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[...] Writes one commentator very bluntly at the Patheos.com blog “Bad Catholic”: “According to Hollywood, gay men are…just fabulous. You can hardly turn on a sitcom, read a novel, or watch a movie without seeing the Gay Man Abstraction. . . " a guy who’s “funny, cute, kooky, has great taste in clothes, and will always solve [the] straight female protagonist’s problems by the end of the episode.”
And a recent survey from the Hollywood Reporter confirms how this portrayal has changed the public’s attitude on homosexuality and same-sex “marriage.”
When asked whether favorable portrayals of gay characters on shows like “Glee,” “Modern Family” and “The New Normal” had changed their views on gay “marriage,” twenty-seven percent of respondents—or over eighty percent of those whose views had changed—said that they were more in favor of gay “marriage.”
Says pollster John Penn, that’s due especially to the influx of young voters who grew up watching these shows.
“Views on gay marriage are totally defined by age,” says Penn. “Almost twice as many voters under 35 say these shows made them more in favor of gay marriage. . ."
Translation: The hearts and minds of Americans—especially our young people—are being changed when it comes to same-sex “marriage” and homosexual practice because of entertainment, not arguments.
But what popular media isn’t telling us about homosexuality and gay “marriage” is more manipulative still. In the well-adjusted, sex-savvy, healthy and loving portrayals we see of gay characters and their relationships, something important gets lost: the cost of living counter to God’s design: a higher risk of HIV, greater promiscuity, depression and substance abuse, and a lower life-expectancy—all well-documented consequences of an active homosexual lifestyle.
But in this election, entertainment-driven stereotypes which ignore these realities may have tipped the scales for the first time ever. Three states have just voted to allow same-sex marriage, and more importantly, polls now show that a majority of all Americans favor the change.
Scottish politician Andrew Fletcher once said, “Let me write the songs of a nation, and I don’t care who writes its laws.” If he were alive today, he might add, let me write the popular sitcoms of a nation.
Folks, we’ve spent years, money, talents, reputations and voices communicating the logical, moral and political reasons why marriage can only mean a man and a woman for life. But we’ve failed to do what the other side has succeeded at for so long: capturing the culture’s imagination.
Christian ideas have been very present in theology and politics, but not the arts. And so now we face a political road ahead that’s rougher than we’ve faced in a long time. And so our real work lies in the culture. And rather than give up and accept the “new normal,” we’ve got to take a page from the other side’s playbook.
We’ve got to realize that the ideas that most effectively shape a culture are not necessarily those that are argued, but those that are embodied. They capture the heart and mind because they capture the imagination.
THR Poll: 'Glee' and 'Modern Family' Drive Voters to Favor Gay Marriage--Even Many Romney Voter
Hollywoodreporter.com | November 3, 2012