Boy am I glad I have the Mormon Church screening prime-time tv for me. Otherwise, I might think gay people were "OK" or "normal."
It has been reported that the LDS Church-owned KSL-TV (NBC affiliate) in Salt Lake City will not be airing NBC''s new sitcom, The New Normal this fall because the management found it unsuitable for family entertainment. Well, for whose family? And who are they to make that determination?
We have a whole federal agency assigned to rate and label shows to let viewers know what to expect. We don't need the owners of stations deciding what is suitable for us, do we?
The show is about a gay couple in LA who are using a surrogate to have a child. And the LDS Church-owned station KSL-TV thinks this is not OK for families to see.
I haven't seen the show. And since I live in Utah, I guess I won' get to. Because, you know, as a grown woman with a bachelor's and a law degree, I'm not capable of making that determination for myself.
Will & Grace was OK with KSL-TV, and anyone who saw it knows it was rife with sexual inuendo. My parents even commented at times that it was "raunchy" because of the lines Karen had. But both Jack and Will were mostly "safe" gays. They were single, alone, funny, and asexual. I'm guessing Mr. and Mr. Normal are going to have a NORMAL relationship. And that includes S - E - X.
I live here, and I have no particular problem with Mormons or any other person of any other faith so long as it is not being imposed on me. In fact, when a recent incident occurred in Provo (a Dept of Transportation construction sign was altered to say "God Hates Gays) I did not make a stink or write a blog because there are idiots everywhere. I wrote an email to the state DOT about it and got a really nice response apologizing, explaining that the workers forgot to secure the sign and it was altered during the night, letting me know it was removed, and assuring me a police report was filed. I knew it would be handled that way. People here in Utah, as a rule, are respectful, kind, honest and caring, in part because of their faith. But what KSL-TV is doing is the very definition of imposition.
Younger Mormons (and that includes some my age, too) are not as homophobic as the church leadership and some have expressed to me their embarrassment and/or confusion at the LDS Church's leadership's attitude towards gay people. There's even a gay student club at BYU (the club is "active" but the students, not so much). So, I expect the passing of time will bring change. But spending $20 million in California to make sure gay people cannot get married is more than a passing interest. It's a campaign. This censorship is another part of that campaign.
I grew up in the south attending a pentecostal church. Although it was before my time, white southern churches were pretty notorious for advocating segregation, a shameful mark against them looking back. The racists endorsing segregation were not afraid of black people. They were afraid that black people being elevated to equality would diminish them, remove their position of authority.
Likewise, it's not that the KSL guys (and the LDS church leadership) fear gay people, per se. They fear that society will start to view gay as "OK" or "normal," and as that happens, their position as a moral authority will be diminished.
Ironically, the thing that diminishes the moral authority of a church is not the embracing of those who are different by society, but the exclusion and demeaning of them by that church. You'd think, after so many lessons from history, these guys could Get Above Their Raisin' and actually be moral leaders instead of the guardians of bigotry.
Homosexuality is either a sin or its not. If it is not, then any well meaning honest fundamentalist who argues against gay rights really is a bigot.
ReplyDeleteIf its not, then any well meaning honest fundamentalist who argues for gay rights is really a hypocrite.
So is it a sin or is it not? Ready, GO! (ducking behind desk)
whoops paragraph 2 should say "If it is" - Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWe used to be told that white people marrying black people was a sin. And scripture was quoted to support that too.
ReplyDeleteMy Bible tells me not to judge others. It's actually one of the few things Jesus taught. Love each other. Care for the poor. Love God. Do not judge. Do not make money on people's faith.
Campaigning to deprive people of rights because they are different (even if you think that difference is a sin) is bigotry. It is the highest form of judgment, something God has reserved for himself.
There is no moral justification for bigotry and discrimination. Period. If someone thinks homosexuality is a sin, then I suggest that person not engage in it.
Reliance on Biblical guidance as an excuse to ostracize and demonize gay people is pathetic. It is another example of the picking and choosing that a lot of fundamentalists engage in. They claim homosexuality is an abomination that requires us to make gay people second-class citizens, to pass laws, to regulate how they live their lives. BUT I don't see those same people advocating the passage of laws to deprive adulterers, fornicators, or divorced people of rights, social status, the ability to adopt children.
My Bible tells me we are all sinners and that only one who is without sin has permission to judge others.
Finally, whether or not it is a "sin" according to one religion or another is irrelevant. We live in a free society, not a theocracy. Our laws are not based on any theology, but on principles of individual liberty, limited only when our right to be free injures or damages someone else. In a free society, consenting adults have the right to associate, be intimate, form a family, and propagate as THEY deem appropriate, not as you or I or the government deems appropriate.
See? No need to duck.
Brilliant post. MTE. Wish they'd listen ...
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