Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels
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The senior policy analyst for Concerned Women For America, Peter LaBarbera, explained<br />
<strong>the</strong> success of ‘Queer Eye’ saying, “It’s a funny sort of novelty to see Jay Leno made over by a<br />
bunch of gay guys. The gay side thinks this is <strong>the</strong>ir civil rights movement, but I don’t think most<br />
American viewers see homosexuality as a civil rights issue, and <strong>the</strong> average Joe doesn’t want to<br />
see two guys kissing… <strong>the</strong> media and Hollywood elites are out of touch with mainstream<br />
America” (Stoeltje, 2003).<br />
Gays in <strong>the</strong> Corporations<br />
In <strong>the</strong> 1970’s and 80’s, with <strong>the</strong> encouragement of <strong>the</strong> women’s movement, universities<br />
focused on career development over family formation, even for women. Women were being<br />
told to be independent, prepare for a profession or go into business so <strong>the</strong>y could take charge<br />
of <strong>the</strong>ir own lives.<br />
College textbooks on marriage and <strong>the</strong> family were having a negative effect on <strong>the</strong> family.<br />
After a careful review of twenty undergraduate marriage and family textbooks, Dr. Norval<br />
Glenn, noted that textbooks conveyed a pessimistic view of marriage through <strong>the</strong> use of antimarriage<br />
rhetoric. The values and social functions of marriage were downplayed and <strong>the</strong> costs<br />
of marriage to adults, especially women, were exaggerated. Glenn concluded that <strong>the</strong> story<br />
<strong>the</strong> textbooks tell about marriage is that “marriage is just one of many equally acceptable and<br />
equally productive adult relationships. These various relationships include… gay and lesbian<br />
families” (Glenn, 1997). Glenn concluded that <strong>the</strong> textbooks were misleading because <strong>the</strong>y failed<br />
to discuss <strong>the</strong> real problems involved in alternative lifestyles.<br />
The research on textbooks was sponsored and published by The Institute for American<br />
Values, an academic think tank of scholars, most of whom were Jewish or secular<br />
communitarians ra<strong>the</strong>r than conservative Christians (Glenn, 2002). Dr. David Blankenhorn,<br />
founder and president of The Institute for American Values, said that protecting <strong>the</strong> marriedcouple,<br />
mo<strong>the</strong>r-fa<strong>the</strong>r child raising unit as an important social institution for adults, children<br />
and society was a major concern (Blankenhorn,2009).<br />
Gay Demographics:<br />
Mainstream surveys and polls generally neglected to include a separate category for gay<br />
people. In 1989 <strong>Over</strong>looked Opinions, Inc., a market research and opinion polling firm<br />
concerned with <strong>the</strong> gay, lesbian and bisexual market, was formed in Chicago. A survey done<br />
<strong>Over</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Rainbow</strong>: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America. 2010<br />
Dr. M. L. Coppock<br />
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