GLAAD has come out swinging against My Husband’s Not Gay, a new reality special TLC plans to air this Sunday. Thousands are also signing a petition to get the show cancelled.
My Husband’s Not Gay is about Mormon men who refuse to accept their homosexuality because of their faith. So, they decide to marry women.
Before the show is set to air, Josh Sanders posted a Change.org petition to get TLC to pull the show from their schedule. Sanders writes that he is a devout Christian man who is also gay and was put through “reparative therapy,” which is supposed to turn gay men straight. Sanders wrote that the men on the show should be shown “compassion and acceptance,” instead of being stars of a show that spears “dangerous misinformation.”
“Instead, TLC is presenting victims’ lives as entertainment, while sending the message that being gay is something that can and ought to be changed, or that you should reject your sexual orientation by marrying someone of the opposite sex,” Sanders wrote. “This message is harmful to both LGBT people and communities of faith, and I call upon TLC to stop spreading such dangerous misinformation by cancelling My Husband’s Not Gay immediately.”
Sanders’ petition is now up to 83,900 signatures.
GLAAD has endorsed Sanders’ petition and blasted the show as “downright irresponsible.”
“No one can change who they love, and, more importantly, no one should have to,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said today. “By investing in this dangerous programming, TLC is putting countless young LGBT people in harm’s way.”
In a statement to USA Today, TLC stressed that it does not support the views of the men in the special. “The individuals featured in this one-hour special reveal the decisions they have made, and speak only for themselves,” the network said.
TLC also drew the anger of the LGBT community for their ongoing shows featuring the Duggars. In November, a Change.org petition called for 19 Kids and Counting to be cancelled, but TLC has refused to do so.