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ENTERTAINMENT
The Walt Disney Company continues its promotion of the homosexual
agenda, as its ABC network and cable television network Lifetime
present new “gay”-themed programming.
In April, ABC’s soap opera, All My Children, aired
the first lesbian kiss in daytime television history. Teen
character Bianca Montgomery, who had already come out on the
soap as a lesbian, kissed her friend “in a moment of
truth and true love,” ABC said in a statement.
According to Reuters, Agnes Nixon, the creator of All My
Children, defended the show’s portrayal of lesbianism.
“The theme of All My Children from the beginning
is the belief that, as God’s children, we are bound to
each other by our common humanity despite our many personal
differences; that it is our failure to understand and respect
those differences that causes most of life’s pain and
suffering,” she said. “The Bianca story is our latest
effort to dramatize that belief.”
In an interview with the homosexual magazine, The Advocate,
Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime, promised that the lesbians
on All My Children would go even further than a mere
kiss. “They will actually have a sexual relationship,”
he said.
Lesbianism also received a promotional push on one of Disney’s
cable networks, Lifetime. The made-for-cable movie, An
Unexpected Love, follows a woman who abandons her husband
and children and finds fulfillment as a lesbian.
Writer-director Lee Rose said, “I know people, friends,
who have done that.”
Rose is a lesbian who is no stranger to working on films that
promote the homosexual lifestyle. She also directed another
Lifetime lesbian flick, The Truth About Jane, about
a teenager who comes out as a homosexual to her family. In
A Girl Thing (Showtime), Rose showcased yet another
lesbian love affair.
In an interview with Lifetime, heterosexual actress Leslie
Hope, who plays the main character on An Unexpected Love,
said, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this movie could
wedge open the door of prejudice a tiny bit and illuminate
what we all should know by now? That most of us are looking
for pretty much the same thing: to love and be loved.”
In an interview with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD), Hope also said she hoped that, by watching
An Unexpected Love, “those viewers who might be prejudiced
or intolerant” might find lesbian relationships “a
little less scary.”
“And people insist there is no homosexual agenda in Hollywood?”
said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. “A lesbian writer and
director who regularly puts out films promoting lesbianism
as normal and natural, and even heterosexual actresses who
hope these films change people’s minds about homosexuality?
Sounds like an agenda to me.”
Wildmon noted that Lifetime has made a habit of producing
homosexually-themed programming, such as Change of Heart,
in which a husband announces to his wife and family after
20 years of marriage that he is “gay;” and Labor
of Love, about a heterosexual woman who asks her male
homosexual best friend to be the father of her child. Similarly,
Lifetime has broached the subject of homosexuality in documentary
fashion on its Intimate Portraits series.
Disney/ABC is also set to capitalize on the Broadway success
of the smash hit Hairspray, starring homosexual actor
Harvey Fierstein, who plays a drag-queen mom. ABC has signed
Fierstein for a new sitcom in which he will also play a woman
who is a mom.
The series will be handled by homosexual producers Craig Zadan
and Neil Meron. That duo has handled numerous projects for
Disney, including the 1995 made-for-TV gay propaganda movie
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,
about a lesbian Army officer.
The “gay” pair told The Advocate, “We’ve
always found Disney more than willing to let us present gay
stories.”
Zadan said that Disney was equally enthusiastic about the
controversial 2001 movie What Makes a Family –
produced for Lifetime – about a lesbian couple raising
a baby. He added that, although cable has been pushing the
envelope on homosexual issues for years, the networks are
now becoming more “progressive,” and “as usual,
Disney is leading the pack.”
Also on tap from Disney/ABC: the network has announced that
it is developing a light-hearted one-hour drama with a pair
of crime-solving homosexuals – who happen to be lovers.
The new series will be called Mr. and Mr. Nash, and
will be similar in nature to the old popular ABC dramas
Hart to Hart and Moonlighting.
