Dear GLAAD:
I was recently listening to XM 22, a radio station heard nationwide, as two female DJs spoke out against the most recent episode of GLEE, which featured two "straight" girls intimately close in the beginning of the episode. One DJ had not seen the episode, and the other had. They had an issue with the experimentation that could possibly influence their children to "experiment" with the same sex. They said it was unnatural, and that they would not allow their kids to continue to watch the popular, prime-time show. They wanted callers to voice their opinions, and I called immediately.
The first caller was a lesbian who said that she couldn't understand why they were upset. The DJs then changed their argument to say that they didn't agree that lesbians were being exploited. The woman-caller said she is a lesbian, and that she did not feel as though the show was exploiting lesbians.
The call ended calmly, and they then put me on the air. I told them that with the recent suicides, they are sending the wrong message to kids who may be gay and to those who are being bullied. Again, they said they didn't want to see lesbians being exploited. I told them that the show does not exploit gays and lesbians, but that their comments that the show went too far by showing two girls in an intimate setting is confusing to kids who are questioning their sexuality. By saying two same-sex kids experimenting is unnatural is conveying the message that being gay is unnatural. I told them that being gay is a natural AND good thing, and that kids who are confused should be okay with either outcome. They again said that they don't want their kids to see two straight people experimenting with being gay. I said, kids WILL experiment, whether it is with someone of the same sex or the opposite sex. One DJ said, "I never experimented!" I said, "Yes, you did! With a man! That was how you knew you're heterosexual!"
At that point, a producer came on the air to defend the two DJs by saying, "This is a matter of what is appropriate and inappropriate for a 'family show.'" I said, "the show comes on at 8pm; it is considered a prime-time slot. Also, Glee is not going to influence any student to experiment in either way. Kids will do what they do anyway. They are not easily swayed by television."
They cut me off, and went to commercial. Afterwards, I thought to myself, "three against one; wasn't THAT just a form of bullying??"
--
Kevin L. Malin
Atlanta, GA
1 comment:
Ugh those radio people are so stupid. They had an entire episode on glee before about glee kids (and adults) having sex and not being virgins. One of the glee kids was pregnant. So if their claim was that this is too early a time slot to show things like those two girls kissing, then they should have started protesting right off the bat at the first season. LOL on a side note, the people getting upset about things being on an early time slot thing reminded me of that cctv episode we did years ago where people got upset - remember? Lol. I guess they had more to get upset about at that time then now!
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