New Kids TV Program on PBS Features LGBT Parents

[KaliTracy]

I just received this and think it's important to pass on... sorry if it's a dupe.

NEW KIDS TV PROGRAM ON PBS FEATURES LGBT PARENTS

PLEASE CALL-IN TO SUPPORT POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER, a
new PBS program starring Buster, Arthur's best friend, made popular
in the ARTHUR series. Each episode finds Buster in a new place,
meeting kids from some cultural background, doing the things that kids do.

One of the families that Buster visits is a same gender family in
Hinesburg, Vermont. One mom has 2 kids and the other mom has adopted a
Child. The kids are around 10 and 12 years old, and are typical, out-doorsy, Vermont, well-adjusted kids.

This episode will air for the first time on February 2. PBS gets a lot
of its funding from the Department of Education, and as the day looms,
folks at the DOE are getting a bit nervous about the reception this show will get. Please tell everyone you know in every state - whether they have kids or not - to tune into the show when it airs and to call and email their local PBS station to praise it. You know the other side willbe calling with complaints from here to kingdom come. This episode is a break-through episode that is airing at a time when the backlash is gearing up, so all of your support will be greatly appreciated.

Look for when this program airs in your area by going to
http://www.pbs.org/.

Information on Postcards from Buster can be found at
http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20030529_buster.html ,
along with telephone numbers to contact.

[MarianJack]

1. Hay, KaliTracy,...

...congrats on being almost out of the 700 club! :thumbsup:

BTW, I responded to this news in your other thread. I'm not gay and am very happily married to my "Wonder Woman" with knitting needles instead of lasso, but as our family is multi-racial (white dad, hispanic mom, african american son), we teach respect for all life-styles and beliefs (except right wing, of course!).

[KaliTracy]

2. thank you, thank you very much. never noticed really -- joined at

the end of November I think. :hi:

i'm not gay, though consider myself a 3 on the kinsey scale.... and in our marriage of over 15 yrs we are, shall we say, supporters of George and Nena O'Neill. I support all alternative lifestyles, and feel that it's very important that people are not judged by private issues such as sexuality.

[MarianJack]

3. We Are Completely on the Same Page!

Respect for all until, like neo-cons, they earn lack of respect.

The agency from which we adopted our son has a picnic every june for adoptive and birth families to get together (we have an open adoption) and the gay and lesbian parents there are among the most loving and nurturing parents I see, in spite of lil' rickey santorum!

[KaliTracy]

4. i'm in Ohio, which had Issue 1 against gay marriage... I tend to

write pretty lengthy letters to my representatives, and I had written several of them against this (as well as posted parts of my letter directed at one of my husband's very right/extremely religious cousin in an open list where we all gathered).

Right before the election I felt I needed to write a LTTE.

Unfortunately, it was on an e-form so I don't have the entire text (They called me to say they were going to publish it, but I was out of town that weekend and haven't gone to the library to get a copy, it's not in their on-line archives).


It was something like:

It is amazing to me that those who support Issue 1 are against

Tolerance
Love
Committment


No one has the right to judge a positive relationship of consenting adults. VOTE NO on Issue 1 !


(That's close, but not exact...)

I was amazed that they called me two times telling me they were considering to print it. Next time I go the library I'm going to look it up and see if they really did...

and congrats on your open adoption! How is that working out? How old is your son? My brother was adopted as a baby (in the 70s) -- closed. Had lots of issues in his teen years.... my DH was adopted openly within the family -- also a little strange, but it turned out ok (so far). Some little family issues between to the two grandmas, now that we have a son (he just turned 5). Bio grandma lives in NJ, so it's not as big of a problem as it would be if she lived here (BTW, it's not HER issues....)

[MarianJack]

5. My Litle Boy Will Be 5 in March!

We visit the biological family every June down in PA. We meet at the adoption agency's picnic.

If we had met the birth mom's parents at a store or social event, we'd have become friends of the let's get together for BBQ variety. We have nothing but respect for the (VERY) young lady who gave birth to our son. We haven't met the birth father, but would also welcome him to the picnic. We also send a letter and pictures to the birth mom before his birthday each year.

At the time of conception the bio parents were 14 (him) and 12 (her). Birth mom sent many letters and pictures in the first year, but after the first picnic, not so many anymore. We think that she has just moved on with her life and knows that our son is loved, nurtured and cared for. We save her letters for when he will be able to understand them and for when he asks. Sooner or later he will ask why he looks different than us, but that may take a little longer since my wife and I don't look like each other either. I'm white, She's Hispanic and our son is African American.

We frimly believe, in spite of my getting indirectly flamed for it recently here, that regardless of race or nationality or religion or sexual orientation, it is LOVE and LOYALTY and UNITY that makes a family. We are big advocates of legally done, all t's crossed and i's dotted adoptions of children. If I manage to get a steady job (and it looks good for a nice one now) in our "turning the corner" economy and if age is not an issue (I'm going to be 50 in June), we would love to adopt a little brother or sister.

[KaliTracy]

6. *smile* just wondering, are you raising your son to be bi-lingual? MIL is

from Ecudor, and though DH knows Spanish - it is MIL who uses it (on purpose, she's been in the states since she was a teenager) with our son. She started to take care of him when he was 6 wks old -- when he was 2 and 1/2 he went into part-time pre-school. Right now he's enrolled in a Montessori school (in the preschool) that goes up to 8th grade, and starting in Kindergarten they get Spanish enrichment throughout the week. I really need to learnm, but I'm terrible with languages (learned French in high school, for what it's worth).

