Social conservatives are hopping mad about an upcoming Nickelodeon special that addresses issues facing children being raised by gay parents.
   "My Family Is Different," which will air June 18, is the first in a series of "Nick News" specials created by Linda Ellerbee’s Lucky Duck Productions.
    It will feature discussions among young teenagers, some of whom have same-sex parents and others who do not. Adult guests on the show will include conservative evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell and lesbian television star Rosie O'Donnell, as well as a gay New York City firefighter and a gay high school principal.
     Ellerbee and Nickelodeon say the program is meant to educate kids about tolerance and diversity. Opponents, led by the Washington, D.C.-based Traditional Values Coalition, say its purpose is to brainwash youngsters into seeing gays as normal and even attractive.
  "This show is nothing more than pure homosexual propaganda," says Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, executive director of the TVC, which describes itself on its web site as "the largest non-denominational, grassroots church lobby in America."
  Proof that the producers were acting on a pro-gay agenda, she says, can be seen in their selection of adult guests.
    "The kids don't know who those conservative voices are.  They know about a fireman.  They know about a principal. They know about Rosie.  They've tried to elevate the homosexuals and make them into role models."
  Lafferty claims 250,000 people have already called, emailed or written letters to Nickelodeon to protest "My Family Is Different," thanks in large part to her group's efforts.
    "Up until now, Nickelodeon has been seen as neutral," she says, drawing a contrast with Disney, which has repeatedly run afoul of conservative Christian groups.
  "Parents now see that Nickelodeon is not neutral.  The outrage of a quarter of a million people has really caught them off guard."
  Lafferty also argues that there simply aren't enough families with same-sex parents to merit addressing the issue, especially in a show meant for an audience of pre-teenagers.
  "Our point is that homosexual parenting is not a pervasive issue in the lives of almost all 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds."
   It may not be as common as divorce -- the topic of a future "Nick News"-Ellerbee special -- but same-sex parenting has the kind of headline-grabbing value that can kick-start a discussion about tolerance, says Cathy Renna, a spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, known as GLAAD.
    "It's a news story.  People are talking about kids who have gay and lesbian parents," says Renna. "Since when is saying that all people should be treated equally a message that we don't want young kids to hear?"
   Based on what she knows about the show's content, Renna challenges Lafferty's description of it as propaganda.
    "There's a real diversity of opinion represented on the show and diversity of values, so to say it's propaganda is specious."
     (Nobody from Nickelodeon was available to comment, as the network's offices close early on Fridays during the summer.)
    Although the TVC was invited to help find families to appear on the show -- an invitation it declined -- Lafferty herself was not asked to appear. Had she been, she says she would have refused.
    Of O’Donnell, she is openly, and rather personally, critical, calling her a "coward" for waiting until she was ready to retire from TV to acknowledge her homosexuality, and accusing her of denying her children the father they want.
    "Her own children desire something she can't or won't give them," says Lafferty.  "How selfish can that be?"

June 10, 2002© 2002 Media Life

-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.

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