men kissingRecently on Twitter, I witnessed a conversation between a few people on the subject of TV parental guidance ratings regarding to homosexuality. The original tweet came from my friend Larry O’Connor, and was aimed at a cable company. He expressed disappointment over its decision to air a commercial featuring two gay men kissing during G-rated programming that he was watching with his children.

Almost immediately, someone responded and asked if he would feel differently if the ad featured a man and a woman kissing, instead of two men. Larry said that he would, because his kids are "aware of male/female relationships." He asks, "At what age do you think I should tell them about homosexuals?"

He was then countered with the argument that "the ratings shouldn't treat gay/straight relationships any differently. A kiss is a kiss. What you tell your kids is up to you."

The conversation continued for a bit, with Larry maintaining his belief that there shouldn’t be physical displays of homosexuality during a program with a G rating. His feeling on the topic is that “there is an agenda to change societal norms. I feel obliged to push back.”

I thought it was an interesting topic of conversation, and I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it. We don’t exactly live in a Christian culture anymore (at least those of us on the left coast don’t), so is it fair to say that physical manifestations of homosexual activity (i.e. a kiss shared between two men) should be restricted during family-oriented TV shows?

I know that I would be upset to see two non-married people climbing into bed together during G-rated programming. We’re raising our daughters to value their virtue enough to save it for the men that will one day be their husbands. It’s not prudish to wait until you’re married to have sex. It’s actually kind of cool to be able to say to your spouse, “Damn, do you know how hard it was to wait for you?? But you were so worth it.”

I don’t want my daughters desensitized by a culture that not only doesn’t place any value on virtue, but also mocks and ridicules it. I would hope that the ratings system people would be sensitive to the parents like me, who are instilling Jesus’ command to love thy neighbor as thyself, and only throw stones if you yourself are sinless; yet don’t want their kids to be over-exposed to a Christ-less culture.

Just bump the ratings level, and let parents use that guideline to determine their own comfort level for allowing their children to watch those programs. Otherwise the TV is going off. 

Hey wait! There’s the answer: Capitalism. If the market doesn’t want to see gay kisses during their G-rated family programming, they’ll turn the TV off, and the cable company will lose money. If I’m in the minority here ... no one said we have to watch TV. I can still raise my own kids.

What do you think? Should TV ratings be regulated one way or another, or should the free market decide?

 

Image via icethim/Flickr