I fully agree that families can be of many different types of make-up, but it is positive parenting and love/loyalty/trust/commitment that makes a strong family unit. A couple of statements I said in my letters to representatives against Issue I were:

"Does it really make sense to say that two people, who are committed to each other, who want to stand by each other "in sickness and in health, for better for worse, 'til death do us part" are somehow maligning the institution of Marriage? Can a rational, intelligent, and reasonable explanation be made why this is so wrong? If the argument is because it's "Against God's Will" can someone explain to me how love and commitment is against god's will? Too many wars are fought in the name of god (whatever designation you have for him/her) for me to be swayed by that argument.

When the AMA, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association and others said, wait, homosexuality is *not * and illness… people and other institutions still hung on to that notion. Some may say “Oh, not me, I never though that way – I have friends of friends that are gay, I just don’t think they need to dirty the word and sanctity of marriage….” Yes, they can work in our society, pay taxes for our country, yet when it comes to the legal benefits of what a marriage entails (social security, insurance, estate, the right to see someone when they are seriously ill, etc.), then gays/lesbians are suddenly not “part” of our society. What gives? "

ending with:

"When Domestic Violence, Emotional Abuse, Verbal Abuse, and Child Abuse can be eradicated from the HETEROSEXUAL lifestyle of marriage, then tell me that gays and lesbians don't have a right to profess their commitment and love to their union, and do so legally. When everyone in a HETEROSEXUAL family can meet for a holiday without any type of family strife, then tell me that gays and lesbians don't have a right to see their seriously ill loved one in the hospital because they aren't "blood" relative, and of course aren't married.

Heterosexuals do NOT hold a special key to the world of love. We are not special, nor are we all that compassionate. We often cannot see the world beyond our own bellybutton, it seems. But what it comes down to is fear of seeing someone that you thought was "so different" participating in the same mundane marital life as everyone else -- mortgages, bills, parent/teacher night, dirty diapers, car pools, celebrating holidays with extended family, cleaning cat barf, rushed dinners, toddler giggles, singing lullabies to a baby that’s been crying all night, laughing at inside jokes, arguing who took the trash out last, giving a huge family hug that doesn’t want to end. When you see gays and lesbians this way, then they aren't so "Deviant" anymore..... they are just like you and me.... and they always were."

[MarianJack]

8. Your Letters are Great, KaliTracy,...

...and yes, my wife is teaching him Spanish. A good thing is that up here in Maine, French is a part of the curriculum through High School. My wife and I would be DELIGHTED if he could graduate HS with, if not fluency, than a great deal of command of 3 languages. He would probably get out of college and NAME HIS JOB!

This is, of course, assuming that the neo-cons are out of office and he doesn't get drafted and believe that he has to make up for the sins of his parents, as explained to him by faux "news".

BTW, I share your language challenges. My Spanish is NOT good. I did do O.K. when we went to Puerto Rico 4 years ago (immersion will do that). I also will frequently know what my wife's family is talking about, even though I can't understand the words. My only complaint is that she won't explain what her mom & sisters are saying when they point to me and say "El Hombre LOCO!" :shrug:

[Maat]

7. Thanks for the post about the new series, Original Poster.

I love "Arthur." So does my eight-year-old; she'll love the new show.

[Q3JR4]

9. If they air it here in Idaho,

I'm going to email all of my contacts begging them for money to replace the cuts in their budget.

[justin899]

10. I knew This Wouldn't Last *sigh*

WASHINGTON — The nation's new Education secretary denounced the Public Broadcasting Service on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the "Sugartime!" episode did not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind for programming.
-------------------------------------------------

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network had decided not to distribute the episode, called "Sugartime!" to its 349 stations.

"Ultimately, our decision was based on the fact that we recognize this is a sensitive issue, and we wanted to make sure that parents had an opportunity to introduce this subject to their children in their own time," said Lea Sloan, vice president of media relations at PBS.

However, the Boston public television station that produces the show, WGBH, does plan to make the "Sugartime!" episode available to other stations. WGBH plans to air the episode March 23, Sloan said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-na-pbs26jan26,1,6600784.story?coll=la-news-learning&ctrack=1&cset=true

[justin899]

11. HRC Finally Gets Around To Issuing A Press Release On This Bigoted Action

Distribution Source : PRNewswire
Date : Wednesday - January 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The Human Rights Campaign denounces the intolerance that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings demonstrated by pulling funding from a cartoon show promoting understanding.

"The Secretary's first act in office denies children an education about the diversity of American families," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "Teaching children about respect for differences promotes tolerance of their fellow human beings. Those are the values our children should be learning. Instead, Secretary Spellings is sending the message that differences should concealed. This creates a dangerous environment for children's growth. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth are disproportionately at risk for suicide. Creating a climate in which children are taught that differences should be feared does nothing to promote understanding for peers."

In a letter to PBS, Secretary Spellings wrote, "Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television." The secretary asked for a refund "in the interest of avoiding embroiling the Ready-to-Learn program in a controversy that will only hurt" it. A Department spokesperson said that PBS has been awarded almost $100 million over the past five years in a contract that expires in September.

"The 'subject matter' is innocuous, but the Secretary's implication that teaching children about the reality of American life is cause for fear is harmful," added Stachelberg. "Same-sex couples are raising children in almost every county in the nation. These families deserve just as much dignity and respect as their neighbors, and the children of America shouldn't be denied the reality of our lives."

http://press.arrivenet.com/edu/article.php/570725.html