July 02, 2005 Independence day for gay TV channel From Chris Ayres in Los Angeles MTV, the television company that revolutionised American popular culture, started a channel for gay people yesterday. The channel was attacked by Christian groups, who called it an “assault” on the innocence of children. But advertisers were eager to tap into an audience with huge potential buying power. The channel, called Logo, will be the first gay channel supplied to US homes that have not specifically asked for it, reaching 13 million potential viewers. America’s other two gay channels, Here! and Q Television, are available only on subscription. In the 1980s, when it was impossible to find alternative music on mainstream television networks, the cry of American teenagers was: “I want my MTV.” Pundits have already come up with an unofficial slogan for the new channel: “I want my gay TV.” Logo’s inaugural telecast, aired last night on the East Coast before America’s long Independence Day weekend, was entitled The Evolution Will Be Televised. Like MTV, Logo is owned by Viacom, one of America’s largest media groups. Scheduled programming includes news features about gay rugby and gay rodeo, plus gay-themed Hollywood films, including Mulholland Drive and Six Degrees of Separation. A new comedy, entitled Noah’s Arc, about a gay black screenwriter, is already in production. Another show, Curl Girls, will focus on the lives of lesbians with high-powered careers. “The criterion is to feature gay characters in primary or leading roles and not in the gimmicky or usual collection of depressed characters, comic- relief best friends or serial killers,” said David Bittler, vice-president of communication for MTV Networks, which has been working on a 24-hour gay channel for two years. Advertisers have so far showed little squeamishness about Logo’s content, with Motorola, Miller Lite and Subaru all paying for commercial airtime on the channel. Companies are eager to capitalise on the buying power of gays and lesbians, estimated at $600 billion (£340 billion) a year by one US marketing firm. Religous groups are not so happy. Janice Crouse, of 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.” She added that corporate advertisers were giving a “stamp of approval on a lifestyle that . . . devastates lives by the diseases it inflicts”. Damon Romine, of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, countered that Logo had “the potential to reach millions of television viewers with images and stories that can play a vital role in broadening understanding of our lives, our families and our relationships” Has anyone ever seen Velvet Goldmine? Just curious because I wonder, will gay relations be ok with the constitution if the corp overlords say it is? Will we see a swifty change of rhetoric and mumbo jumbo in the near future? ha, probably not but "gay" is now a commodity, go buy yourself a subaru and celebrate.
"Gay activism, solidly established in our schools, is now spreading right into the nation’s living rooms.” She added that corporate advertisers were giving a “stamp of approval on a lifestyle that . . . devastates lives by the diseases it inflicts”." Homosexuality devestates lives? I'd like to here her give an example of a life "devestated" by homosexuality, besides the devestation wrought on homosexuals by a hateful, ignorant society.
