Should kids & family movies have gay characters?

Should kids & family movies have gay characters? Mar 9, 2017 16:11:27 GMT spiderwort, jeffersoncody, and 2 more like this

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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 9, 2017 16:11:27 GMT

Mar 9, 2017 7:46:05 GMT jeffersoncody said:

Mar 9, 2017 6:42:50 GMT Doghouse6 said:

There's been a lot of talk on this thread about religion and "sin" - which is fine; anyone who wishes to live their own lives according to whatever tenets they choose is free to do so - and about "imposing" or "forcing" an "agenda."

I have no desire to argue directly with those of closed minds, but of course, no one is "imposing" or "forcing" anything: buying a ticket to, and viewing, the new Beauty and the Beast is just as much a choice as which religious teachings to follow, and everyone is free to make it for themselves. It is, however, those wishing to exclude from popular entertainment any ideas of which they disapprove - by limiting that entertainment to portraying only those ideas of which they do approve (to the exclusion of all others) - who would actually be "imposing" and "forcing" an "agenda" by eliminating those choices.

It's really quite simple: Don't approve of it? Then don't do it/buy it/watch it/etc. Putting oneself in the position of deciding for others which of their choices "should" be removed assumes that of oppressor.

I wasn't comfortable with participation in a poll presenting only a yes/no binary on a "should" question, so I offer these observations in its stead.

I hear what you are saying Doghouse6, and respect your opinion, but would ask you from the very depths of my heart to reconsider your stance and give a YES vote.

I gave overnight consideration to your entreaty, jc, and was nearly to the point of entering a "yes" vote, thinking, "It's just a message board poll that doesn't go anywhere, conducted by someone looking only for validation of his prejudices, so where's the harm in voting?"

But I was then stopped by this thought: "What if the question was, 'Should kids & family movies have anti-gay religious messaging?'" I can't in good conscience say that I think they "should," but neither can I decide for others that they shouldn't, so I have to stick to my principles.

If provided a third option, such as "It's up to the artists to decide whether to include them, and up to consumers to decide what they'll watch," or even a rephrasing of the single question to, for instance, "Should the makers of kids & family movies have the freedom to include gay characters," I could have participated. But what Conspirologist presents is what Marisa Tomei so eloquently described in My Cousin Vinny as a bullshit question, and being forced into an invalid metric by someone with an axe to grind is something I - even, and especially, as a gay man - must reject.