Wed. September 10, 2003
Helena, Montana -
This may have been the breakthrough year for the number of gay shows and themes on television, but it has all been too much for a conservative Christian action group.
The Montana Family Coalition is organizing a political action campaign targeting the sponsors of gay oriented shows. The Coalition, which used to be known as the Montana Christian Coalition, is specifically targeting the Bravo hit series Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, but says it intends to add more to the list, including Boy Meets Boy, Will and Grace and others.
The group, which successfully has fought gay rights issues in Montana, intends to voice its opposition to the shows' advertisers and if they continue to buy commercial time, MFC says its members will refuse to buy their products.
Julie Millam, the coalition's executive director, singled out Queer Eye, as trash that should not be on TV.
"To me, that's not a reality show about gay people," Millam told the Billings Gazette.
"A really good reality show for gay people would be five gay men dying of AIDS."
A spokesman for Scout Productions, the East Coast company that produces "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," declined to comment, but Bravo says it does not know of any complaints from Montana viewers about the series.
Karl Olson, director of the gay rights group PRIDE said he doubted many advertisers would pull their commercials because of the success of the series. It is Bravo's number one show. Boy Meets Boy was the number two show on the network for its big concluding episode last week.
Anti-gay groups have boycotted Disney theme parks for years over its support of gay rights. However, Olson said, the upset groups haven't done much to affect the company's bottom line.
"My guess is when people turn on a entertainment program or go to the theme park, they're not thinking of politics," Olson told the Gazette. "I don't think Julie's anti-gay crusade does anything to our political movement and efforts."
©365Gay.com® 2003
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