The right-wing media "watchdog" site Newsbusters is angry at CNN for daring to show an hour-long special about a gay couple who has chosen to have a baby because the network supposedly won't show "opposition" to lgbt parenting:
CNN likes to paint itself as the "objective" middle ground in cable news between Fox News and MSNBC. But you don't find the middle with a one-hour June special titled "Gary and Tony Have a Baby." A duo of "gay marriage" activists are the stars "on their quest to have a biological child of their own" -- using an egg donor and a surrogate mother. The trailer is here, championing "the support, the drama" behind "the new American family." The pro-gay blog AfterElton.com noted CNN's own explanation of the Soledad O'Brien documentary:Unable to legally marry in the U.S., [Gary and Tony] travel to Canada, get married, and spend thousands on an arduous journey toward parenthood via surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. ... Though Gary and Tony had hoped for a happy extended family, they discover instead ambivalence about same-sex marriage. With court battles, and struggles against their hometown community - can these men achieve a life as mainstream as their parents?
As it is, this is an inaccurate assessment. According to transcript provided by Newsbusters comes the statement by O'Brien:
We tell their (the gay couple's) story very organically. They are activists and there are times when their activism brings them into contact with those that oppose them and we show that. But we don't go out and solicit opinions from those against gay parents.
So there is, in fact, opposition to LGBT parenting which will be shown. But I think Newsbusters's discomfort lies in the fact that CNN didn't seek out a religious right spokesperson speaking carefully rehearsed, exact anti-gay talking points in an unchallenged venue.
In other words, CNN intends to film things as they happen, all natural, and if someone happens to show themselves to be a homophobic loudmouth who opposes LGBT parenting for no other reason than a rash fear of gays, then so be it.
I fail to see the problem here. Chill out, Newsbusters. Not every network aspires be Fox News. There are some out there who actually want to tell a fair story rather be a sounding board for right-wing nonsense.