Conservative Christians rage at “unnatural” TurboTax ad showing a loving gay couple

The anti-LGBTQ+ organization One Million Moms (OMM) has condemned a new, humorous 30-second advertisement from the income tax preparation software company TurboTax. OMM claims the ad, which features a male same-sex couple, tries to “push the gay lifestyle and redefine ‘family.'”

The ad features Doug and Andre, a mixed-race male couple who say they “navigated a turbulent housing market” by buying a “boater home,” a playful word for a houseboat that sounds similar to the word “motor home.”

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Andre has his arm around Doug’s shoulder throughout the commercial, including in one scene where the couple sits on a couch and Andre says, “We didn’t know the first thing about filing taxes as first-time homebuyers.”

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At this point, Monica, a tax expert, appears on the couple’s tablet computer screen and says that TurboTax helps millions of new homeowners file taxes with complete accuracy “on land and sea.”

The commercial ends with the couple hearing a dolphin noise. Looking concerned, the couple leans forward and Andre asks, “Was that a shark?” Doug answers, “Yes.”

“It appears that TurboTax is promoting same-sex marriage to please a small portion of the population while pushing away the much larger percentage of potential conservative customers,” OMM wrote. “Millions of Americans strongly believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. But TurboTax would rather take sides than remain neutral in the culture war.”

“In an attempt to redefine ‘family,’ TurboTax is using public airwaves to subject families to the decay of morals and values while belittling the sanctity of marriage,” OMM continues. “Even though homosexuality is unnatural, this advertisement is pushing the LGBTQ agenda.”

Despite the group’s claim, homosexuality is completely natural, being found in humans and other animal species throughout history.

“An even greater concern is that the controversial commercial is airing during prime time, when children are likely watching television,” the group added. “It is not a company’s job to introduce so-called social issues such as this to our children. TurboTax is glorifying sin, and no sin should be honored. TurboTax should have never crossed this line.”

OMM — an offshoot of the anti-LGBTQ+ American Family Association — then encourages its followers to sign a petition telling the company to pull its inclusive ad immediately. They claim to have gotten over 13,000 signatures on their petition so far.

OMM’s petition to TurboTax says, “I disagree with the LGBTQ agenda you are forcing on families in your controversial ad… I am not buying into your social agenda… Your latest ad offends me, as well as many other conservative customers. If TurboTax continues to air this inappropriate commercial, then I will avoid your services in the coming tax season.”

Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, is a multi-billion dollar business, according to the investigative journalism site ProPublica. The site also notes that Intuit has waged a 20-year battle to stop the IRS from offering free online tax preparation software to its citizens, just as many other world countries have done.

Though TurboTax evaded the IRS’s proposal, in part, by promising to provide free online filing to tens of millions of lower-income taxpayers, ProPublica writes, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently declared that TurboTax violated federal laws and deceived consumers by advertising its “free” tax services that many customers weren’t qualified for, often charging customers hundreds of dollars instead.

The FTC decided that Intuit can’t advertise its services as free unless they are free for all customers. However, Intuit said it would appeal the FTC’s “deeply flawed decision” to a federal circuit court. Last May, roughly 4.4 million people were deemed eligible to receive checks from TurboTax after Intuit’s 50-state class action settlement for “allegedly steering millions of low-income Americans away from free tax-filing services,” CNN reported.

OMM, which only has 108,000 social media followers on Facebook and X, has a habit of throwing a fit anytime any company anywhere publicly acknowledges the existence of queer people.

Their past moral outrage has been directed at Parents magazine for featuring a same-sex couple, an anti-smoking ad that mentioned erectile dysfunction, Highlights magazine for acknowledging gay people, Scholastic books for featuring LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books, the Roseanne reboot for featuring a non-binary child, a Disney cartoon series for its brief scene of two men kissing, a Zales jewelry commercial for featuring a lesbian couple, the fairy tale drama series Once Upon a Time for showing a lesbian kiss, a 30-second TV ad for featuring an affectionate male same-sex couple, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for featuring trans and nonbinary performers, and an ad showing a lesbian couple playing with their laundry.