Most of the time, I judge people who watch soap operas. And I work hard to make sure everyone around me knows that I'm too good to watch TV. But the American Family Association is dragging me out of the closet again.
Ok, ok...I do have this one guilty obsession: the CBS soap opera As the World Turns has been developing a love story between two men, Luke and Noah. And someone (God bless him!) has been recording just the segments of the show that pertain to their relationship and uploading them to YouTube. Currently, it's broken into 160 parts, and I am SO hooked!
Over the course of Luke and Noah's relationship, CBS has only shown the couple kissing three times, as opposed to the HUNDREDS of kisses between all the heteros. Each time they kiss, the AFA rears its ugly, homophobic head and organizes a bunch of bigots to contact sponsor Procter & Gamble to complain. After the recent kiss on April 23, the AFA is asking P&G to completely remove Luke and Noah from the show. So this time, we're fighting back.
P&G has already received so many phone calls about this issue that they've set up a menu option for people to register their support or opposition to the storyline.
Here are three simple actions you can take:
1. Call P&G at 1.800.331.3774. Then press 2 to get to the As the World Turns survey. Finally, press 1 to ask P&G to continue the Luke and Noah storyline.
(Alternatively, press 0 for the operator and request that they remove all the straight characters from the show. