Television has done something I’ve not given any thought to until this past year. Television has seemingly pushed a specific agenda that basically began with the broadcast of a certain episode of All In The Family way back in the 1970’s.
For those who don’t know or remember All In The Family, it was a weekly sitcom that starred Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, the bigoted head of a blue collar household. This particular sitcom was rather groundbreaking for its time: It touched on various different issues that were – and in some cases still are – taboo. Racism and bigotry were the major topics of the day for this show, but this particular episode in 1971 was the genesis of a tv show evolution you would just never see on The Brady Bunch. It dealt with homosexuality. Not in a positive or negative way, but in a way that shot the stereotype out of the water. the show presented a character that Archie Bunker described as “queer” and a “fag”, both words that would bring on public shaming if you used them in a 70’s context today.
It turned out that the “dandified” man Archie derided was apparently a heterosexual. The homosexual in the episode turned out to be a burly former professional athlete: Big, strong, muscular, etc. That was the twist of this particular episode.
In the years since that episode, sitcom creators and writers have introduced gay characters in a plethora of tv shows, innundating viewers with the fact that gay people are everywhere, in every profession. Just to name a few memorable shows: Hot-l Baltimore (1975 – featured the first gay couple on American television); Barney Miller (1975 – featured a police officer who came out as gay); Soap (1977, which was a spoof of the soap opera genre of the day and featured the tv debut of comedian Billy Crystal who played Jodie Dallas, an openly gay character). There was a really bad sitcom that lasted a month in 1985 about the first woman U.S. President called Hail To the Chief. The President’s head of the Secret Service was a big rough and tumble character who just happened to be gay.
Other notable shows with gay characters: Love, Sidney; Thirtysomething; Roseanne; the Larry Sanders Show; The John Larroquette Show; Ellen, Friends; Spin City and many many others.
Roseanne featured more than one gay character: Roseanne’s boss; her friend; her mother (which turned out to be a fabrication of Roseanne’s imagination. Turned out Mom was straight but her sister was gay). Ellen actually got a bit of a lecture from the LGBT community for being “too gay”. One show I didn’t list but was a huge success in the ratings from 1998 to 2006 was Will & Grace. This show featured a very straight-acting gay man (Will) as one of the lead characters, and his neighbor Jack as a “way-out-there” stereotype.
This list is far from complete and only scratches the surface of television fare that has pervaded our senses both overtly and subtly, right through to today. Take the Don Johnson series Nash Bridges. At some point during the first season, Don’s character Nash and Nash’s cop-partner Joe Dominguez (Cheech Marin) are mistaken by the gay community as a couple. It wound up as a running joke through six seasons, sometimes implied and hinted at, other times it slapped you in the face. The point is it was a prevalent storyline running under and alongside every other story on the show.
My point in all this is simple: We have been “conditioned” to accept homosexuality via indoctrination through over 40 years of television. I call this “Hollywood’s Gay Agenda”. We grew up with these shows basically letting us know “it’s OK to be gay”. As a result, with the power of tv, people starting with my generation have learned that what happens in the bedroom is nobody’s business but those in that bedroom. Of course my gneration is likely the last one to have been able to hit the candy store and buy Popeye Candy Cigarettes, and (apologies) “Nigger Babies”, liquorice candies, among other items that are now known by other names for the sake of political correctness and propriety.
Don’t get me wrong: At five years of age, I didn’t know just how wrong it was to ask for (again, apologies) “Nigger Babies” let alone buy them under that name. naturally the Popeye candy sticks had to have a name change because it’s wrong to promote smoking to kids. Both of these I undertood once I hit mybe 11 years of age. I think my generation was also the last generation to find it acceptable to hurl homosexual-related insults at our friends – or enemies – in a public setting and not worry about any consequences nor suffer any kind of backlash. If a friend won at a game or came out on top of whatever situation, we’d think nothing of calling him “fag” or “queer”. Questioning the sexuality of a rival was simply par for the course.
Some of you might be offended by this point by this blog, thinking I am some kind of “homophobe”. Get over yourselves. The term “homophobe” is an inaccurate term to start: It implies fear. A phobia is a fear – usually crippling – of a thing or situation, etc. I do not fear homosexuality. It does not affect me in any way at all. I stand firmly in the corner of the comedians who advise that if you are against same-sex marrige, don’t marry someone of the same sex. I happen to have several friends and acquaintances who are of the same-sex persuasion. Guess what: Their preferences don’t affect me one bit. To me it’s akin to preferring to wear green over red. I’m not that into wearing red, but I do wear green. Is this making sense?
In short, I do not care to be force-fed the fact that homosexuality is real and exists in all walks of life. This doesn’t happen with straight characters. Sure we see straight characters in everyday situations. If gay characters had been, were and are presented this way, I’d have no complaints. The complaint is the blatancy of it. We get it: Gay people exist! Move on!
My point is, I am not against anyone because of their sexual preferences. Being gay is not my thing, so I’m not gay. Whether or not you’re gay has no bearing on me so I am not affected one way or the other: I don’t care. Gay people have the same rights as straight people, gay couples in committed relationships deserve the same treatments, rights and privileges as straight couples in the same relationships. More people need to accept this and just get on with their own lives, and not worry about the neighbors.
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