U.S. Christians Issue Gay Warning Over Kid Video

[KrazyRabidSheep]

U.S. Christians Issue Gay Warning Over Kid Video

Thu Jan 20, 7:39 PM ET

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...fe_spongebob_dc (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=769&e=1&u=/nm/life_spongebob_dc)

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites.



The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity.

But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

"A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality," wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association.

The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song "We Are Family" using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and 100 TV cartoon stars. It was made by a foundation set up by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks to promote the nation's healing process.

Christian groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the foundation's Web site which asks people to respect the sexual identity of others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.

"Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary but it crosses a moral line," Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement on Thursday.

Rodgers was astounded at the attack. "That is so myopic and harsh. You have really got to look hard to find anything in this that is offensive to anyone. The last thing I am going to do is taint these characters," he told Reuters.

Dobson was quoted by the New York Times on Thursday as having singled out the wildly popular SpongeBob during remarks about the video at a Washington D.C. dinner this week.

SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was "outed" by the U.S. media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise was popular with gays. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that although SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters as asexual.

It is not the first time that children's TV favorites have come under the critical spotlight of the U.S. Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Rev. Jerry Falwell.
__________________________________________________ ___________________
Stupid, pointless hate.

Recently (and even now) it was Latinos
50 years ago it was blacks
Before (and since) it was Jews
The Irish and Chinese had their turns.

Now it's gays.
Good christians teach their kiddies to tolerate blacks, Arabs, Asians, etc. etc., but it's still immoral to be gay.

Why must people find somebody to hate? Who is next? Men who wear stripped ties? People who keep cats as pets?

[Latifa]

"Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary but it crosses a moral line," Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement on Thursday.


The inclusion is both necessary and moral ( whatever the fuck that should mean ).

It of course is just the mans tainted opinion.


But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.


:lol:


exploited

:lol:


People who keep cats as pets?

:lol: The people are alright, it's their damn cats that get me :lol:

[Debs'atron]

In a rather lengthy conversation with a fairly well-read Christian, he likened accepting a person's right to be gay as it does not affect him, to accepting a person's right to be a murderer as it does not affect him. These people are insane I fail to comprehend how homosexuality is so important to god when it appears only once in the WHOLE GOD DAMNED BIBLE. It also endorses slavery and murder. The bible has some good bits, but it is just plain FUCKING WRONG in a few key spots. There are bigger moral dilemas discussed in the bible that christians dont deal with, so the answer I come to is that they are simply ignorant biggoted assholes.

[amusing foibles]

This is too damn stupid for words. Don't these people have better things to do with their time?

[Intifada]

I love SpongeBob!

[redtrigger]

I think most Christians' problems with gays are that they need an enemy. In the material worldin which we live, Satan cannot cause fear, he's not real. Gays on the other hand are real, they are men. In choosing an identifiable enemy they solidify their following. Its nothing more than a pyramid scam.

[praxis1966]

This is even more laughable than the Southern Baptists boycotting Disney for giving same sex couples the health benefits of married people (as if there weren't any other reasons to boycott Disney) or Pat Roberts claiming that Tinky Winky was gay.

[Discarded Wobbly Pop]

If the "American Family Association" has an office there should be a mass bible burning infront of it. :hammer:

[eQuaLiTy]

equality for all, beliefs based a holy book are built to brainwash and corrupt. Look for the bigger picture you mindless bigots. ( Aimed at the Christians)

[guerillablack]

tinky winky is gay, but thas besides point. How can spongebob be asexual when hisname is bob

[Union gal]

I just dont understand what is up some of these christan peoples asses :heh heh: im friends with many christains, gays and the like and i always wonder why we cant just get along.
:huh: isint it hypocritical for the Christains to find someone to hate judge and comdem when their books tell them not to, i think they should just leav everyone be and let god take care of it
everyone would be a whole lot happier :D

[Exploited Class]

First off, I can't believe this story is getting any media time. The tinky Winky purse carrying closeted gay story didn't get this much attention and when it did get attention from the media it was mostly to be humurous.

Even my local news has picked up on this story and is interviewing people. My local news channels never interview people unless it is 1 block from the station. And it is the words and terms that the media is using that scares me, they are repeating a right wing agenda, "A video is that is pro-gay". Okay it is not pro-gay it is pro-tolerance, HUGE DIFFERENCE. They let a guy get on camera and say, "Acts like these videos are little bit and don't do a lot right away but it is like putting small amounts of Arsenic in your drinking water over time."

They let a guy compare teaching tolerance of homosexuals to poison....

The way the media is treating this is just irresponsible.

