Education Secretary Takes Aim at Gay Community, PBS Backs Down
When I first heard of this story, I was shocked. I have always thought that PBS, NPR in particular, to be such a middle-of-the-road source of information, education, and entertainment. The gay community and its supporters must act!
PBS has a show entitled "Postcards from Buster", where in an upcoming episode Buster visits Vermont to meet with the children of a lesbian couple. The characters are played by real-life children of a real-life lesbian couple. The show declares itself on the parents & teachers section of its website, as "founded on two important areas, Cultural Awareness and English Language Learning." The newly installed Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, has asked that the episode not be aired, and any costs to the making of that episode be refunded to the taxpayers. That doesn't sound like "Cultural Awareness" whatsoever.
Amazing that we now live in a day and age where censorship comes in the form of paying people to not see your worthwhile and timely material because it deals with an issue that is everpresent in society today, homosexuality. Whatever your personal beliefs happen to be, there are real-life gay couples out there with real-life children. It's not something you can just wipe away and pretend that it's ok to be judgemental and bigoted.
PBS has decided to shelve the program, and present it to PBS affiliates who are interested in the material, thus promoting the extension of censorship in this country on reality. How is it possible that the Public Broadcasting Company is ok with the dismantling of the U.S. Constitution? It is in the public's best interest for potentially sensitive material be presented to the public free from government interference.
As a response, the gay community must remove its dollars from PBS. I'm fairly certain a boycott of this nature will be felt strongly by PBS, and they will learn that we won't be silenced into submission by the religious right. PBS and the Department of Education must learn that material regarding our community is as important to present to the public as any other material. If gay dollars are going to be used against the gay community, then the gay community should take away their dollars and spend it elsewhere.
I have always been a proud listener of National Public Radio, as it is about the only balanced media source in the United States. To know that NPR is connected to PBS and that this will most probably negatively impact their funding dollars is absolutely unfortunate. However, what other way can the gay community express their view on censorship of gay-related issues on public televion?
PBS has a show entitled "Postcards from Buster", where in an upcoming episode Buster visits Vermont to meet with the children of a lesbian couple. The characters are played by real-life children of a real-life lesbian couple. The show declares itself on the parents & teachers section of its website, as "founded on two important areas, Cultural Awareness and English Language Learning." The newly installed Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, has asked that the episode not be aired, and any costs to the making of that episode be refunded to the taxpayers. That doesn't sound like "Cultural Awareness" whatsoever.
Amazing that we now live in a day and age where censorship comes in the form of paying people to not see your worthwhile and timely material because it deals with an issue that is everpresent in society today, homosexuality. Whatever your personal beliefs happen to be, there are real-life gay couples out there with real-life children. It's not something you can just wipe away and pretend that it's ok to be judgemental and bigoted.
PBS has decided to shelve the program, and present it to PBS affiliates who are interested in the material, thus promoting the extension of censorship in this country on reality. How is it possible that the Public Broadcasting Company is ok with the dismantling of the U.S. Constitution? It is in the public's best interest for potentially sensitive material be presented to the public free from government interference.
As a response, the gay community must remove its dollars from PBS. I'm fairly certain a boycott of this nature will be felt strongly by PBS, and they will learn that we won't be silenced into submission by the religious right. PBS and the Department of Education must learn that material regarding our community is as important to present to the public as any other material. If gay dollars are going to be used against the gay community, then the gay community should take away their dollars and spend it elsewhere.
I have always been a proud listener of National Public Radio, as it is about the only balanced media source in the United States. To know that NPR is connected to PBS and that this will most probably negatively impact their funding dollars is absolutely unfortunate. However, what other way can the gay community express their view on censorship of gay-related issues on public televion?
And you can Quote me on that. The Quotable Queer
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