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article on gay network....

http://www.uwire.com/content//topops011802003.html




COLUMN: Gay network wouldn't spread sexuality, porn

By Amanda Harris

Arkansas Traveler (U. Arkansas)
01/18/2002

(U-WIRE) FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- He wakes each day with the realization that almost every person who surrounds him disagrees with the decisions he makes behind closed doors. He drinks from the same water fountain as those who detest him. He sits next to those people in class. He votes. And he'll never have to move to the back of the bus.
Women's suffrage and civil rights seem a distant struggle for many in 2002. But in reality, there is another movement brewing beneath the surface of what seems to be a stagnant and tolerant society.

This movement is much more pivotal because no law deters this segment of society from participating; there is no official stance in opposition to it.

There is an entire segment of society that is unrecognizable to the naked eye. Unlike the women's suffrage movement, they may not be recognized by their gender. Unlike the civil rights movement, these people may not be recognized because of the hue of their skin.

These citizens are identified only when they choose to be. They are gay.

And recently there have been rumors of a new source of entertainment for the gay community. Showtime and MTV have spoken of a collaborative effort to create a television network that targets the gay community.

The network will be fed from a combination of advertisers and subscribers alike. But not without an immense amount of opposition. There are a myriad of reasons that the opposition can be found at fault and several truths that make the argument with the potential network seem ludicrous.

When the infamous Dr. Laura began her battle with any faction of society that didn't lean hard to the right, she was boycotted. She incessantly wages war against those that stray from what she considers "moral." She denounces homosexuality on moral grounds. I admire the woman. She has no qualms about the flak she'll receive from the ever-vocal left. She deserves the criticism.

She deserves the right to receive it because she is a citizen and can express her views. Boycotting Dr. Laura's sponsors in an attempt to silence her is effective and yet on some levels wrong. It's wrong because power is not indicative of truth, and those with the loudest voice should not silence others.

Dr. Laura is the most excellent parallel for the coming gay network. This is a blatant inconsistency: Silence those we disagree with. The next taste of ignorance comes with the notion that a gay network would provide explicit material or that it would promote a gay lifestyle to the "non-gay."

Homosexuality is not indicative of promiscuity. A disagreement with the lifestyle or of a person's choice of sexuality is not wrong, but an assumption that one sexuality is more "sexual" is preposterous. Showtime and MTV are not collaborating to create a gay porn network. The other notion, that a gay network would either spread homosexuality or pressure some to turn to the "dark side," also is inaccurate.

A gay network would not create a sudden gay epidemic. When Lifetime (television for women) debuted, how many men found the urge to become women?

In reality, a gay network will be a choice. And in places like Northwest Arkansas, it would probably be virtually impossible to receive the network without a gargantuan rainbow satellite dish atop the roof of your house.