For CBS, Equal Rights Ads Are Bad, Right Wing Ads Are Good

Five years ago, television network CBS rejected an advertisement from the United Church of Christ (UCC) that suggested churches should be places free from discrimination, including discrimination based on age, gender, race, and sexual orientation. At the time, CBS told the UCC that the network had "a longstanding policy of not accepting advocacy advertising," and that the advertisement was too controversial.

An inclusive church is too controversial? Sheesh, if that's what passes for controversial, then how is CBS justifying its plan to run a Super Bowl advertisement from the vehemently anti-LGBT group, Focus on the Family?

You might know Focus on the Family from their comments about LGBT people, which include among other ringers, that homosexuals are a threat to civilization, that homosexuality can be repaired, and that gays and lesbians who enter into relationships are perverted. Beyond that, you might know Focus on the Family for the rather inflammatory comments of its founder, James Dobson, who once said that girls shouldn't learn anything about sex education because it strips them of their modesty.

To top that all off, the Focus on the Family Super Bowl ad is scheduled to take a hard-line position against abortion. That's not controversial?!

Sounds like CBS is employing a double standard here, telling a pro-LGBT Church that their advertisement is too risque, but telling a rabidly right-wing religious group that they can run their advertisement right smack in the middle of the most watched television program of the year. Twice.

Call CBS out on this double standard. Ask them to either reject this advertisement from Focus on the Family, or give the United Church of Christ an opportunity to air their ad on the network.

A Facebook group has also started to call CBS out on this tit-for-tat. Upwards of 1,300 members have joined, calling on CBS to be consistent. Either CBS should reject advocacy advertisements outright, or hold everyone to the same standards, the group says.

This issue is particularly frustrating when you look at the United Church of Christ advertisement that CBS rejected. What makes this advertisement controversial?  Take a look ...

Is it the idea that a church shouldn't discriminate?  Is it the idea that gay folk, or people of color might attend church? Seriously, what is it?

Meanwhile, one could write a tome on what makes Focus on the Family a lightning rod of controversy. Yes, their history as a premiere homophobic organization in the U.S. is fairly well known. But the ad they plan to run during the Super Bowl is going to preach a very conservative line on abortion, essentially embodying the definition of an advocacy advertisement. They even got football star Tim Tebow to join them.

Rumor has it that the ad will focus on Tebow's mother's decision to give birth to him, despite being critically ill during her pregnancy. And with that, millions upon millions of people will learn the Focus on the Family lesson: don't get an abortion, because you never know if you might be killing the next Heisman Trophy-winning athlete.

Simply put, CBS should know better. Either they keep to a position that forbids controversial advertisements from their network, or they throw a bone to the United Church of Christ. Because seriously, Focus on the Family's ad is going to stoke controversy 5,000 times more than the United Church of Christ ad would. As mistersite wrote over at DailyKos, this is hypocrisy at play.

"This hypocrisy - where an ad taking a right-wing position on perhaps the most controversial issue of our time is accepted, while an ad hinting at a liberal position on an issue of less controversy is rejected - shouldn't be allowed to stand," mistersite writes.

Amen to that. Now it's time to send CBS that same very message.

Photo credit: Sarah Ackerman