NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Six years after the famous Ellen DeGeneres “coming out” episode aired on ABC, primetime TV is set to break ground again this fall with the introduction of same-sex parents in lead roles.
In October, ABC will debut “It’s All Relative,” a comedy involving two homosexual men whose daughter marries the son of Irish Catholic parents. The plot focuses on the tension between the two families, whose beliefs clash.
Additionally, FOX’s “A Minute with Stan Hooper” will feature a male homosexual couple in a supporting role.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is calling the fall season a “critical step forward” in the portrayal of same-sex couples.
“My partner of 22 years and I can finally look at our three children and tell them there is a family on television that looks like us,” GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry said in a press release praising “It’s All Relative.”
But Christians and social conservatives are viewing the fall television season as another attack on the traditional American family. The debut of the two programs featuring same-sex couples comes at a time when the country is debating the issue of same-sex “marriage.”
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Commission, told Baptist Press that television has played a large role in the normalization of homosexuality in America.
“They’re depicted as perfectly normal and as … appealing,” he said. “You don’t have any negative portrayals of homosexuals. It’s clearly propaganda.”
Studies show that when compared to heterosexuals, homosexuals are far more promiscuous and are at a significantly greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
A total of 18 primetime shows — nine on broadcast television, nine on cable TV — will feature homosexual characters, according to a tally by GLAAD.
But that count does not include reality programs such as Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and CBS’s “Amazing Race,” which sometimes garner as many viewers as dramas and comedies. CBS referred to a male homosexual couple — which won the most recently concluded “Amazing Race” contest — as being “married.”
GLAAD’s count also does not include daytime programming, such as soaps, which occasionally include homosexual characters. ABC’s “All My Children” features a female homosexual.
Homosexual characters on television are so prevalent that GLAAD has a special section on its website, “TV Gayed,” showing each day’s dish of programming featuring homosexual characters.
Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute in Washington, D.C., told Baptist Press that homosexual-themed programming “really took off in the ’90s.”
“When the public is subjected to nearly non-stop homosexual propaganda during primetime for a good 10 years or so, it’s bound to have an effect,” he said. “… The gays learned long ago that the most powerful propaganda is that which is disarming, so [today’s programming] has a great deal of humor in it. That’s why ‘Will and Grace’ was far more powerful than any political ploy they’ve sent.”
Both Knight and Land pointed to the influence of MTV on the younger generation, which according to polls are far more accepting of same-sex “marriage” than the general population.
“MTV has been a toxic influence since its inception, and in recent years it has taken special care to promote homosexuality,” Knight said. “And I think that is maybe the single most powerful influence on kids today that is generating pro-homosexual views.”
According to GLAAD, NBC leads the way with three programs featuring homosexual characters (“ER,” “Will & Grace” and “Coupling”). ABC has two (“It’s All Relative” and “NYPD Blue”), as does FOX (“A Minute with Stan Hooper” and “Oliver Beene”). CBS (“Two and a Half Men”) and UPN (“Half & Half”) each have one.
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