American Family Association Goes To War With Glee

In April, Right Wing Watch first reported on Bryan Fischer’s interview with Houston’s Fox affiliate, where he sharply criticized the television show Glee for “glamorizing homosexual behavior,” comparing it to promoting drug abuse. Fischer, who is the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, is escalating his attacks on Glee and the AFA recently launched a boycott campaign.

One Million Moms, a “project of American Family Association,” called on activists to urge advertisers to drop Glee. “Ryan Murphy, an open homosexual and the producer of GLEE, is pushing political correctness and his lifestyle choice on teens. Teenagers are being desensitized, but parents can do something about this hidden agenda,” the group says, “Please send Burger King, Boost Mobile, Subway and Taco Bell an email letter asking them to pull their support from GLEE and no longer sponsor this program through advertising.”

On Friday, Monica Cole of One Million Moms joined Fischer on his radio show Focal Point to criticize Glee for featuring music from Lady Gaga and Madonna, having “vulgar” choreography, and including a gay couple:

Fischer and Cole also agreed that Glee promotes “deviant sexuality,” “normalizing homosexual behavior,” idolatry, and anti-Christian views, with particular animosity towards the openly gay, atheist character Kurt:
  

Cole: We were really offended by the choreography, it’s very vulgar, it looks like its pretty much imitating strippers, and they have music by Lady Gaga and Madonna, which if you’re familiar with any of their, let’s just say their role-playing or their lyrics, it’s not wholesome entertainment, it’s a far-stretch from anything that you would want you child singing in a school musical or a school class.

Fischer: So you’ve got choreography as well as lyrics in the songs that are sexually provocative, sexually explicit, and yet the idea here is this is supposed to be some kind of high school music club getting ready to put on theatrical productions. And, this came up when I had the debate at the Fox Houston affiliate that it aired at 7:00; I mean that’s right in the heart of what’s supposed to be family-friendly viewing time.

Cole: That’s what you would think, and that’s right. And there’s a lot of other content though, Bryan, that is just really offensive and inappropriate, when you have mockery of Christianity, there’s mockery of the Katrina victims, and the we also had three individuals going on dates, insinuating a three-some, and then you have the homosexual couples on the show, I mean there’s kissing on the show with same-sex couples. And they also have made several homosexual references in the show that we feel like that even though kids may not be seeing this, parents are not oblivious to what is going on, there is not a hidden agenda, it’s to me it’s very blatantly obvious what they are portraying as a normal lifestyle for a teenager.

Fischer: This program Glee is not only mocking Christianity but is promoting deviant sexuality, and Monica I’m looking at the alert that you sent out, the head of the piece, I’d like you to grab it if you got a copy of it: Glee Mocks Christianity. It’s interesting to me, if you’ve got there, maybe rehearse for us some of the content, I’m looking just at the second and third paragraphs about some of the explicitly anti-Christian content that was in Glee that prompted you to way in on this, this was back in October.

Cole: On October 5th, the episode had different quotes and dialogue saying God is a Santa Claus for adults, and it’s wrong to tell people to believe in a fantasy, they also have an openly gay student that says that he is an atheist and he doesn’t believe in God more than one time. And they also talk about God as a jerk because He made me gay and then His followers told me I chose to be this way and then I’m mocked every day, so he called God a jerk.

Fischer: That’s interesting to me because his character is an atheist who claims he doesn’t believe in God but then he calls God a jerk for making him like this.

Cole: So there’s this name-calling and, you know teenagers are watching this show, and you have other teenagers on the show saying ‘I fall asleep when I pray’ and ‘I see God every time I make out with a new chick,’ and we had one scene in the show that had a student burn a grilled cheese and it was in the image of God, or it was in the image of Jesus actually, so he prays to this grilled cheese and calls it Grilled Cheesus, and he makes this twisted idea of a relationship with this grilled cheese because they win the football game so he keeps going back and back to this grilled cheese, saving it, being very protective of it. So he pretty much having this idol thinking this is why he’s winning his football games. But the end of the program does say that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in something.

Fischer: Even a grilled cheese sandwich.

Cole: That’s right, and that was very disturbing as a parent.

Fischer: Let’s go back to the program last week because that’s why the Fox affiliate invited me on to debate this gay activist because that night there was particular focus, particularly focused emphasis on normalizing homosexual behavior. What was the content of the program that night?

Cole: Well the episode was named ‘Born This Way,’ and so we had many opportunities we were hoping there could be a lesson learned in this particular episode, saying you know how you’re physically born, how someone may look, and just being accepting and happy of the way you were born. That could’ve been a good lesson learned. But then they had the homosexual student saying how you’re born homosexual, you’re born gay, and there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s not a lifestyle choice. So instead of having tolerance there, they were actually wanting to bring the point of acceptance and affirmation of this lifestyle choice.