Reuters, 4/14/03; The Advocate,
4/29/03; AP, 3/24/03; USA Today 4/8/03; www.lifetimetv.com,
4/25/03; www.glaad.org, 4/25/03; The Hollywood Reporter, 11/13/02
Media,
corporations give to liberal group
Advocacy groups don’t get any more liberal than People
for the American Way (PFAW). That’s why it is of peculiar
interest to pro-family organizations to discover just who
has been donating money to PFAW.
The 20-year-old organization supports the entire panorama
of radical leftist positions, such as favoring same-sex marriage,
unrestricted abortion rights, and explicit sex education for
students of all ages, while opposing public school reforms
and conservative nominees to the federal courts.
In its annual report, some of PFAW’s listed donors were
media organizations, such as the New York Times Company, Time
Inc., the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the National
Broadcasting Company (NBC). The Walt Disney Company, which
owns ABC, also donated money to PFAW.
“Since these media companies regularly report on the
cultural issues that define the ideological rift in this nation,
I would think it approaches a conflict of interest for those
same media companies to be giving to an organization that
clearly reflects only one side of that divide,” said
AFA Chairman Don Wildmon.
Not surprisingly, entertainment companies were also represented
on the annual report: Dreamworks SKG, Time Warner, Sony Corporation
of America, USA Networks, Inc., VIACOM, and Warner Bros. Records,
among others, gave money to PFAW.
Major companies gave as well, such as America Online, Chase
Manhattan Corporation, International Business Machines Corp.,
and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter; as did major players in the
publishing industry, like Random House, Simon and Schuster
Consumer Group and Warner Books.
www.pfaw.org, 4/28/03
NBC
showcases first romantic male ‘gay’ kiss
The pro-homosexual sitcom vehicle Will & Grace
continues to reflect NBC’s intention of bringing explicit
male homosexual conduct to primetime television. On the March
13 episode, two male characters shared an affectionate kiss
on the lips – a first for the network show.
“The producers of this show have said right from the
beginning that they would make sure the main homosexual character,
Will Truman, is a sexual character with a love life,”
said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. “But they’ve hesitated
to show anything explicit for almost five years because they
understand that the majority of Americans do not want to see
two men kissing.”
Will & Grace has not shied away from the subject
of homosexual sex, as the main characters have frequently
talked about male genitals, homosexual promiscuity, group
sex and even anal sex.
The two main male homosexual characters, Will and Jack McFarland,
did share a kiss in a previous episode, but it was merely
an attempt to get the attention of a television camera crew.
Other network sitcoms have occasionally shown a same-sex male
kiss, but the context made it clear it was for the purpose
of generating laughter – and not as an expression of
homosexual affection.
On the March 13 installment, however, Will walks into Barry’s
apartment and kisses him on the lips. Barry is a recently
out-of-the-closet homosexual who has caught Will’s fancy,
and the two men have dated, although Barry says he wants to
date other men.
“It was a quick kiss, but we have no doubt that it is
the first step to a more passionate scene later in the series,
whether or not it is between the same two characters,”
Wildmon said. “This is yet another example of network
television striking down cultural taboos. The stated objective
of the homosexual movement within Hollywood is to put homosexual
and heterosexual sexuality on the same level of visibility,
and Will & Grace has taken the next step in achieving
that goal.”
Meanwhile, NBC has signed up the Will & Grace principals
for another year – the sitcom’s seventh season.
Hollywood Reporter, 4/16/03
FCC
inaction allows decadence in prime-time
AFA continues to call upon the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to enforce the law when it comes to indecency on network
television, saying it may soon be too late to turn back the
clock.
Don Wildmon, AFA chairman and founder, noted a number of examples
of recent indecency that threatened to eliminate any remaining
standards for prime-time television.
For example, on the February 25 episode of ABC’s NYPD
Blue, series hero Detective Andy Sipowicz’ live-in
sex partner, another detective named Connie, drops her bathrobe
in the bathroom, offering full rear and side nudity. Andy’s
six-year-old son comes into the bathroom and gawks at the
naked woman. She turns full face to the camera as she covers
her private parts with her hands.
“The Federal Communications Commis-sion’s negligence
in enforcing indecency laws for broadcast television has now
resulted in a network’s use of a little boy in a scene
involving adult nudity,” said Wildmon. “It is unconscionable
to believe those entrusted with keeping the public airwaves
safe against sexual perversion continue to disregard their
sworn duty and turn their back on the common good.”
