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A first in television

CattleArmy

Well-known member
*********************************************************

Merely beloved
'Brother & Sisters' uses a civil union to draw viewers. How times have changed.

Globe Staff / May 11, 2008

Tonight on "Brothers & Sisters," ABC is featuring the quintessential May sweeps event, but with a critical twist. It's a big fat wedding, which, along with burials and casting stunts, is how the networks inflate ratings during those months when ad rates are set. But the "Brothers & Sisters" marriage is a gay marriage - technically, a civil union, since the show's Walker clan is dysfunctional by way of LA and not Boston. And so some 11 million viewers will watch the joining of two men in what one character calls "holy man-trimony."

Stop the presses?
Actually, no. The wedding of Kevin and Scotty isn't a controversial network milestone, like those early gay and lesbian kisses on the likes of "Dawson's Creek" and "Roseanne." Indeed, it's no big deal at all. ABC has deemed a gay commitment ceremony a sweeps event; no advertisers are pulling out and no hate campaigners are shooting arrows, according to ABC; and life goes on.Despite the decade's fraught politics about gay unions, the subject is not exactly making for incendiary TV in 2008. While gay marriage can still be a polarizing political issue, the realities of gay life - coming out, kissing, weddings - have become normalized in popular culture enough to pass by almost unnoticed on prime time.
Compare that to the noise that has accompanied so many early, pioneering network attempts to show gay people doing what straight people do, such as simply talking in bed, which triggered protest in 1989 over an episode of "thirtysomething." When Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet on "Ellen" in 1997, there was brouhaha and there were boycotts. Now, on the day of Kevin and Scotty's nuptials, which arrives after much on-screen making out by the couple, there seems to be only TiVo-setting and shoulder shrugging.

Even the writers of "Brothers & Sisters" don't bother charging tonight's wedding with conflict and controversy. Scotty's parents are certainly unhappy about the ceremony - his mother calls it a "contrived event" and a "pretend wedding" - but none of the conservative regular characters on the series blink twice. Indeed, Calista Flockhart's Kitty, a former right-wing TV pundit who has objected to gay marriage and who is now married to Rob Lowe's Republican senator, presides at the altar. "When we give up on what was," she says to all those assembled, "well that's when things we thought improbable or impossible, even, happen right before your eyes."

Kitty's reference to "what was" has a broad resonance on "Brothers & Sisters." The Walkers' Uncle Saul, played by Ron Rifkin, is a gay man who has spent his life in the closet; he finally comes out to the entire family tonight. Now in his 60s, Saul is plagued with regret for having failed to live his life out loud, without the fulfillment that his nephew Kevin has found. During the ceremony, as Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) exchange rings, the camera gives us a poignant shot of Saul. He is the product of a time when gays and lesbians were more apt to spend their lives trying to come out - or trying not to come out - instead of moving ahead to find love and commitment.
 

Cal

Well-known member
hmmmm....what would be a logical sequel? Probably having them slowly die of aids while they cry about the government not paying for their drugs.
 

CattleArmy

Well-known member
Cal said:
hmmmm....what would be a logical sequel? Probably having them slowly die of aids while they cry about the government not paying for their drugs.


I hate to disappoint you but not every gay person dies of aids just like not every heterosexual gets a STD.
 

Cal

Well-known member
CattleArmy said:
Cal said:
hmmmm....what would be a logical sequel? Probably having them slowly die of aids while they cry about the government not paying for their drugs.


I hate to disappoint you but not every gay person dies of aids just like not every heterosexual gets a STD.
Oh, I see...a few of them don't....well, I'm sort of disappointed. :roll:
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Cal said:
CattleArmy said:
Cal said:
hmmmm....what would be a logical sequel? Probably having them slowly die of aids while they cry about the government not paying for their drugs.


I hate to disappoint you but not every gay person dies of aids just like not every heterosexual gets a STD.
Oh, I see...a few of them don't....well, I'm sort of disappointed. :roll:



What if one day one of your children or grand children is gay? Would you wish a dreaded disease on them?

It could happen. In fact, if you live long enough chances are pretty high that someone in your immediate family either will come out or be born that IS GAY!!!

And yet, somehow, I can see you wishing AIDS upon them also.
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
Kolo we don't need this garbage shoved down our throats. Thank goodness we have more than only two channels to watch now days.

