Death Threats Over TV Show With Gay Character

[BR_Parkway]

(Terre Haute, Indiana) Police in Terre Haute are investigating death threats against the manager and program director at KWBF-TV after the station decided to run the NBC series "The Book of Daniel".

<snip>

Terre Haute's NBC affiliate refused to air the show's premiere Friday after pressure from the American Family Association and area pastors. KWBF, a WB affiliate then agreed to run the series. (story)

Threats to the station began pouring in shortly after it made the announcement. They continued after the show aired and police were called in. Station manager Gary Robbins defends the decision to run the series and says despite the threats there are no plans to cancel it.

"We've had hate mail, we've had hate phone calls... but there's no profanity in this show, there's no indecency, there's no nudity," he said.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/01/010906daniel.htm
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More wingnuttery - and according to the article, four stations across the country have cancelled it due to pressure from AFA - small, almost non-relevant, but dangerous none-the-less.

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. AFA is nothing but an oppressive hate group.

[graywarrior]

2. Grrrrrr

How a few sickos can make such a ruckus over nothing.

[xchrom]

3. this is how conservatives operate.

or they ramp up the talk to the point where somebody makes violent threats and somebody may even cary them out.

these are subliminal messages -- with not so subliminal outcomes to threaten the left.

[greiner3]

4. What's all the fuss about;

Would you expect anything less from them?
:sarcasm:

[William769]

5. It's called freedom of speech

But as always there is a line you do not cross, this is one of them.

We know who is behind this & we know who they say they stand for. They have hijacked religion to a all new high & it's despicable.

[sui generis]

6. death threats sure sounds like what jesus would do

personally I think if he had a problem with the show he'd stir himself to fling a plague or a thunderbolt at it without any help from his snakepit followers.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I don't remember death threats in 1978 when "Soap" was on ABC with

Billy Crystal playing the gay son (Jody Dallas) in a more flamboyant manner. What's the big deal? That you may LIKE the character (even though he's gay)? And that might lead to reducing the war against gays and lesbians?

Maybe the "deal-breaker" is that "The Book of Daniel" concerns an Episcopal priest. And the Episcopalian church is in the crosshairs of the fundamentalist Christians as are other mainstream (read, "liberal") Christian churches.

[UncleSepp]

9. Yeah! There have been gay people on TV and in film BEFORE

I don't ever remember it being such a big deal.

[kevinbgoode]

11. Really...now where are the little religious legal societies

you know...like the ACLJ...the Alliance Defense Fund...and Liberty Counsel...who CLAIM to be the protectors of religious liberty and expression? Are they there filing suit against their own masters over intimidating this denominational representation? Nope.

[Newsjock]

8. This story isn't fully accurate

Terre Haute has no "K" stations in it. But the general manager of WTWO, the Terre Haute NBC affiliate that didn't show "Daniel," is apparently also the manager of the company's (Nexstar) other stations. KWBF is in Little Rock, Ark.

In Terre Haute, there is no broadcast WB affiliate, and the local cable company ended up showing "Daniel" on its own.

That's not to say that there weren't threats against this guy, but the original article is playing a bit fast and loose with the facts.

[kevinbgoode]

12. That needs to be clarified

I thought KWBF was a Little Rock station as well. If the issue is over actions in Little Rock, it doesn't make any difference - it's still the same religious intimidation. However, 365gay.com needs to be a little better at checking their facts. I don't use them very often unless I've found some way to locate other sources to substantiate their article.

[kevinbgoode]

10. My, My....what a surprise. . .

why those good "ministers" and their propagandist censors at the American Family Association know exactly when to change out of their choir robes and put on their brown shirts, don't they?

The only good thing about this is that it should make WTWO look even more like the lackey for bowing down to these obviously violent groups who step all over the Constitution. I wonder how many EPISCOPAL ministers called WTWO and demanded the program be cancelled. . .this is nothing short of deliberate terrorism sponsored by ayatolluh-run extremist religious groups.

Someone needs to read the Indiana Constitution to these crazies...and the station manager at WTWO.

Section 2. Right to worship
Section 2. All people shall be secured in the natural right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences.

(History: As Amended November 6, 1984).
Section 3. Freedom of religious opinions
Section 3. No law shall, in any case whatever, control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.

Section 4. Freedom of religion
Section 4. No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent.


Frankly, in this case, we need to argue that this attempt at censoring the program is an act of religious intimidation on the part of non-Episcopals based on their hatred of the denomination for its appointment of a gay bishop. They have no right to demand that their own churches be the exclusive and the only arbiter of interpretation and representation of GOD.

[NMMNG]

13. So, hate and death threats are now family values

Somebody save us all from God's rabid followers , please! :hide: