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WIIOSE :BOOk? BY LlBBY POST

LYNN AND I SETTLED IN RECENTLY TO
watch the premiere of The Book of Daniel on
NBC. Our interest was piqued by the network
promos and everything We had heard about the
show. There’s a gay male leading character, a
lesbian supporting character, a gay screenwriter
and the’ American Family Association has called
upon its membership to call their local NBC
affiliates to pull it from the air. '

Anything with that kind of set—up was worth
a try.

The show stars Aidan Quinn as the Rev. Daniel
Webster, an Episcopal minister. Quinn, by the
way, was one of the first Hollywood actors to
tackle the AIDS epidemic in the 1985 TV movie
An Early Frost, a groundbreaking undertaking
twenty years ago.

A multi-dimensional man of the cloth, Webster
gives unconventional sermons, counsels would-
be married couples who then decide to just live
together and grapples with church hierarchy,
all the while struggling to be a good father and
husband. At the same time, he’s got a Vicodin
problem and has an on-going a.r1d honest dialogue
with Jesus Christ.

.NBC describes the show as provocative, edgy
and compelling. The American Family Association
describes it as anti-[Christian — another cog in the

_ wheel of their perceived war on Christianity.

The AFA is once again using
heavy-handed tactics to try
and erase the lesbian and
gay community from our
culture and society.

According to the AFA website, Webster
is a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose
wife depends heavily on midday martinis
and who regularly sees a.nd talks with a very
unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus. They
go on to describe Webster's family as including
a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-
year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-
year-old adopted son who is having sex with “the
bishop’s daughter.”

In their usual myopic style, they forget to tell
you the greyer areas of the story line: that the gay
son is grappling with the loss of his twin brother
and hasn’t conveyed a political affiliation yet, only
that he doesn't want to be a “gay poster child.”
That the daughter got busted for selling pot to
finance the publication of 21 comic book and has
promised not to do it again. And that the adopted
son isn't sleeping with the bishop's daughter, he's
actually in love with the daughter of one of the
church elders. ’

But beyond these little inaccuracies, the AFA
has asked its members to usge this information
and call the NBC affiliates in their area with a
message to cull the program from its broadcast
roster. Additionally, AFA members are asked to
call the program’s advertisers and tell them to
yank their advertising. While the AFA hasn’t come
out with a full-fledged boycott, it is once again
using heavy—handed tactics to try and erase the
lesbian and gay community from our culture and
society — not to mention keep folks from seeing a
complex portrayal of a Christian minister.

Let’s not forget, these are the same people who
boycotted Disney because the company provides
domestic partner benefits and sponsors Gay Days
at Disney and who recently targeted Ford because
of its pro-gay philanthropy and marketing.

Like past actions, they weren’t that successful
this time around either. Less than a handful of
stations capitulated. Almost all of them, not
surprisingly, are in the Bible Belt.

WTWO in Terre Haute, Indiana, KARK in Little
Rock, Arkansas and four stations in Kansas owned
by Emmis Communications have pulled the show.
In a statement, KARK defended pulling the show
by saying, “As broadcasters using public airwaves
and leaders in the community, we don’t believe
it’s in the best interest of our community to air a
program that a large number of our viewers find
deeply offensive." Considering that WB42, the
WB affiliate in the Little Rock market, decided to

. air the show and has since been besieged with

threats, KARK unfortunately may be right about
their viewers.

Juxtapose KARK’s statement with the response
from Jeff Lee, the General Manager of WBIR in
Knoxville, Tennessee, which did air the show.
“We at WBIR find ourselves in a no-win situation.

Regardless of our decision, some of our viewers.

wiH be upset. We don’t like upsetting even one
viewer. The Book of Daniel is a TV program — that’s
all. We think you should make up your own mind as
to whether or not to watch any TV program.”

WIS in Columbia, South Carolina came to a
similar conclusion. Mel Stebbins, the Senior VP
and General Manager said, “We believe we have
a greater responsibility to air the program to
viewers who are interested in seeing it than we
have to those who want us to censor content they
find objectionable.”

While the AFA attempts to claim victory, the
hundreds of affiliates across the country that did
air The Book of Daniel far outweigh the few that
did not. They, like Lee and Stebbins, recognize it
is just a TV show, a.nd were old enough to decide
what we do and don’t want to watch. Besides, the
book that really matters is the one titled Neilsen
Ratings. That will decide the real future of The
Book of Daniel. Y

o

5 Libby Post is the founder of OutMarketing.biz, president emeritus of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian
Community Council, and founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda. Her commentaries can be

heard Thursdays on WAMC public radio in Albany.