Why would anyone expect us to watch something that is disgusting?

That is exactly what it is to me, disgusting. So is this topic.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
backhoeboogie said:
Kolo we don't need this garbage shoved down our throats. Ohhhh....bad wordage there boogie!!! :oops: :oops:



Thank goodness we have more than only two channels to watch now days. Well, then DON'T WATCH the shows, it's America and that's why your TV has an ON & OFF to it! They run previews so it's not like it just appears out of no where[!b]


Why would anyone expect us to watch something that is disgusting?

No one does, that why you have channel(s) , plural!!


That is exactly what it is to me, disgusting. So is this topic.

Well, then...don't post on this topic anymore!!!
 

cutterone

Well-known member
Ah – there lays the problem – a permissive attitude among society that accepts and refutes any law or moral code. This and other countries were developed and ruled with laws and Christian views. The very constitution of this country was constructed with Christian ideals.
The good thing about the Christian religion is that although it has set codes and standards they are not radical but more “middle the road”. We don’t chop people’s heads off for not adhering, but we also know where the lines are. There have times in the past where God and man had to set things straight and those warnings are to keep man in line. Remember this …
Biblical Warning For All
The cities of the plain were destroyed as a warning for all that this same event will happen again one day to the wicked. One would think God is capable of preserving this ancient lesson for us to see and to learn from.
"Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens" Genesis 19:24. "Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly" II Peter 2:6. (The word for "example" means an exhibit for warning.)
Many in today’s society do not believe in rules, moral codes, honor, loyalty, discipline, and public conduct. Without these the very fabric of a society breaks down, there is unrest, and can lead to the “Sodom & Gomorrah syndrome”. Those who oppose the religious and constitutional rules wish to see the Ten Commandments, the pledge of allegiance, rules of conduct, and laws dismantled.
A complete open and unregulated society.
When we allow “locker room” sex, language, and behavior to be openly viewed it is wrong! Homosexuality is wrong. I believe the animal kingdom and mother nature tell us a lot of what is correct. Tell me – how many bulls have you witnessed all of a sudden decided to “come out” and just have sex with the boys?
I believe in the Christian religion, the Constitution of this country, and believe it is high time that we yank the choker chain on this type of attitudes.
 

Texan

Well-known member
cutterone said:
Tell me – how many bulls have you witnessed all of a sudden decided to “come out” and just have sex with the boys?
You probably could have found a better analogy than that. :lol:
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Texan said:
cutterone said:
Tell me – how many bulls have you witnessed all of a sudden decided to “come out” and just have sex with the boys?
You probably could have found a better analogy than that. :lol:


Wwwhhhaaatttt???? Cutterone...you must NOT have cattle !!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


I believe it's time everyone minded their own business !!!


How much " locker room" sex you been watching, cutter??? :???: :???: :shock: :shock:


You speak of the Animal Kingdom....worms are asexual and can be hermaphrodites. " Splain that one, Lucy??? They are , in a generic term, having sex with themselves. Hmmmmmm........


Amphibians can alter their sex from one season to the next...." he"one go-around......" she" the next.

All these lines and boundaries get mighty ' fuzzy'.......
 

cutterone

Well-known member
Well Kola & Tex - maybe not the best analogy but I think the point was clear. Earthworms were created that way and your point is meaningless. If you are a Christian and belive in the Christian fundimentals and if you belive in that foundation and the constitution of this country which was based and drawn up with those in mind, if you understand that a society has to have morals, codes of conduct, laws, and discipline; if you understand that without order there is conflict and unrulyness, then you surely understand that if we have an "anything goes", no rules attitude our country and society will fall apart.
I do not wish to argue with you - you either have the founding beliefs or you don't. I for one believe in the religious beliefs that this country was founded. I may be in the minority.
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
Texan said:
cutterone said:
Tell me – how many bulls have you witnessed all of a sudden decided to “come out” and just have sex with the boys?
You probably could have found a better analogy than that. :lol:

Texan, didn't you return a young bull once to your supplier because you thought it was gay, since it kept riding all the other bulls? :lol: Good thing you did not mind them lesbian females or you would have been out of business :lol:

No one ever cares about them lesbians only them gay bulls. :?
 

