Summary
"I think if you're on a show called 'My Husband's Not Gay,' then your husband's gay. I also think there is a reverse bullying in the gay community where you can't (live) a certain way — and I'm sure this is controversial — I think if a guy is attracted to guys and he wants to try to live a straight lifestyle, that's as much his prerogative as somebody that wants to live a gay lifestyle.”
Former "Roseanne" star Sara Gilbert
SALT LAKE CITY — "In Salt Lake City, Utah, there are a group of Mormons who live their lives a little bit differently."
The cable channel TLC clearly hoped that tagline would draw attention to its one-hour special to air Sunday night called "My Husband's Not Gay."
Mission accomplished. Gay groups are attacking the show, and a change.org petition asking TLC to cancel the broadcast had more than 92,000 supporters as of the lunch hour Wednesday.
"This is the kind of thing TLC loves," "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Kevin Frazier said on the CBS talk show "The Talk."
The reality-based show portrays the lives of four men who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who are attracted to men. Three are married to women and the fourth is dating women.
All seven are members of the North Star International community, an independent group of Latter-day Saints who experience same-sex attraction and desire to live in harmony with the church's teachings, doctrines and values, or who are family or friends of those who do.
LDS doctrine teaches that sexual relations are reserved for a marriage relationship between a man and a woman. The LDS Church, which had no involvement in the broadcast nor in the selection of the four men portrayed, released the following statement on Wednesday afternoon:
“The decision for a woman and man to marry is deeply personal. While the Church does not promote marriage as a treatment method for same-sex attraction, couples who are trying to be lovingly supportive of each other while being true to their religious convictions deserve our support and respect.”
In the show's trailer, one of the men says, "There is no marriage that is perfect — ours isn't — but, with our faith in God, we believe we can overcome anything."
Another portrays the spectrum of same-sex attraction, saying, "I'm attracted to my wife, for sure, and I'm definitely attracted to men, too."
