Last month, the first ever gay couple was featured on a Disney Channel show. Though “Good Luck Charlie’s” two lesbian characters received no more than 10 seconds of airtime, the feat was significant # not just for gay people and supporters, but for the human race.
The storyline was simple. Charlie had a playdate with a girl named Taylor. Charlie’s parents, Amy and Bob, had met Taylor’s mom on individual occasions, but they each remembered her having a different name. Was it Susan or Cheryl?
Upon opening the door to their guests, Amy and Bob realized they had both been correct. Amy greets the uber-trendy skinny blonde couple (they may be gay, but they’re still Disney) and Bob retorts, “Ohh, Taylor has two moms.”
Bingo, Bob.
Taylor runs over to Charlie, Charlie couldn’t care less that her friend has two moms and they all live happily ever after. That’s that. End scene.
The fact that this scene was executed so swiftly only makes it more impressive. Charlie’s parents didn’t have to explain why Taylor has two moms. Charlie thought nothing unusual of it, and neither did her parents. And whereas gay characters are often used for comic relief, the “funny” in this scene came out of Amy and Bob’s confusion, not the lesbian couple itself.
Kids will watch this episode of “Good Luck Charlie” and think it no different than any other. They’ll laugh when Bob is slow to the punch (as he apparently often is) on the whole two moms thing, and they’ll hit “Play next episode” on Netflix when this one ends. A lesbian couple will not phase them. Taylor’s two moms are no different than Charlie’s one mom and one dad.
A child may have a thought like, “Oh, Joe in my class has two moms, too,” but they won’t think anything’s wrong with that. Not naturally, at least. Not unless someone tells them being gay is unnatural.
Obviously, gay characters are now commonplace in TV shows and movies, but not on shows made specifically for kids. Somehow, we’ve allowed gayness to become an “adult theme” and even the idea of two men or two women being in a romantic relationship with each other is something that warrants a change in parental control settings.
Conservative (read: straight) activism agency One Million Moms is at the forefront of opposition to Disney’s decision.
Here’s its argument:
“Just because something may be legal or because some are choosing a lifestyle doesn’t make it morally correct. Disney should stick to entertaining instead of pushing an agenda. Disney decided to be politically correct versus providing family-friendly programming. Disney has a choice whether to produce a program with certain fictional characters; the storyline could be rewritten or changed. Conservative families need to urge Disney to exclude confusing topics that children are far too young to comprehend.”
And now, let us take a moment to weep for the One Million children of these One Million Moms, for they are the ones being burdened with an agenda, faced with confusing topics. They are the ones being exposed to something unnatural.
So, let’s break this statement down.
Skipping over the “morally correct” part, because no one’s got time for that, we jump to the words “pushing an agenda.” By incorporating gay characters, Disney is doing nothing other than reassuring the thing it’s always told us: that it’s OK to be ourselves. The statement from One Million Moms advocates the opposite.
Next up, the term “family-friendly.” OK, so we’ve got one mom and another mom and they have a daughter … what the heck do we call this familial seeming relationship? I mean, we couldn’t possibly consider that a family, could we? Psshh, no way, José. (HOW IS A SCENE ABOUT A FRIENDLY FAMILY NOT CONSIDERED “FAMILY-FRIENDLY”?)
Finally, we come to “confusing topics.” If anything, Disney has taken gay parentage and presented it to children in the least confusing way. I feel comforted knowing my children will grow up watching children’s shows that accurately depict all sorts of people they will encounter in their lives, regardless of sexual orientation, race, social class or whatever else. Because somewhere within the slew TV show characters they get to know, they’ll be watching not only versions of their peers, but of themselves.
Bravo, Disney.
Tyler Killette is a senior majoring in mass communications and editor-in-chief. She can be reached at me@tylerkillette.com or on Twitter @tylerkillette.
