'Glee' 'Born This Way' Lady Gaga Episode Addresses Gay Bullying, Sparks Conservative Protest

Often the target of conservative and religious criticism for its portrayal of openly gay high school students, musical dramedy "Glee" sparked rightwing rage once again Tuesday night for its special 90-minute gay-themed episode. And it should be of no surprise that Lady Gaga was at the center of the alleged controversy.

*Spoilers Below*

The episode featured Kurt, played by Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer, returning to his old school and receiving an apology from a closeted gay football player who had bullied him. Celebrating acceptance, the show's cast sings Lady Gaga's gay pride anthem "Born This Way," and all seems well at McKinley High once again (relatively speaking). But it's that coming together that has conservatives once again upset with the show.

Hitting out at show creator Ryan Murphy, conservative media critic Dan Gainor told ABC News that it was his "latest depraved initiative to promote his gay agenda."

"This is clearly Ryan Murphy's vision of what growing up should be, not most of America's," he said. "It's a high school most parents would not want to send their kids to."

Gainor has been critical of the show before; in October, after an episode that involved two cheerleaders making out on a bed, he called "Glee" "a disgusting gay teen sex romp."

Murphy, Gainor surmised to HollywoodLife.com, "spends his days fantasizing about teen girls 'scissoring' on the bed in what the media tell us is a family-friendly show."

After a March episode in which Colfer's Kurt kisses Blaine, another gay character, and Kathy Griffin made a guest appearance as a Sarah Palin-type Tea Party candidate, former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Victoria Jackson slammed the show in a column for WorldNetDaily.

"Did you see 'Glee' this week? Sickening!" Jackson wrote. "And, besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians - again! I wonder what their agenda is? Hey, producers of 'Glee' - what's your agenda? One-way tolerance?"

A few nights later, on an appearance on Headline News' "Showbiz Tonight," Jackson used the Bible as a defense of her criticism.

"What matters is what the Bible says," Jackson offered. "And I'm really concerned about our country because immorality is, well, let's see: secular humanism rules the airwaves, and it's stealing the innocence away from this whole generation of children. My daughter is a teenager and I cant find any show that she can watch."

Another conservative, Larry O'Connor, wrote a column for Andrew Breitbart's BigHollywood that was critical not so much of the show's use of gay characters but Griffin's depiction of conservatives.

"So in this episode of 'Glee' the writers have pretty much come full circle in their bigotry and intolerance," O'Connor wrote. "They did to us exactly what they feel has been done to gay people on television for years: provided a false and stereotypical character meant to convey a negative image and message to the viewer. There's a word for that: Defamation (for those of you paying attention, Defamation is what the 'D' in GLAAD stands for)."

"Glee" shared the Outstanding Comedy Series trophy at the recent GLAAD Awards with another gay-friendly show, ABC's "Modern Family."

The use of Lady Gaga's song also may have piqued right wing anger; the singer's newest single, "Judas," has been targeted by religious groups who say its lyrics and upcoming music video are blasphemous. Gaga has publicly disagreed with those charges.

Comments

[The Jester]

01:54 PM on 06/15/2011

I happen to know for a fact that god is perfectly fine with homosexuality. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "How dare you? Where do you get the gall, the temarity? How dare you presume to know the mind of god!"

To which I say, "Good point."

[jbrantow]

01:54 PM on 06/12/2011

Sounds like this TV critic Dan Gainor wants to go back to the days of "The Andy Griffith Show...."no blacks, no jews and no gays".

[Rylie McAllister]

09:13 PM on 05/27/2011

"What matters is what the Bible says," Jackson offered. "And I'm really concerned about our country because immorality is, well, let's see: secular humanism rules the airwaves, and it's stealing the innocence away from this whole generation of children. My daughter is a teenager and I cant find any show that she can watch.""

LOLOLOLOL, AHAHAHAHAHA, I thank god everyday I am not this person's daughter. Get over it you ignoramus, it's 2011.

[FCARTOLANO]

06:22 PM on 05/07/2011

So Glee is upsetting the Right wing Conservative Hateful, bigoted agenda? I love this show even more know. God, these people are such idiots!!!!

[32flavours]

09:14 AM on 05/05/2011

Yeah, it's not a school most parents would send their children to, but the poisonous environment shown in that school doesn't stem from Ryan Murphy's ~gay agenda~ but from none of the teachers doing their jobs and taking a stand against homophobia or any other form of bullying. Presumably Gainor is fine with that, but this intolerance of bigoted people is just terrible!

