TLC to Air 'My Husband's Not Gay' Despite Pleas from Public, Across-the-Board Criticism
TLC will air its controversial show "My Husband's Not Gay" on Sunday despite widespread criticism and calls for the channel not to.
"TLC has long shared compelling stories about real people and different ways of life, without judgment," TLC said in a statement. "The individuals featured in this one-hour special reveal the decisions they have made, and speak only for themselves."
The channel issued the statement in response to intense criticism from GLAAD, a gay Christian who started a campaign on Change.org that has received over 100,000 supporters, and the Family Research Council. Members of the public have expressed their views about the show, which features three Mormon couples who "navigate unconventional relationships" as well as one single man who goes on a date and has to "decide whether or not to reveal his big secret," according to TLC.
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"This show is downright irresponsible," GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement to TheWrap. "No one can change who they love, and, more importantly, no one should have to. By investing in this dangerous programming, TLC is putting countless young LGBT people in harm's way."
All those featured in the special are devout Mormons and hold fast to their faith and marriage, even though the husbands struggle with attraction to other men. Their situations are reminiscent of a young pastor in Pennsylvania, Allan Edwards, who recently revealed his own attraction to other men despite being happily married and expecting his first child.
"I think we all have part of our desires that we choose not to act on, right?" Edwards told Mail Online. "So for me, it's not just that the religion was important to me, but communion with a God who loves me, who accepts me right where I am."
While Edwards does not identify as homosexual, a petition that has garnered over 100,000 signatures was written and posted by a man identifying as a gay Christian. He has claimed that the show "promotes the false and dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight in order to be part of their faith communities."
TLC defines the relationships on the show as marriages with one partner who has same sex attractions (SSAs).
The show "makes an important point about human sexuality—everyone has choices about what type of objective sexual relationship they will engage in, regardless of what subjective sexual attractions they may experience," Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council, told The Christian Post.
"My only concern with stories like this, regarding men with same-sex attractions who are nevertheless married to women, is that they may tend to offer support for the myth that same-sex attractions themselves can never be changed. This is untrue, as there is abundant evidence that many people—with or without the help of structured 'sexual reorientation therapy' or other sexual orientation change efforts—have experienced a change in their sexual attractions. However, the men highlighted here are to be affirmed for not making behavior consistent with their faith contingent only on a prior change in their subjective sexual attractions," Sprigg added.
"My Husband's Not Gay" will air Sunday, Jan. 11 on TLC.
