Marcia Segelstein, a columnist for the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow, decried today the representation of gays and lesbians and families led by same-sex parents in television shows such as Glee and Modern Family and the movie The Kids Are All Right. Earlier this year, the AFA launched a boycott of Glee for allegedly promoting “deviant sexuality,” “homosexual behavior,” “idolatry” and “vulgar” choreography.
Citing the work of right-wing Washington Times columnist Mary Beth Hicks and her new book, “Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left's Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom,” Segelstein claims that shows like Modern Family represent “destructive, negative influences of the culture,” lamenting that in the entertainment industry the “Kool-Aid is free and it's being handed out by the gallon”:
Christian parents have a responsibility to do everything they can to protect their children from the destructive, negative influences of the culture. But I also believe they should be concerned about the kids who make up the rest of their children's generation.
After all, they'll be the ones voting in the coming years on same-sex marriage laws. They'll be the ones serving on school boards and determining sex ed curricula. They'll be the ones debating whether tolerance applies to Christians. They'll be the ones who, actively or passively, decide if it matters whether children are raised in traditional family structures.
Author Mary Beth Hicks in her new book, Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid, argues that because America's future depends on the next generation, our responsibility doesn't end with our own kids.
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Just look at the TV show that recently won the Emmy for this year's Outstanding Comedy Series -- Modern Family. Here's a brief description of the ABC show from TVsquad.com:
"Dad Jay tries to be accepting of his adult son Mitchell's gay lover Cameron and adopted Asian baby, Lily, while Mitchell and his sister Claire try to be accepting of divorced Jay's remarriage to the much younger, voluptuous Colombian Gloria, which came with Gloria's wise-beyond-his-years pre-teen son Manny. If we had to point out the most 'normal' member of the Pritchett brood, or, at least, the one who puts the most fun in dysfunctional? Definitely Cameron, the flamboyant, flashy-attired boyfriend of Mitchell."
We've come a long way since The Waltons.
Pushing its agenda via the big screen, Hollywood gave us The Kids Are All Right. The plot revolves around a lesbian couple with two teenage children who seek out their biological father, referred to as "sperm donor" by the moms. The title really says it all. We're supposed to believe that everything's hunky dory in this non-traditional family.
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A discussion of current media pushing an agenda would be incomplete without mentioning the phenomenon called Glee. Ryan Murphy is the creator and director of the Fox hit in which storylines often revolve around gay and bisexual characters. Hicks writes that Murphy "is an outspoken gay activist who uses his creative platform to question the concept of heternormativity in storylines about teens."
In fact, GLAAD (the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) tracks the representation of gays and lesbians on television. In 2008, a total of 22 series on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and CW featured 35 LGBT characters. That's a record.
The Kool-Aid is free and it's being handed out by the gallon.