Wildmon said FCC Chairman Michael Powell should shoulder the
blame for the continued deterioration of network programming.
“Chairman Powell has made it clear he wants no part of
holding networks accountable for the constant barrage of sex,
violence, and profanity on television. Maybe it’s time
to put someone in charge of the FCC who cares about the plight
of families. We are fed up with non-responsive officials,”
he said.
Contact information
Michael K. Powell, Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554
Phone: 1-888-225-5322
Fax: 202-418-0710
E-Mail: mpowell@fcc.gov
ACTIVISM
Street
preacher wins lawsuit
A disorderly conduct charge brought against a young man who
was publicly proclaiming Christ was recently dismissed after
the AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP) got involved.
Michael Marcavage, a Christian, was preaching on a Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, sidewalk last Halloween night when police officers
told him to cease. Marcavage asked what law he was breaking,
and the officers had no reply.
According to a witness, when he continued to preach, police
knocked Marcavage to the ground, dragged him across the sidewalk
and slammed him up against a storefront window. He then spent
twelve hours in jail before being released.
The judge dismissed the case after determining that he was
lawfully exercising his First Amendment rights.
CLP senior trial attorney Brian Fahling, who represented Marcavage
at the trial, said, “Michael was roughed-up and spent
12 hours in jail for no other reason than he was preaching
the gospel.” Fahling said a federal lawsuit against the
officers and the police department is likely to result.
Missouri
county works to pass adult ordinance
Judy Tillet knows that sexually oriented businesses bring
devastating results to communities. Lower property values,
increased crime rates, and general blight are among the obvious
negative effects. She also knows strip clubs are especially
alluring to young military men who are away from home for
the first time.
When topless bars and strip clubs began surfacing near the
army base of Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, she took action.
Initially organizing through the Pulaski County area Ministerial
Alliance, Tillet’s group now includes a school board
president, a Chamber of Commerce president, two attorneys,
and a commercial land developer.
Tillet’s Community Action Team Against Pornography held
an educational forum in March, attended by nearly 400 local
citizens who want the county and cities to adopt stringent
regulations for adult businesses.
“The primary goal of the meeting was to define pornography,
and discuss the effects it has on our community,” said
Tillet. “The secondary goal was to activate members of
the community to get involved in picketing, educational funding,
and contacting state representatives and senators.”
The group says it has the support of county leaders and the
commandant at Fort Leonard Wood, and hopes to get an ordinance
passed quickly. A model ordinance, provided by the AFA Center
for Law and Policy, is being used to make sure the sexually
oriented businesses are forced to comply with rigid requirements,
such as zoning and licensing.
Randy Sharp, Director of Special Projects for AFA, said adult
businesses are quickly exiting larger cities, which are passing
laws to restrict them, and opening in smaller towns like those
in Pulaski County. He added that towns that don’t have
laws are at great risk, and should begin the enactment process
before a problem arises.
For more information about the sexually oriented business
ordinance and step-by-step guidelines for adopting regulations
in your community, visit www.afa.net or call 662-844-5036.
PORNOGRAPHY
A&F
publishes new lewd catalog
Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) continues
to thumb its nose at the concerns of parents and the culture
at large, putting out yet another pornographic quarterly catalog.
Its Summer Issue 2003 does contain the latest A&F selection
of hip clothing, and a number of frank interviews with celebrities.
But as usual, the catalog also includes 119 pages of attitude
and photos – many of them involving completely nude
models (genitals obscured), with breast and rear nudity, in
a variety of provocative and sexual poses.
AFA President Tim Wildmon said A&F is selling more than
a clothing line – it is selling a lifestyle. “The
A&F catalog has the same thing every quarter: handsome
young men and beautiful young women, all with that perfect
look, and all apparently living a carefree, hedonistic lifestyle
without consequences,” said Wildmon. “Nothing could
be further from the truth for the millions of average people
living in the real world, a world in which casual sex means
unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and life-altering sexually
transmitted diseases.”
