John posted the news that CBS and NBC won't run the UCC ad. Read the language in the UCC release from CBS carefully....
Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks. (emphasis added)This is really scary. What the fuck does anything the Executive Branch proposes have to do with what ads a television network will take? This is an amazing admission. CBS is cowering before the Bush Administration.
View the ad yourself. It does not say ONE THING about gay marriage. Yet, somehow, a proposal by the Bush Administration to ban gay marriage trumps an anti-discrimination ad from a religious group.
Maybe if the ad celebrated that fact that gays were being turned away, CBS would run it. Smacking gays around seems to be the new sport for the media. After all, as Americablog reported, The Washington Post was willing to publish a gay-bashing insert earlier this month.
If you are a gay American or have a gay relative or a gay friend and aren't really worried about the anti-gay fervor sweeping this country, you are not paying attention. Let's just call it what it is: gay bashing. And, the gay bashing is led by President Bush. He condoned it, he ran on it and he is fostering it.
What a truly amazing world it would be if our "born again" President and his hate filled party actually heeded the words of that guy, Jesus Christ, they are always talking about. The UCC ad notes quite accurately "Jesus didn't turn people away." And, if my memory serves me, Jesus also didn't use try to pit one group of people against another. In fact, his message was quite the opposite.
The irony of this would almost be too rich, if it weren't for the fact that in America, gay bashing has become acceptable thanks to the President. Unfortunately, it looks like the so-called independent media is willing to follow his lead.