Cal

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
Cal said:
CattleArmy said:
I hate to disappoint you but not every gay person dies of aids just like not every heterosexual gets a STD.
Oh, I see...a few of them don't....well, I'm sort of disappointed. :roll:



What if one day one of your children or grand children is gay? Would you wish a dreaded disease on them?

It could happen. In fact, if you live long enough chances are pretty high that someone in your immediate family either will come out or be born that IS GAY!!!

And yet, somehow, I can see you wishing AIDS upon them also.
I gave a purposely stupid answer to a brainless reply....thought you'd catch on....should have known better.

I don't wish AIDs on anyone. If they choose to use IV drugs or get cornholed then they pretty much are wishing it on themselves. Has this show portrayed homosexuals that are celibate(don't see that word enough to remember how it's spelled), or at least monogamous until they pretend to get married? I doubt it.
 

Cal

Well-known member
aplusmnt said:
Texan said:
cutterone said:
Tell me – how many bulls have you witnessed all of a sudden decided to “come out” and just have sex with the boys?
You probably could have found a better analogy than that. :lol:

Texan, didn't you return a young bull once to your supplier because you thought it was gay, since it kept riding all the other bulls? :lol: Good thing you did not mind them lesbian females or you would have been out of business :lol:

No one ever cares about them lesbians only them gay bulls. :?
Yeah, but those lesbian cows still come into heat, and the bulls don't care if they dig what they're doing or not. :twisted: :twisted:
 

CattleArmy

Well-known member
The point of the post being that it is a politically charged issue yet, the American public as a whole was not outraged. Modern people are seeing it's about love and commitment and not a sex issue.
 

CattleArmy

Well-known member
Cal said:
kolanuraven said:
Cal said:
Oh, I see...a few of them don't....well, I'm sort of disappointed. :roll:



What if one day one of your children or grand children is gay? Would you wish a dreaded disease on them?

It could happen. In fact, if you live long enough chances are pretty high that someone in your immediate family either will come out or be born that IS GAY!!!

And yet, somehow, I can see you wishing AIDS upon them also.
I gave a purposely stupid answer to a brainless reply....thought you'd catch on....should have known better.

I don't wish AIDs on anyone. If they choose to use IV drugs or get cornholed then they pretty much are wishing it on themselves. Has this show portrayed homosexuals that are celibate(don't see that word enough to remember how it's spelled), or at least monogamous until they pretend to get married? I doubt it.

So men that as you so crudly put it that cornhole with a woman are they wishing AIDs on themselves to? I thought sex was about procreation if I go with you holier then thous so what about sex with opposite sex that isn't about making babies?
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
CattleArmy, "I thought sex was about procreation if I go with you holier then thous so what about sex with opposite sex that isn't about making babies?"

Practice
 

Cal

Well-known member
CattleArmy said:
Cal said:
kolanuraven said:
What if one day one of your children or grand children is gay? Would you wish a dreaded disease on them?

It could happen. In fact, if you live long enough chances are pretty high that someone in your immediate family either will come out or be born that IS GAY!!!

And yet, somehow, I can see you wishing AIDS upon them also.
I gave a purposely stupid answer to a brainless reply....thought you'd catch on....should have known better.

I don't wish AIDs on anyone. If they choose to use IV drugs or get cornholed then they pretty much are wishing it on themselves. Has this show portrayed homosexuals that are celibate(don't see that word enough to remember how it's spelled), or at least monogamous until they pretend to get married? I doubt it.

So men that as you so crudly put it that cornhole with a woman are they wishing AIDs on themselves to? I thought sex was about procreation if I go with you holier then thous so what about sex with opposite sex that isn't about making babies?
Try to think rationally for a few minutes. If you engage in risky behavior, which covers a fairly broad spectrum, then don't be surprised at the consequences. I'm surprised that your parents never taught you that. Hopefully you'll come to your senses and help your kids figure it out.

I thought sex was about procreation if I go with you holier then thous so what about sex with opposite sex that isn't about making babies?
Are you on drugs? You really think that couples that lead a spiritual life aren't getting it on? That's as goofy as you thinking that I'm "holier than thou".
 

Texan

Well-known member
aplusmnt said:
No one ever cares about them lesbians only them gay bulls. :?
I try to watch the bulldyke cows pretty closely. Thanks to them, I've been able to stop wasting money on preg-checking. I love those lesbos. :lol:
 
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