Monday, August 01, 2005

Okay, this is now officially getting weird

American Heritage says:

adj. Abbr. PC 1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. 2. Being or perceived as being overconcerned with such change, often to the exclusion of other matters.


The latest TV series to receive more attention than it may deserve even before it premieres is a Fox sitcom titled The War at Home, created and exec produced by a man named Rob Lotterstein, an openly gay man who has written in the past for Will & Grace and Ellen. According to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer (via IMDB News),


Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori has ordered one line to be rewritten and is considering having another line changed...War [at Home] stars Michael Rapaport and Anita Barone as parents in constant battles with their three teenage children. A story line in the pilot revolves around whether one of their two sons (Kyle Sullivan) is gay.
In one scene, his sister (Kaylee DeFer) says to the parents, "He's not gay, he's just a fag." That line set off sparks with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which met with Fox officials. The line was changed.

Another line that might end up on the cutting room floor comes in a scene in which the mother remarks, "He's not gay. He's a normal kid. ... Well, he's not normal, but he's not gay."



Now, as most of you probably know, I tend to be a little more sensitive than most straight men to things that I think are offensive to gays. For a number of reasons, not least of which is that I have these couple of lesbians living in my head.

But...obviously I'll have to see the show to be sure of the full context, but as presented, those lines look funny to me. Sorry. This just looks like another case of TV people making cosmetic changes that don't adress real issues, and/or gay advocacy groups going after flies with pepperspray.

Poor GLAAD. They seem to have the worst sense of what to protest against. Between Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, this show, even Basic Instinct (arguably), they've really made themselves out to be examples of Political Correctness gone too far.

I don't like using that term much, but feel it's appropriate here. Or to put it another way, if GLAAD ever said anything about Sin City, or (god forbid) Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I missed it.

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