Would you run backwards? Would you bike backwards? Then why take California backwards?

That’s what Republicans Against 8 is asking California voters in its latest online ad, “Backwards,” released today.

“Backwards” urges voters from across the political spectrum to protect the California Dream for all families by voting No on Proposition 8–”It’s unfair. It’s unnecessary. It’s Backwards.”

Help Republicans Against 8 share this video with as many voters as possible by contributing $25, $250 or $2500 today!

I am the mother of a gay son and I am a Republican. To me gay marriage like heterosexual marriage represents the best of what Republicans stand for: Love, honor, commitment, monogamy, becoming a stronger unit together than a part. Having gay marriage legal is about equality for individuals, regardless of sexual orientation. Gay couples strive for the same things we all do. Love is love; commitment is commitment these things care not of gender. Neither should we.

Regardless of how you feel about marriage as a religious construct, civil marriage is a right that should not be taken away from any Californian.

Republicans Against 8 was formed “to complement the efforts of the No on 8 Campaign by reaching out to persuadable and undecided Republican voters with the message that opposing Proposition 8 is the conservative thing to do,” campaign manager Scott Schmidt told IN Los Angeles magazine.

That message is, “Proposition 8 violates the core conservative principles of limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty. … The right to marriage is a deeply personal choice—not one that should be left to the long arm of big government to say when, whom and whether one can marry.”

With your support, we can take this message to Republican voters across the State of California.

Hallmark has decided that celebrating all civil marriages is a good business decision and launched a concomitant line of greeting cards.

They think they can make money off of them, which means that Hallmark stands to lose revenue if Proposition 8 passes.

Prop 8 is bad for Hallmark, and bad for business.

They ask the question, “should gays be allowed to marry?” But the arguments they present against protecting the right to marry show a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between civil and religious marriage.

Civil marriage is a contractual arrangement of rights and responsibilities entered into by two persons and the government. Religious marriage is defined by a church, mosque or synagogue however they see fit.

Even before the right to civil marriage was granted to all Californians, gays and lesbians were entering into religious marriages in California, and they will continue to do so even if Proposition 8 passes. The question is whether it is fair for the Government to recognize only some denominations’ marriages while not recognizing others’.

These are major distinctions that appear to be overlooked in the debate over marriage equality here in California.