A&F’s stubborn refusal to act more responsibly in
its corporate endeavors has led to AFA calling for a boycott
of the retailer’s clothing line.
New
video gives hope to men battling pornography
Young men who face the temptations of pornography may think
they’re alone in their fight, but a new video lets them
know they have plenty of company – and presents strategies
for gaining victory.
Entitled Every Young Man’s Battle, the documentary
focuses on the problem of pornography and sexual temptations
faced by teenage and young adult males. A major portion of
the video’s impact comes from interviews with young men
who once suffered from pornography or sexual addiction and
are now recovering from its negative effects.
“This video is more than just informative – it’s
captivating,” said AFA Executive Assistant Buddy Smith,
who reviewed Every Young Man’s Battle. “The
interviews conducted with those who have struggled with and
overcome pornography are genuine and sincere. These young
men are obviously veterans of the sexual temptation wars.”
The video also features a portion of the interview Dr. James
Dobson conducted with serial killer Ted Bundy on the eve of
his execution. Bundy admitted that pornography played an influential
role in the horrible sex crimes he committed against young
women.
Based on the book by the same name by Steve Arterburn and
Fred Stoeker, the video is the idea of Steve Feazel, a co-founder
of Vision Word Productions, Inc., which specializes in producing
videos and films that embrace Christian themes and family
values.
Feazel said he became convinced that young males, the target
audience of the book, were “more likely to watch screens
than read pages,” and he approached Arterburn about making
a documentary version for video release.
“Every Christian young man should watch this video, because
it will inspire men to fight sexual temptations head- on,”
Smith said.
To order: Available on VHS ($22) and DVD ($27). To order Every
Young Man’s Battle, call 888-FAMILIES, option 4,
or visit www. afa.net/battle.
New
York prof keeps job after child porn bust
Edward Samuels pleaded guilty to 100 counts of possessing
pictures of a sexual performance by a child. Investigators
found on his personal computer more than 100,000 images of
extremely young children – even babies – being sexually
assaulted. Some pictures showed young girls being raped by
adults and dogs. He has lost his license to practice law.
Yet Samuels, 53, remains on the faculty of New York Law School.
And the two in-house computer technicians at the law school
who reported Samuels’ porn stash have been fired.
Officials with the college say Samuels was placed on unpaid
leave indefinitely until they could determine what to do with
him. Because he is a tenured instructor, a spokesman for the
school said, “He cannot be removed from his job until
a determination is made through the process required by his
contract and established faculty rules.”
Samuel’s porn stash was discovered after he brought one
of his porn-clogged computers from home to be worked on by
the technicians after it developed a problem. They alerted
school officials to what they saw on the computer, and school
officials alerted authorities.
Samuels faces as little as probation when he is sentenced
June 23.
New York Post, 4/16/03; 4/18/03
General
Motors says good-bye to porn
An anti-pornography group said General Motors’ (GM) sale
of Hughes Electronics to News Corp. is a “significant”
pro-family victory.
In April, the National Coalition for the Protection of Children
and Families praised GM for selling Hughes, since that company
is the parent of satellite-provider DirecTV, which provides
hard-core pornography.
Along with the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (see
AFA Journal, 5/03), the coalition has been calling on
GM and other Fortune 500 companies to get out of the porn
business so they do not legitimize the industry by being a
part of it. National Coalition CEO Rick Schatz said his group
wanted the public to know that pornography is still a dirty
business.
“As General Motors sells Hughes Electronics and DirecTV
to [News Corp. CEO] Rupert Murdoch, that in and of itself
will not reduce the amount of pornography that’s available
in the marketplace in total,” Schatz said. “But
at least we get a company like General Motors out of the business
– and that’s very, very good.”
Jerry Kirk, founder and chairman of the National Coalition,
said, “We are so grateful for the many concerned citizens
who signed petitions and wrote letters to General Motors,”
he said.
CEO Schatz said he believed that part of the reason for GM’s
decision was that people had sent a very clear message to
the company: “You can either have your good name or you
can be in the pornography business, but you can’t have
both.”