[Karl Marx's Camel]

I wonder when they are going to complain about movies that are pro-straight :rolleyes:

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

if anything drives me to the left its homophobic scum especialy if they are fundimentalists

[blackwaffle]

hmm... we should get Dt. Dobson a pro-straight porno for his birthday...

[existential1]

It worries me to know that the people of this country would so easily disregard respect and decensy for others because of a mere label. If you were walking down the street and passed ten gay people, would you know it? What is it about gay people that causes these hypocritical evangelicals to foam at the mouth like ravenous dogs waiting to rip out a jugular? I myself am neither a homosexual, nor do i promote a homosexual lifestyle. However, i do understand that these people (though they have a different sexual preference) are very similiar to me in other ways. The hate that is instilled in these "christians" is nothing more than a smoke screen, designed to distract them from the real pressing issues of today: poverty, pollution, healthcare, war, consolidation of power and the like. Homosexuality is something that cannot be stopped or controled, it is the decision of two like minded people to engage in something that hurts no one, but the two of them. Also, i find it odd that the same group of people who blamed AIDs on the gays, would try to prevent this same group of people from being monogamous, which could possibly reduce the spread of this horrible disease. I belive that most of this hatefulness exemplified by these "christians" is merely brought on by the self-hatred they feel for themselves, because of the homo-erotic excitement they get from watching an episode of Sponge Bob or perhaps The TeleTubbies.

"I just want to make sure everything is done as descreetly as possible."
~ excerpt from a tape of a republican political nominee caught phoning a gay sex line.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

Wow, I'm quite suprized this topic has gotten the response it has.

I'm rather glad. It seems that the gay community never gets a say in the U.S. Even in San Fran, Schwarzenegger does what he can to keep them quiet.

The whole situation has become absurd.
In St. Louis, there is a fairly large gay community, esp. across the river in the Illinois suburbs.
St. Louis is also known as a rather liberal town.
It has gotten so bad, though, that the old hankie codes are being reintroduced.
The persecution has progressed back to the level where most gays, bisexuals, or whatever are going back into the closet. . .
not because they're ashamed or embarresd, but because the right wingests won't leave them alone

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2005, 10:23 PM
I myself am neither a homosexual, nor do i promote a homosexual lifestyle. However, i do understand that these people (though they have a different sexual preference) are very similiar to me in other ways. The hate that is instilled in these "christians" is nothing more than a smoke screen, designed to distract them from the real pressing issues of today: poverty, pollution, healthcare, war, consolidation of power and the like. Homosexuality is something that cannot be stopped or controled, it is the decision of two like minded people to engage in something that hurts no one, but the two of them. Also, i find it odd that the same group of people who blamed AIDs on the gays, would try to prevent this same group of people from being monogamous, which could possibly reduce the spread of this horrible disease. I belive that most of this hatefulness exemplified by these "christians" is merely brought on by the self-hatred they feel for themselves, because of the homo-erotic excitement they get from watching an episode of Sponge Bob or perhaps The TeleTubbies.

"I just want to make sure everything is done as descreetly as possible."
~ excerpt from a tape of a republican political nominee caught phoning a gay sex line.
how does it hurt the two gay people to be gay....

as for AIDS... It can be spread through heterosexual sex just as easily....

and as for me [SIZE=14]I AM BI AND PROUD!!![SIZE=1]

love and unity,
PETEY

[praxis1966]

Not that laws outlawing same sex marraige are preventing anyone from being monogomous either. They just keeping same sex couples from making the relationship legally binding (and causing the latent effect of making them pay a higher tax rate).

[KrazyRabidSheep]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2005, 09:25 PM
I AM BI AND PROUD!!!
I find it interesting when somebody declares gay/bi/whatever pride.
I look at it as a fact of life. . .it just it. . .you just are. . .nothing particulary extrordinary to be especialy proud of.
I respect and understand that other people feel more strongly about issues then I do, but it's all the same to me.

I have red hair. . .I'm not particularly proud of it. I'm well over 6foot high. . .I don't give it a second thought. I enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. . .I don't think of it as anything special.

I figure that being proud means that you've got something special, something that others envy. I feel pride means more then not being ashamed.

That aside, since you've fessed up, I will too. (I was considering it anyway, but decided it was not a big deal, and not anyone's buissiness. People don't generaly announce they're straight, so why announce when you're not?)
I am bi. This is probably why I take such interest in posting such topics.

My g/f is bi, too. . .we're liberal. . .we're openly minded . . . we're an interracial couple (she's mulatto). . .I guess this makes us right wingest public enemy #1, eh?

[existential1]

how does it hurt the two gay people to be gay....

When I said this I was talking about emotionally.


as for AIDS... It can be spread through heterosexual sex just as easily...

I know this, my comments were in reference to the "christian" belief that AID's was spawned from the homosexual population.