Turning a gay teen straight ... on "Good Morning America"

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:09pm

For tomorrow's broadcast...

Recommended promo copy for stations:
Coming up next on Good Morning America
Can you turn a gay teen straight?
One controversial church group says it can---with prayer.
Is it possible?
The SURPRISING story you'll be talking about all day---
Only on Good Morning America... next!

[insomniak]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:16pm

Someone tell me how this goes. I'm not quite curious enough to wake up early.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:20pm

This is gross and shocking that Good Morning America would even contemplate such a program. Can you turn a Jewish teen Christian? Can you make a Black man white? This is disgusting -- rather than accept people for who they are, Good Morning America is entertaining the idea of fashioning their kind of master race.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:20pm

I saw that preview - was actually going to post this.

Oy.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:22pm

BlueWizard, they aren't advocating it. They're just reporting on it.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:31pm

I'd argue that they were entertaining the idea, with a blurb like:

Can you turn a gay teen straight?
One controversial church group says it can---with prayer.
Is it possible?

"Is it possible" -- not, "is it ethical". A basic news report would just be, "A controversial church group believes.....however, studies thow that....."

Anyway, I could be jumping the gun, but the promo copy being sent is rather offensive.

Updated On: 7/27/05 at 11:31 PM

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:32pm

Sure sounds like they're about to advocate it.
And having had a friend who went through one of these things, I am sick. his family and church hide him from the people they "blame" for turning him. He has absolutely no contact with anyone from college. If you call his house, they give you the run-around until you hang up.
This is disgusting. What they need to show next is a kid who survived the hell of one of these groups.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:33pm

They're not saying you CAN or that they are GOING to - they are going to show a story about it.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:36pm

I know, it still burns me. It's a spooky, fascist little thing they're doing in those camps.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:41pm

bway - hopefully they WILL balance it out with a story of a kid who survived - or perhaps that will be the kid they're talking about in the first place.

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:43pm

I can speak to this... promo copy and a news script copy are two totally different things. The promo copy, called a "tease," is written to get you to WATCH the show. The network promo department is, in fact, seperate from the news department.
Tomorrow, when GMA airs the story, THAT will be the fact-based news story. That's when you will hear "according to," "allegedly," "church officials say." There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. Most people will probably watch the story and say, "what idiots!" They will talk to both sides. (Apparently, they have a guest lined up who -- according to him -- completed the program and is now "straight." He has a right to speak to the media, just as any of us do.) I have many friends who work on GMA, some are gay. Trust me, they are not advocating anything.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:44pm

I can't wait to see the "straight" kid, lisp and all.

[Marquise]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:50pm

lisp?
i don't lisp. and for your information it worked. i'm no longer gay.

[Parks]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:54pm

Hallelujah! (Wow, major SP on that on) It worked on Marquise!

You can now come to Heaven!

Enjoy your afterlife!

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:57pm

Heaven above, or Heaven the gay club in NYC I go to on Saturday nights?

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 11:57pm

ROD
Aah, an afternoon alone with
My favorite book, "Broadway
Musicals of the 1940s."
No roommate to bother me.
How could it get any better than this?

NICKY
Oh,hi Rod!

ROD
Hi Nicky.

NICKY
Hey Rod, you'll never
Guess what happened to
Me on the subway this morning.
This guy was smiling at me and talking to me

ROD
That's very interesting.

NICKY
He was being real friendly,
And I think he was coming on to me.
I think he might've thought I was gay!

ROD
Ahem, so, uh, why are you telling me this?
Why should I care?
I don't care.
What did you have for lunch today?

NICKY
Oh, you don't have to get
All defensive about it, Rod...

ROD
I'm NOT getting defensive!
What do I care about some gay guy you met, okay?
I'm trying to read.

NICKY
Oh, I didn't mean anything by it, Rod.
I just think it's something we should be able to talk about.

ROD
I don't want to talk about it,
Nicky! This conversation is over!!!

NICKY
Yeah, but...

ROD
OVER!!!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:36am

that cheered me up brd

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:36am

"I have many friends who work on GMA, some are gay. Trust me, they are not advocating anything."

They are employees and what they want or feel or believe is irrelevant. And just because "they" are gay it does not mean they are advocates for gay rights. Anyone ever hear of Spokane Mayor Jim West? And what about closeted gay legislators who pass laws against gays and lesbians but on weekeends run to Vermont to marry their partner? And what about Robert L. Traynham? He is a top aide to Sen. Rick Santorum and he is gay. He is a gay man who works for and admires a man(Santorum) who has equated homosexuality with bigamy, incest and bestiality.

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:56am

chita... thank you, but they are in charge of editorial content... aka producing the story. My point is, GMA doesn't have an agenda. Not sure what your point is.

Updated On: 7/28/05 at 12:56 AM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:07am

Clearly I don't know your friends or your co-workers and ...I have no idea what their intentions at any given time of their lifes is.

My point is incredibly simple. You said many people you know at GMA are gay and are not advocating anything. I just wanted to say that gay people also advocate against the gay and lesbian community. It's not an argument. It's just a fact.

--------------------------------------------

and the promo is sometimes what people keep in their mind. They walk away with that sound bite. That sound bite that was repeated during primetime a whole week before the airing of the show.
Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:07 AM

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:16am

OK, I just don't see what that or the above comments you made about legislators has to do with the the story that is set to air on GMA tomorrow.

I work in TV News myself. Yes, I have friends at GMA. Again, the only reason I mentioned that is because some others were afraid the story might be biased and unbalanced. I feel comfortable with the story that will air, because I know some of the most fair and unbiased folks in the business are working on it.

I find it interesting that you are more concerned with my friends at GMA, than the story itself.

Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:16 AM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:21am

I'm not concerned with your friends. What concerned me about your post is that you mentioned your friends and their sexual preference and with that inferred that because they were gay, their reporting would be unbiased. I just pointed out that there isn't a correlation between being gay and being an advocate for gay rights.
-------------------------------------------------------
Edit:

and please you are a smart man. If you disagree , then disagree. But don't pretend not to understand my argument.


Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:21 AM

[TVBoy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:25am

...and that would be the reason I said, "Trust me, they aren't advocating anything."

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:36am

I just wish that those of us, gays and lesbians, who are in positions of influence would use our power to move forward awareness and social responsibility. Instead we have people who would rather put forth a TV promo that sells their program and forget the damage words can inflict. As I said , people hear these promos all week and whether or not they see the show is almost secondary to the bombardment of negative rhetoric they have received from these commercials.


Turning gay men straight?

Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:36 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:39am

I remember seeing one of these 20/20 specials when I was little. It was when I was discovering my feelings. and the whole show was about how some men claim they have turned straight, and how they did it for their families. And I clearly remember like a crowd of people and some people held up signs "GAYS BURN IN HELL." I don't know remember how that related too the program.

But it was quite traumatic for me at the time.