"They did to us exactly what they feel has been done to gay people on television for years: provided a false and stereotypical character meant to convey a negative image and message to the viewer."
Please, you have that one covered all by yourself. Part of Glee's humour is that the characters are frequently caricatured to hell, but they could have got Jackson or O'Connor on there giving their honest-to-goodness views and it wouldn't have come across as any less hysterical and intolerant than Griffin's portrayal.

[talkstocoyotes]

09:26 AM on 05/04/2011

***Jackson wrote. "And, besides shoving the gay thing down our throats***

There they go again! Homophobes can't go a day without making some reference to things being shoved down their throats -- unless an opportunity to talk about bestiality presents itself.

[Roy Calhoun]

11:12 PM on 05/01/2011

I find it so odd these people are talking about Christianity, intolerance, and immorality as their reasons for condemning the wonderful, beloved show Glee. These Conservative critics, who are using Christianity and the Bible, as a reason to justify their "outrage" at the blasphemous, "Glee". Isn't that odd, Glee is everything Christianity speaks in a very loud voice about, love, and acceptance of all God's children. Glee epitomizes the meaning of real morality, real tolerance, and real Christianity. Glee shows its audience, the meaning of what hate does to those who do not conform. Glee is about Love, loving oneself, loving those that we do not understand, and most importantly that the real beauty of Gods world and his children are their uniqueness and, that our supposed flaws are really the very thing that make us exquisitely beautify. Glee and it's beautiful characters, represent the true image of what God must be, which is complex, interesting, intelligent and his infinite love, for all that is bright and shining and courageous enough to be who he designed them to be. Glee is everything the Right Wing evangelical critics, say it is not, it is moral, tolerant, and bursting with the joy, and the music of the human spirit, whose strength and beauty, reflect the totality of God, which is Love.

[Katherine Heng]

02:26 PM on 05/01/2011

"It's a high school most parents would not want to send their kids to."

i would've loved to have gone to that high school!

[Papa Bungle]

12:13 PM on 05/01/2011

The Christian arguments raised in this blog are hilariously inadequate. The show addressed bullying, which often comes from religious Christians. Their crying about being persecuted in regards to the backlash from their treatment of homosexuals is just childish;

"You took our sticks that we use to beat gays up with! You're intolerant!."

It's a disgusting yet amusing display from them.

[Chris Fort]

02:41 AM on 05/01/2011

Victoria Jackson acts as if the Bible is any "cleaner" than this show is. Just goes to show that she doesn't actually read it.

[jbrantow]

01:58 PM on 06/12/2011

Victoria Jackson can read? I assumed she had "bibles on audio" interpretation #647....how to justify bigotry as a thumper.

[cenourinha]

07:11 PM on 04/30/2011

I find it interesting - and amusing in an irritating kind of way - when conservatives are SO quick to jump on any perceived slight to them. they are, after all the victims in every situation, right? they suffer bigotry and victimization every day for being christians. Well at least that's true in their minds.

[Jerry Weinstein]

06:43 PM on 04/30/2011

I don't understand this "View From Nowhere" approach (google Jay Rosen if you're unfamiliar) particularly as it pertains to culture/entertainment. Why does Dan Gainor get a platform to speak out here? You had a thesis, "Oooh, this must be pissing off social conservatives" and then you sought out quotes. How about asking them to address bullying - a central conceit of the episode? Journalism like this perpetuates the narrative of "A nation polarized."

[Atwill]

06:02 PM on 04/30/2011

If it pisses off the right wing republican bible thumpers, i am all for it.

[Jillian Barclay]

10:26 PM on 04/29/2011

Back in the late '60's and early '70's, the DOD and FBI maintained dossiers on American citizens that they believed might be gay, therefore, security risks. The dossiers will come back if the Christian right GOP has its way.

[pat2 718]

09:31 PM on 04/29/2011

So O'Connor is complaining about stereotyping of conservatives, calling it defamation, and he implies an equivalence between stereotyping and how gays have been treated. Really, Mr. O'Connor? That's all? Stereotyping? What about Matthew Shepard? What about all the kids who've been bullied and taunted and harassed into suicide? What about all the foaming-at-the-mouth "Yer goin ta hell!" rants on right-wing media?

And Victoria Jackson says the portrayal of Christians is giving them a bad name. No, it's Ms. Jackson and others like her who are giving the rest of us, and Christianity itself, a bad name. They use the label Christian as an umbrella for their preexisting prejudices, and their behavior is anything but what Christ called for. "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Don't judge." "Blessed are the peacemakers." Oh, and all of that about the early Christian communities being...communal.