CWA Condemns Launch of MTV's Gay Channel in US

Concerned Women for America have condemned MTV’s plan to launch the nation’s first gay channel, LOGO, as an "assault on children’s innocence".

MTV will launch the channel, which caters specifically for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender market, tonight.

Approximately 10 million viewers will be able to tune into popular gay series such as "Queer as Folk", regular gay news broadcasts and the forthcoming 16th Annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards.

Unlike its forerunners, Q and Here! TV, LOGO is neither a pay-per-view nor a subscription service but will rather be broadcast as a basic cable channel complete with mainstream advertising, making it the first gay television channel available to homes that do not directly request it.

LOGO is the latest development in a long line of TV series and films that have attempted to bring the real lives of millions of gays and lesbians into mainstream television, building on the foundations already laid by the likes of Ellen Degeneres and Will and Grace, and films like "The Birdcage" or "Mulholland Drive".

The channel also features heavily Graham Norton, and has bought the rights to both ‘Graham Norton’ as well as ‘V Graham Norton’, both originally produced for Channel 4.

Frank Olsen, who founded Q Television in October last year said, "We're thrilled. We've been trying to beat the doors down since about 1999. To have Logo come along with the support of MTV and Viacom will only open millions of more doors for us."

Members of the religious community have also spoken out in favour of LOGO. The Reverend Butch Henderson defended the channel saying that since most programming is oriented toward straight people, it only makes sense to have a channel directed toward the LGBT community, reports the Daily Bulletin.
The channel is certain to benefit from MTV’s cult status among teenagers, which is precisely what concerns the CWA.

Dr. Janice Crouse, senior fellow of the Beverly LeHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America said, "This is a sad day for America's children. LOGO is another assault on our children's innocence. Gay activism, solidly established in our schools, is now spreading right into the nation's living rooms."

The CWA has also sharply criticised the channel for what it fears is a normalising homosexuality among children and youths.

"MTV has made radical special interest programming a priority," Crouse said. "Their campaigns –– ‘Fight for your Rights,' ‘Protect Yourself' and ‘Choose or Lose' –– have targeted the nation's teens with demagoguery. Now they are taking their activism a step further to indoctrinate our children through a special gay network that will portray homosexuality in a positive, appealing way, legitimising the homosexual lifestyle for children in millions of American homes."

The Reverend David Berkedal of Faith Lutheran Church in San Dimas has also raised his concerns at what he sees as an unsettling trend.

"The kind of things that would normalise gay lifestyle are kind of disturbing," he said. "Within the Christian community, we have to view this in context of scripture: Homosexual actions are contrary to God’s plan and creation and intention for human life."

CWA also spoke up against the long list of popular brands that have signed up to advertise with the channel, which include Motorola, Miller Lite, Subaru and Johnson and Johnson, the ‘family brand’:
"Once again Corporate America is giving its stamp of approval on a lifestyle that is not only immoral, but devastates lives by the diseases it inflicts, when the message we all need to hear is that there is hope for homosexuals to break free from that destructive way of life," said Crouse.

"Last year, Motorola and Tylenol PM donated US$50,000 and $25,000 respectively to underwrite an event sponsored by GLAAD. It is an outrage that these marketers consistently recycle their earnings to endorse causes such as LOGO, which will only be detrimental to children and families."

Richard Reeb, a retired Barstow College professor, expressed his dislike of what, to him, seems like a development without limits: "We’ve opened the floodgates here. Some people in this country have reached the conclusion that anything goes as far as sexual expression is concerned."

Beeb reaffirmed his grave concern for society’s future, claiming that paedophilia and polygamy are certain to come next. He pointed to the North American Man-Boy Love association and the rise in lawsuits by polygamists in light of successful gay and lesbian cases as reasons for caution.

If the channel proves to be a success in America, it is expected that MTV will launch another version of LOGO for broadcast on its digital TV service in the UK.