A couple of interesting shows, which show how portrayal of gays is maturing (Spoiler alert)

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http://www.surfthechannel.com/info/television/The_War_at_Home/22331/S2E16.html

The link is to a stream of The War at Home

I watched both FX's 30 Days and Fox's The War at Home yesterday with both centering on a gay issue. In 30 Days it is same sex parenting while The War at Home is coming out and parental rejection.


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Both shows were remarkable for how they ended. On 30 Days a religious woman who is opposed to gay adoption is sent to live with a family of two men who have adopted 4 kids. Despite her recognition that the parents were good people and good parents and that the kids would likely be in foster care but for them, she still left thinking same sex parenting is immoral. On The War at Home, Kenny, who lives next door to the main family, come out first to the main family's father and second to his parents with his parents rejecting him. Usually on a sit com the parents would come around and accept him but instead Kenny moves in. This arc goes on for six weeks until, his parents are forced to either take him back or see him in foster care. Even then there is no real acceptance. But also on The War at Home, you get to see the main character mello a bit in the face of helping Kenny through this situation.

What is great about both shows is that they let us have a complex ending. It doesn't all work out in the end. That is how a mature society presents its issues, in a realistic way. If you can catch either show I suggest doing so.

[Creideiki]

1. I wonder

Would a "mature society" leave the issue of race the same way? Would they put a white supremacist with an African American family and let the white supremacist walk away still saying the black family isn't as good as him without there being severe mocking?

Would a "mature society" allow a family to reject a daughter because she was dating a boy of a different race?

How about religion? Would a "mature society" put a conservative Christian with a Muslim family and let the Christian leave saying that she believes the Muslims are "immoral"? Would everyone get to really see that this isn't a complex issue and that bigotry is wrong?

Would a "mature society" allow a Christian family to reject a son because he's dating a Jewish girl?

This really isn't a complex issue. I'm really dismayed that some people want to continue insisting that it is.

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2. like it or not, it is

Both shows made clear where their sentiments lay with regards to the issue, but in real life people don't flip opinions in 30 Days and they don't just accept gay kids (in many cases) without being forced to. Like it or not, life isn't all that simple. Incidently, I am sure a similar episode could be done in regards to interracial marriage and one has been done in regards to anti Islamic discrimination.

[Zuiderelle]

3. You are so right. It's actually the mark of an "immature society" that continues to allow ignorance

and bigotry to be acceptable. I saw that episode of 30 Days, and despite all the evidence that those gay parents were giving their four adopted (formerly foster) children a loving home, she still insisted that gay parents make bad parents. (Even though she agreed that they were good parents.... explain that.)

Not only that, but this example of "mature society" allowed to go unchallenged a comment from someone from the Family Research Council, an anti-gay activist organization, who claimed: "Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse, and those are all reasons for us to be concerned about placing children into that kind of setting."

There was no counter-claim, there was no one interviewed after that to defend against these disparaging remarks, despite the huge number of groups that they could have sought out for such a rebuttal. Far from being representative of a "mature society" that particular part of the episode was offensive and backward and served only to further the misconceptions and lies of homophobes.

We live in a very immature society here.

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4. The entire episode was a counter point

Sometimes actions and pictures speak way louder than words. Virtually anyone seeing that episode knew what the film makers perspective is.

[Zuiderelle]

5. That doesn't excuse the blatant lie that was left to go uncountered.

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6. I happen to think it was more powerful the way they did it

Oh, and the gay parents, and the former foster kids, who I would define as the real experts, did actually rebut the statements.

[Zuiderelle]

7. No. No one rebutted those comments at all. Here's the official statement from COLAGE:

For Immediate Release

COLAGE Media Contact: Meredith Fenton, Program Director

xxx-xxx-xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.colage.org

June 24, 2008. San Francisco, CA. COLAGE invites our members and allies to watch tonight’s episode of 30 Days. Tomorrow after you watch, visit the bulletin boards of the show to applaud the efforts of the families and youth who shared their stories. We also invite you to contact FX Networks to express concerns about a defamatory claim by an anti-gay activist that will appear, unchallenged, in the show.

