Huge Gay Threat to GOP
Boston.com / A&E / TV / Sweet ‘Buster’ is far from radical — All hell is breaking loose over this new cartoon series on PBS. The Government is again getting involved. I thought the Republicans stood for LESS Government in our lives. Am I missing something here?
Good Editorial from Globe here.
This week controversy hangs over the PBS show ”Postcards from Buster,” produced locally by WGBH. Buster is an animated character whose visits to children around the country are shown in live-action segments. The children are the focus. But in an upcoming episode called ”Sugartime!” Buster visits a girl who lives on a farm in Vermont. Her parents happen to be lesbians; the show explains how maple syrup is made.
PBS President Pat Mitchell initially approved the episode, but eventually PBS officials decided not to distribute the program to its stations, to protect it from the brewing controversy. WGBH plans to air the episode and will give it to other stations that want it. After PBS had already decided not to distribute the episode, a sharp slap came from Margaret Spellings, the new federal secretary of education, who sent a letter objecting to the episode. The show gets some of its funding from the education department.
In an hilarious mn, the right questions are asked:
What is the specific nature of the content that the Secretary of Education is objecting to? What exactly happens in “Sugartime!”?
The animated character Buster Baxter meets real kids. In this episode he is in Vermont … [he] meets kids with two moms. The moms are not central to the story, the kids are. But their family structure seems to be what has triggered the concern.
Is there any nudity in “Sugartime!”?
No.
Is there any sexual contact between the two women? Romantic contact? Do they kiss, touch, grope each other onscreen?
No, no, no, no and no.
Is the word “lesbian” or “gay” ever used in the episode?
No, no.
How about “dyke”?
No.
How do we know that the couple pictured are lesbians?
One of the kids introduces her mom and stepmom, and Buster comments that she has a lot of moms. That’s pretty much it. Remember, this is a show from a kid’s point of view, not an adult’s.
Is “maple sugaring” actually code for some sort of sexual practice between women?
Not that we uncovered.
Is the lesbian couple married under Vermont’s civil union law? Does the issue of marriage come up in the episode?
There is no mention of the women’s status and marriage is not mentioned. We know from meeting and talking with them off-camera that they are in a civil union.
related link:
Alabama pulls plug before controversy started.
If PBS hadn’t pulled an episode of a children’s show featuring a lesbian couple raising a child, it still would not have aired in Alabama.
Alabama Public Television’s executive director, Allan Pizzato, said Friday that APT had opted to pull the episode of “Postcards From Buster” several days before the PBS announcement.
According to media reports, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings wrote a letter to the president of PBS asking that the public money spent on the episode be returned.
