Posted on 05/28/2007 1:50:42 PM PDT by lizol
Poland targets 'gay' Teletubbies
By Adam Easton BBC News, Warsaw
A senior Polish official has ordered psychologists to investigate whether the popular BBC TV show Teletubbies promotes a homosexual lifestyle.
The spokesperson for children's rights in Poland, Ewa Sowinska, singled out Tinky Winky, the purple character with a triangular aerial on his head.
"I noticed he was carrying a woman's handbag," she told a magazine. "At first, I didn't realise he was a boy."
EU officials have criticised Polish government policy towards homosexuals.
Ms Sowinska wants the psychologists to make a recommendation about whether the children's show should be broadcast on public television.
Poland's authorities have recently initiated a series of moves to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality among the nation's children.
Tinky Winky's psychological evaluation is being treated fairly light-heartedly by many people here.
One radio station asked its listeners to vote for the most suspicious children's show. Some e-mailed in to point out that Winnie the Pooh had only male friends.
Even Ms Sowinska has backtracked a little, insisting that she does not believe the Teletubbies is a threat to the nation's children. But the evaluation is still going ahead and her office can recommend that the show should be taken off the air.
Poland was criticised recently after its education ministry announced plans to sack teachers who promote homosexuality.
Last month the European Union singled out Poland for criticism in its resolution condemning homophobia in the 27-member bloc.
>>”The Teletubbies also have a following among the gay community. Tinky Winky, who carts around a red handbag but speaks with a male voice, has become something of a gay icon.”
- CNN, December 24, 1997 -<<
Interesting. I thought Jerry Falwell was the first to raise that issue but this is two years before his comments. It was not one his best moments.
>>Monday, 15 February, 1999, 12:13 GMT
‘Gay Tinky Winky bad for children’
Is the purple Tinky Winky a bad influence on children?
The innocent world of the Teletubbies is under attack from America’s religious right.
The Reverend Jerry Falwell, a former spokesman for America’s Moral Majority, has denounced the BBC TV children’s show. He says it does not provide a good role model for children because Tinky Winky is gay.
Cheerful Tinky Winky, the purple character with the triangular aerial on his head, carries a handbag - but apart from that seems much the same as his friends Laa-Laa, Dipsy and Po. <<
BTW, my kids couldn't care less for the actual Teletubbies, they just liked the bunnies all over the place, and the strange vacuum cleaner thing.
EU = Ewwwww!!
As a Pastor, why wouldn't he warn his flock about this? It is obviously targeted at children.
Mothers should know the dangers of stuffing their toddlers into Tinky Winky T-shirts and sending them to play dates. Who knows what people with a Tinky Winky mentality would take that to mean - availability?
My concerns about the late Reverend Falwell’s Tinkie Winkie situation were several. They are tiny in comparison to his legacy, but for the record.
1. I liked the Teletubbies - it was innocent and relaxing - like a glimpse back at childhood - I didn’t appreciate political interjection.
2. Reverend Falwell admitted he had never actually watched the show.
3. The character is a child. I don’t like the idea of child characters and/real children being given a sexual label because of something they play with.
Now that said, should I have a three year old boy who adopts an old purse as a play thing I will try like heck to divert his attention with a nice blanket or stuffed animal...or maybe a toy Army tank.
All in all, I thought it was a poor use of Reverend Falwell’s “street cred.”
This is the article that you are upset about. Falwell didn’t write it and didn’t know about if before hand:
PARENTS ALERT
Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet
The sexual preference of Tinky Winky, the largest of the four Teletubbies characters on the series that airs in America on PBS stations, has been the subject of debate since the series premiered in England in 1997.
The character, whose voice is obviously that of a boy, has been found carrying a red purse in many episodes and has become a favorite character among gay groups worldwide.
Now, further evidence that the creators of the series intend for Tinky Winky to be a gay role model have surfaced. He is purple — the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay-pride symbol.
Furthering Tinky’s “outing” was a recent Washington Post editorial that cast the character’s photo opposite that of Ellen DeGeneres in an “In/Out” column. This implies that Ellen is “out” as the chief national gay representative, while Tinky Winky is the trendy “in” celebrity.
These subtle depictions are no doubt intentional and parents are warned to be alert to these elements of the series. However, many families are allowing the series to entertain their children. In the January 10 Blockbuster “Hit List” of the top-ten selling videos, two Teletubbies titles appeared on the list. The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company will release interactive Teletubbies dolls in March.
http://www.nljonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269&Itemid=0
I was referring to his comments on CNN and the news shows. That was what i meant by not his finest momenet.
If he didn’t stand behind the article and had not backed it up with interviews then he would not be so personally associated with Tinkie Winkie.
The Poles have more sense than the liberals.
I applaud them for getting gay-is-OK out of children’s TV.
What comments?
>>What comments?<<
The ones I saw him make on all over the TV back them. I felt bad for him and bad for the example he was setting.
Here’s what he said on Bill Maher’s show. Is this why you disapprove of Falwell?
Host Bill Maher: First of all, you must be quite flattered that when you utter something, like the voice of God, it certainly reverberates around this nation unbelievably, right? I mean, have you heard anything else but this thing the last week?
Falwell: I have never seen the Teletubbies. I have never commented in any way at any time on the Teletubbies, positively or negatively.”
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/1999/02/25/9728
I wish the EU would go away.
Hey, now. Here we are having a nice discussion about someone we both respect and then you get personally insulting!
I do not watch Bill Maher. :)
Seriously, though. I have repeatedly seen footage on multiple networks of Reverend Falwell talking about the Teletubbies but since the article came out Feb 15, 1999 and the Maher quote is from February 25 of 1999 its entirely possible that all the Falwell comments I remember are from after the Maher quote.
Sorry to tell you; but, it never happened. You fell for the anti-Christian liberal media spin.
Since Falwell apparently talked about the Teletubbies on Bill Maher in February 1999, how do you know he never talked about them again after that?
Well, you say he did.
What did he say?
I would refer the lady to my concerns about what I saw him say in my post above.
Put up or shut up.
You really seem to want a fight tonight and I’d rather not. Best to you on everything else but your insistence that I agree with a revised version of history is not something I can buy into. I’ll let you have the last word, if you would like it.
Spreading unfounded gossip about a good man is uncivilized (and liberal). Shame on you.
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