30 Days, FX Networks’ original series produced by Morgan Spurlock, "examines social issues in America by immersing individuals in a life that requires them to see the world through another’s eyes,’" according to the show’s Web site. In 2006, the series won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Reality Program for the "Gay/Straight" episode.

During the June 24 episode, entitled "Same Sex Parenting," Kati, a woman who opposes gay and lesbian parents and their families, lives for 30 days with gay parents Dennis and Thomas and their four adopted sons- a family who has attended COLAGE and Rainbow Family Great Lakes Family Week in Michigan for many years. The episode includes the personal stories of kids raised by lesbian and gay parents shared by members of COLAGE Ann Arbor and COLAGE NYC.

Regrettably, the episode also features a defamatory statement by Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, an anti-gay activist organization, who claims: "Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse, and those are all reasons for us to be concerned about placing children into that kind of setting." While there is no credible scientific research that backs Sprigg’s claim - and much that disputes it - the episode presents his assertion as if it was fact and offers no credible social science experts or child health authorities to challenge Sprigg’s assertion. Indeed, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, and many other child health and social services authorities who support parenting by qualified lesbian and gay parents and dispute Sprigg’s claim.

“While we applaud the youth, adults and families who shared their experiences with Kati and Morgan Spurlock during this episode, we are disheartened that FX Networks are including defamatory and inaccurate information in the program,” shared Meredith Fenton, COLAGE Program Director. “We appreciate the opportunity for our youth and families to authentically share their lives since we know that when children, youth, and adults with LGBTQ parents and their families speak truth to power by sharing their lives with everyday Americans, that hearts and minds are changed. It’s unfortunate that the same episode provides a platform for anti-gay activists whose misinformation feeds bigotry and hatred.”

TAKE ACTION!

1. Watch the show with your family and friends. Be prepared to discuss some of the potentially sensitive emotions and issues the episode may raise.

2. Tomorrow, with our colleagues at GLAAD and Family Equality Council, COLAGE urges concerned youth, adults and families to contact FX Networks, and 20th Century Fox, to express their concerns over providing a platform for such an inaccurate, misleading claim by the Family Research Council. Community members should let FX Networks know that it is irresponsible and unacceptable to put forth such a damaging, defamatory assertion about lesbian and gay parents, and worse, refuse to include the voices of credible experts to dispute it.

3. Lastly, visit the bulletin board for 30 Days http://community.fxnetworks.com/fxcommunity/home.do} and share your support for Tom and Dennis, their sons and the other members of the COLAGE and LGBT family community who courageously shared their experiences for this show.

FX Networks:

Nick Grad
Executive Vice President of Original Programming
[phone]
[e-mail]

Chuck Saftler
Executive Vice President of Programming
[phone]
[e-mail]

Scott Seomin
Vice President of Public Relations
[phone]
[e-mail]

About COLAGE

COLAGE is a national movement of children, youth, and adults with one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) parents. We build community and work toward social justice through youth empowerment, leadership development, education, and advocacy. www.colage.org

Edited to remove the phone number and email address of COLAGE

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8. I don't need a social scientist to tell me what my eyes are seeing

or for that matter what the families themselves said. Would one have been nice, maybe, but frankly I am not sure. I think the images and the families spoke for themselves.

[Zuiderelle]

9. I watched the episode before reading that statement, and I was appalled

that they left those comments unchallenged. I don't need a social scientist to tell me what to think either, thank you very much. No one refuted the lies that Sprigg spouted and that's the bottom line. You can think that those families refuted it by example, but it doesn't change the fact that it was left unchallenged in words. Those are the sorts of things homophobes believe about us anyway, so leaving them unanswered is just feeding into their bigotry and paranoia.

We aren't going to agree on this one, dsc.

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10. fair enough

I think the episode was overall well done, I probably wouldn't have brought any experts in, but I don't think it overshadowed the whole thing that he chose to.