Schatz says his group has not formally decided whether it
will now target News Corp. for its participation in the pornography
business.
AgapePress, 4/15/03
Peer-to-peer
networks not just about music
With all the news about music-swapping on the Internet, one
might think digital music files are the most-swapped items
across peer-to-peer networks.
Think again. A study by Palisade Systems showed that, of 209
million search requests monitored on the Gnutella network
during a 17-day period in February, 42% of searchers were
looking for adult and child pornography – only 38% were
looking for music.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, as they are called, operate through
software that allows computer users to trade computer files
with each other online. These kinds of networks have come
under increasing scrutiny from the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA) as it fights copyright violations, saying
the swapping of music files online constitutes theft. The
most widely-known P2P network, Napster, was closed down last
year following copyright violation lawsuits from the RIAA.
CBS Marketwatch, 3/18/03
PRO-LIFE
Abortion halted by federal court
A girl whose parents
were trying to force her to get an abortion was recently given
a reprieve via an emergency Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
issued by a federal court in Jackson, Mississippi. The 16-year-old
girl had pleaded with her parents to let her keep the baby,
but they insisted the abortion take place.
In desperation, she contacted the AFA Center for Law &
Policy in Tupelo, Mississippi. AFA attorneys Stephen Crampton
and Michael DePrimo hastily prepared the lawsuit and obtained
the TRO just hours before the abortion was scheduled to take
place.
“The law protects a woman who chooses to keep her child,
as well as those who choose to abort,” said Crampton.
DePrimo added, “While we are thankful the court entered
the order, it is a sad fact that legal action was necessary
to save the life of this unborn child.”
Fortunately for all concerned, the girl’s parents decided
to reconcile with her and the lawsuit was dropped.
RELIGION
Voice of the Martyrs sends aid to Iraquis
An interdenominational organization that has been helping
persecuted Christians in countries around the world for more
than 30 years is now providing help to Iraqi brothers and
sisters in Christ.
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is providing “Action Packs”
for sending to the Iraqi Christian community, one of the oldest
in the Middle East. An Action Pack consists of a vacuum bag
filled with items chosen by the person purchasing the pack,
along with a personal note. They can be purchased for only
$5.00 from the VOM Web site at www.persecution.com/actionpacks
or call 918-337-8015.
A free copy of the video, Faith in Action is also available.
The video highlights the Action Pack program and features
footage from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
AFA Chairman Don Wildmon urged Christians to order a free
subscription to the VOM monthly newsletter. “This organization
is doing a wonderful job of helping persecuted Christians”
he said. “Their newsletter will provide insight into
the lives of men and women who daily put their lives on the
line for the sake of Christ.”
The VOM’s Statement of Faith features Hebrews 13:3: “Remember
them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which
suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
How
to contact political leaders
If a political issue has gotten your dander up and you would
like to call or write your congressional leaders or even the
president and voice your opinion, it is essential to know
how to contact them. There are several ways to reach these
leaders.
The simplest way is to call your senators or representative.
Each state has two senators, and each person has one representative
for his or her district in the House of Representatives.
For those unsure who their representative or state senators
are, there are several online Web sites to help identify them.
One Web site, www.eff.org,
can walk a person through the steps of how to contact his
or her congressional representatives. The Web sites for the
U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are also helpful
in teaching citizens how to contact members. Those addresses
are www.senate.gov and
www.house.gov, respectively.
If you already know the name of the person you want to contact,
and want to call them rather than E-mail them, simply call
the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or toll-free
at 1-800-962-3524, and ask for a particular legislator.
Because of post-September 11 security issues, it is best not
to write your representative a letter and send it through
the mail. Letters sent through the mail can take up to three
months to reach your representative or senators, and by that
time important legislative issues may already have been considered.
Those wanting to contact the president can do so in a similar
fashion. The Web site for the White House is www.whitehouse.gov.
Those wanting to call the White House and comment on current
events and politics can call the comments line at (202) 456-1111.
The number for the White House switchboard is (202) 456-1414.
Those wanting to E-mail the president can do so by addressing
E-mail to president@whitehouse.gov.
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