CBS Can Have Gay Characters, Just Not Gay Advertisements

by Michael Jones · 2010-03-05 06:02:00 UTC
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CBSIt's been a heck of a few months for television network CBS, at least in regards to LGBT rights. First came the network's failing grade from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which took the network to task for having virtually no characters on any of their scripted shows who were lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Then came word that CBS was going to allow the vehemently anti-gay organization Focus on the Family to run a flowery advertisement during the Super Bowl, the nation's most watched television program. Adding fuel to that fire was the fact that in years past, CBS had refused to air gay-friendly advertisements from the likes of the United Church of Christ and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN). And the cherry on top of this controversy was CBS's refusal to air an ad from gay dating Web site Mancrunch.com.

Rumors continue to fly that CBS might try to air Focus on the Family advertisements again, this time during the telecast of the NCAA's "March Madness" basketball tournament. Way to raise everyone's hackles, CBS.

But is the network slowly starting to come around? Earlier this week CBS announced that in light of their acceptance of a Focus on the Family advertisement, they would accept an advertisement (billboard only) from the group NORML, or the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. And now CBS's entertainment president, Nina Tassler, is saying that there might be a concerted effort across the network to make sure that next year, more gay characters are depicted across the spectrum of CBS shows.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tassler admits that the network's entertainment division has been encouraging all of its shows to include gay characters where appropriate, and not to shy away from characters who might have a sexual orientation different from the "very straight" end of the Kinsey scale.

"Any show can have gay characters. We're conscious of [GLAAD's criticism] as well," Tassler said. "This year one of our pilots, 'Quinn-tuplets,' has gay characters. Any series can. This year we made a concerted effort to suggest to producers, if not in pilot, then as we go forward."

That could be a good thing. (Though we'll withhold judgment on a show that makes a pun out of the word quintuplets.) Because right now CBS is being schooled by just about every other network on television (even Fox!) when it comes to LGBT representation across the tubes.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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