Posted on 06/04/2003 1:51:53 PM PDT by Vitamin A
Friends,
The Amazing Race is one of the most popular TV shows. Unfortunately, CBS has chosen to use the term "married" to describe the relationship of two males from California who are featured on that show. As such, CBS is effectively broadcasting to the nation that "marriage" between two men is valid and exists, despite the fact that NO state in the U.S. recognizes two men as being "married" to each other. At most, Vermont has recognized a "civil union" between two males, but that law was expressly designed not to use the term "marriage" or "married." California and Hawaii have given rights to "domestic partners," but likewise have expressly NOT used the word "marriage" or "married" to describe them.
CBS's intentional use of the term "married" to describe two males from California is an outright misrepresentation--i.e., a lie--for political purposes. I have friends whose children have been confused and questioned their parents when they see the "married" word come up under the male couple as they appear on the TV screen (not to mention the male couple's kiss in the show's intro). My friends, and I, certainly do not appreciate CBS's decision to turn marriage on its head during primetime viewing just to push a political agenda.
Below, I've posted an article which details CBS's lamest of lame non-excuses for using the "married" term.
I am writing to encourage you to take just a minute to express your opinion on this matter to CBS. You can do so by going to www.cbs.com. Go to the bottom of the homepage and click the "Feedback" button. An email frame will pop up on your screen and allow you to provide a comment.
Please pass this along to friends if you feel so inclined.
-Andrew
Culture: CBS Married Gays in Race?
WorldNetDaily May 29, 2003 Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32814
MEDIA MATTERS CBS television thrusting 'married gays' on public Network's 'Amazing Race' promotes real-life men as joined in matrimony Posted: May 29, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
CBS Television is promoting tonight's debut of "The Amazing Race 4" by proudly proclaiming a male homosexual couple on the show to be married to each other.
The primetime reality show features 12 teams of two people with a pre-existing relationship racing around the world in a quest for a million-dollar prize.
'Married' male couple on CBS
In current promotional ads on the air, the network touts one of the teams - consisting of two men - as ''The Married Couple.''
"Yes, they are a married, gay couple," a CBS spokeswoman tells WorldNetDaily. "They're married and they're gay. Is there an issue?"
On the show's website, viewers are encouraged to click on biographical links for the teams, to learn more about their personal lives. The write-up on the "married" male couple includes the following:
Twenty-eight-year-old Reichen is a pilot and teaches at a flight school in Los Angeles. A former U.S. Air Force officer and a graduate of the U.S. Air Force academy, he is married to his teammate Chip. He loves skiing and flying and is very into being physically fit. He describes himself as "detail-oriented, caring and thrill-seeking." He speaks French and has traveled internationally quite a bit. Reichen's views on relationships are much more liberal than Chip's - He enjoys flirting with other guys, but that makes Chip upset. Owned by Viacom, CBS says "Amazing Race" has previously featured "gay" contestants, but this is the first time it's trumpeting homosexuals as actually being married to each other.
"They bring a tremendous amount of enthusiasm into the show. They're great!" says the network.
When WorldNetDaily pressed CBS to find out more about the alleged matrimony of its contestants, the network explained that's what Reichen and Chip had written in their application to be on the program.
"Why can't they say they're married? What's the difference?" said the CBS spokeswoman. She went on to state she "believe[d] it's legal in certain states," though she did not specify where the Californians had any binding ceremony, if in fact they had one at all.
Family advocates are blasting CBS's marketing move, saying there's no such thing as legal homosexual marriage in the U.S.
Robert Knight
"Two men is not a marriage. It's pretend marriage," says Robert Knight, a former news editor at the Los Angeles Times who is now director of the Culture and Family Institute.
"This is profoundly dishonest and is intended to persuade Americans that so-called 'gay marriage' is already a reality, when no jurisdiction in America has legalized it."
While there's no government sanction for homosexual marriages, the state of Vermont has approved what it calls civil unions, the legal equivalent to marriage in everything but name. Two other states - California and Hawaii - have approved laws regarding benefits of domestic partners.
But many other states are passing legislation to resist the status of homosexual marriages.
On Tuesday, Texas became the 37th state to approve a law preventing the legal recognition of same-sex unions that have been sanctified by a government elsewhere.
"Like the vast majority of Texans, I believe that marriage represents a sacred union between a man and a woman," Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement.
For broadcast television, homosexuality is not a new concept.
Sean Hayes portrays homosexual on 'Will & Grace' (NBC)
Sitcoms like ABC's "Ellen" and NBC's "Will and Grace" have been among the first programs to put "gays" and lesbians in the limelight, and just this week, the cable channel Bravo - owned by the NBC division of General Electric - announced its summer launch of TV's first homosexual dating series, "Boy Meets Boy."
"As bad as 'Ellen' and 'Will and Grace' have been, ['The Amazing Race' married-homosexual promotion] is an outright lie," said Knight. "This is the worst we have seen from the broadcast networks. ... It's another reason why the big networks are losing viewers, and people are gravitating toward alternative news sources such as WorldNetDaily and the Fox News Channel."
Knight suggests people objecting to this and other programs log onto websites like OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, which provide links for viewers to contact broadcasters and advertisers.
American Express is one of the advertisers to have had high-profile tie-ins with "The Amazing Race," and while the company no longer has its "Moment of the Week" promotion, it says its current slate of commercials will continue to appear on CBS.
"We are a global company and advertise on a wide variety of programs through a number of different media to reach a diverse audience - current as well as potential customers," American Express spokeswoman Monica Beaupre told WorldNetDaily.
Other large companies which have had special advertising segments on previous "Amazing Race" series include Royal Caribbean Cruises, T-Mobile and Kodak.
As WorldNetDaily reported in October, Kodak is proud of its commitment to diversity, which includes homosexuality, even firing a 23-year Kodak veteran after he objected to a pro-homosexual memo circulated in the company's e-mail.
Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS-TV says the network is committed to displaying diversity in the shows it airs:
As broadcasters, we aim to ensure that our national viewing audience is reflected in our programming and our people. We recognize that a workforce comprised of a wide variety of perspectives, viewpoints and backgrounds is integral to our continued success.
This is not a campaign, but rather a fundamental way of doing business at CBS, and we continue to be steadfast in our goal to become more diverse and more representative of the public we serve.
Tonight's season premiere of "The Amazing Race" airs at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, in what's considered to be the family portion of primetime. Officials say previous episodes have drawn an estimated audience of 9 million viewers.
"There's a buzz about the show, but we have not received any calls one way or another about the participants," said Joe Barnes, director of marketing at KOIN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Portland, Ore.
In San Francisco, a market with a large homosexual population, the CBS owned-and-operated station KPIX-TV speculates more people will be talking about the "gay marriage" angle once the program is broadcast.
"We've heard nothing from gays saying 'Thanks,'" said KPIX spokeswoman Akilah Monifah. "We've also heard nothing from homophobic types saying, 'How could you?' either."
* * * * * * * * *
When the ratings tank, they will understand.
Frankly, I don't give a rat's patooey - I watch the show for the comedic content of the players and the great footage of their travels all over the world. The presence of this pair on the show is something I cannot do anything about, so I refuse to get all wound up over it. There is a limit to what I consider worth getting steamed about, and that line is usually whether or not I have the power to change it. Or whether or not it really makes a difference in my life. Those two guys, frankly, don't make one ounce of difference in my life, so I just ignore them.
Michael
The Amazing Race is one of the most popular TV shows.
Is it really?
I’ve never even heard of it. What kind of ratings does it pull?
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