If the show has a couple of gay couples doing everyday things like running a business and this and that, then the message /is/ that their sexual orientation is of no consequence.
I have a wife, two children - a family. In college and high school, I dated all kinds of girls. There wasn't any point where I went around with a t-shirt proclaiming my my heterosexuality or felt revolutionary or defiant holding hands with a girlfriend. This is just normal, right? I don't even think about it, but just having those experiences, and having my family pretty much broadcasts my sexuality, even if I don't think about the fact that it does. I don't feel guilty about it, I don't feel a need to hide anything, and I don't feel like I'm breaking any sort of taboo if I kiss my wife in public. So, look at this from the perspective of a homosexual. Even engaging in non-overt displays of affection with a partner like a kiss or holding hands or the like is sneered at, and the message is that they don't need to "broadcast their sexuality" or the like. Your idea of bringing a homosexual couple into a situation for the sole purpose of "introduc[ing] people of different sexual backgrounds" sounds almost like you'd want to take your kids to the Gay Zoo. "Look, there's Lance and Barry giving each other backrubs. Throw some peanuts at them!" You're implicitly stating that these people's sole interesting feature is the fact that they're attracted to members of the same sex, and not that they run a maple sugar facility. Mr. Rogers took kids to the Pittsburgh Ballet or the crayon factory or wherever, and there were all kinds of people there. If you're, say, and ethnic minority, it's easy for you to implicitly say "It doesn't matter who I am, I can still do this" when you're dancing to Swan Lake or explaining to Mr. McFeeley how mail gets sorted. However, if you're gay, it's hard to point out that you may be gay, and also utterly "normal", unless you wear some sort of notification of that fact or are seen with your partner, at which point, people who fancy themselves as "moralists" or "traditionalists" start clucking their disapproval. Saying that it's "up to parents to decide" when to "introduce" their kids to homosexuality is a classic red herring. This serves the same purpose as the desire to only have gay couples presented for display when the content is appropriately geared only towards the sexuality of the principles. Gay couples have as much right to exist and live happily as some backwards, terrified parent has the right to "find the right time" to tell Billy and Sally that there are people out there who are different from them. - Jim G wrote: >There should be a gay couple in the cartoon if, and only if, one of the >intents of the show is to introduce people of different sexual backgrounds. >If the show has nothing to do with this aspect of the characters, or makes >no attempt to discuss this aspect of the characters, then there is no reason >to even bring it up. > >A person's sexual orientation should be of NO consequence, and is shouldn't >even be the business of anyone else. If, however, the intent is to discuss >differences in sexual orientation, and people of different orientations >agree to discuss their personal situations for the means of understanding, >that is fine. > >It then becomes the responsibility of parent to decide. Is my child ready >for this discussion? If so, is this show a good way to introduce the >subject? Etc. etc. > > > >>My question would be why does there have to be a gay couple in the >>show? It's a CARTOON - an animated series. Therefore someone had to >>actively take into account the fact that these two characters were >>going to be gay and write that into the storyboard. >> >>If it were a live series or a documentary about a successful maple >>sugaring farm that happened to be run by a lesbian couple then I don't >>think that there would have been an issue - as it was there was a >>direct decision to draw these characters in. >> >>Hatton >> >> >> > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:144857 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
