about the ad is that they could be any candidate and child—the fact that he’s a gay dad is completely incidental.
The ad is very sweet—and that’s not an adjective I often use to describe political ads. “Hard hitting” and “cutthroat” more often come to mind. Occasionally “stirring.” Whether the kinder, gentler approach works for Dufty remains to be seen.
As Andy Towle mentions over at Towleroad, too, Dufty’s family was the target of television news anchorman Pete Wilson five years ago. Wilson criticized Dufty’s decision to have and raise a child with a lesbian friend, calling the child “a travesty. Or a potential travesty.”
While it’s hard to tell much about reality from ads in general, Dufty and his daughter certainly seem happy here. That’s no travesty.
(I should note: Being on the East Coast as I am, my knowledge of local West Coast candidates is limited. I know almost nothing about Dufty’s political record or plans for the city. My comments are strictly about his ad, not his candidacy, about which I withhold judgment.)
It’s also neat to me that his daughter looks pretty androgynous. I live in the city and actually overheard his daughter’s mom talking about that, that her daughter wanted to look like (or be?) a boy and it’s ok ’cause “that’s how we roll.”