From: 	 heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: 	 Tuesday, October 28, 1997 1:03 AM
To: 	 Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: "ABC's Lesbian Poll Results"

From:          AFA <afalert@afa.net>
To:            <classicjef@aol.com>
Organization:  American Family Association
Subject:       AFA ACTION ALERT  [Press Release]  "ABC's Own Poll Indicts Ellen's
               Kiss"
 
AFA ACTION ALERT  10/23/97
American Family Association <><
Dr. Donald E. Wildmon, President
P. O. Drawer 2440
Tupelo, Mississippi 38803
Telephone: 601/844-5036
Fax: 601/844-9176
World Wide Web: http://www.afa.net
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Tim Wildmon 601/844-5036
For Immediate Release: October 24, 1997

ABC'S OWN POLL INDICTS ELLEN'S LESBIAN KISS
TUPELO, MS - ABC News has quietly buried the results of its own Internet poll
which showed that Americans don't want their children watching same-sex kissing on 
television, according to American Family Association (AFA). The poll was in
response to a lesbian kiss between actress Ellen DeGeneres and another woman on the
Disney/ABC sitcom ELLEN.
Homosexual activists cheered the initial poll results, which were in their
favor. However, after the final results were tallied, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against 
Defamation (GLAAD) spokesperson Liz Tracey called the poll results "skewed"
and "not necessarily valid."
 
"Disney decided to allow Ellen's out-of-the-closet experimentation with her 
homosexuality to play in primetime, and I think ABC News hoped this poll would
vindicate that decision," said Tim Wildmon, vice president of AFA. "Now that
the poll proved America's distaste for same-sex French-kissing, ABC wants to bury the
results."
 
The poll asked the question, "Would you allow your child to watch a lesbian
kiss on television?" Initially GLAAD e-mailed its subscribers, encouraging them to
vote, and  early poll results reflected that push: almost 64% of respondents voted in
favor of allowing children to watch a lesbian kiss; 36% against.
 
Thinking that the poll had ended, GLAAD declared a victory over AFA in a press
release, calling the organization an "anti-gay hate group" and "a marginal radical
religious group." GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Chastity Bono claimed the results
of the poll demonstrated "America's willingness to see lesbian and gay characters
represented with fairness and with the same standards as heterosexuals receive."
 
AFA and other pro-family groups responded by alerting its own Internet
subscribers to vote, and by the time the poll closed on October 20, the results had changed 
dramatically: only 46% favored the lesbian kiss; 54% were opposed.
The kiss had earned the October 8 ELLEN episode a parental advisory warning of
"adult content." DeGeneres said the advisory was discrimination against same-sex
affection and threatened to quit. "This advisory is telling kids something's wrong with
being gay," DeGeneres complained to The New York Times. The point to the show is to let
kids know there's nothing wrong with being gay, she said. "And now they're saying
children shouldn't watch it," she told TV Guide. ABC backed away from the confrontation
and removed the parental advisory the following week.
=================================================
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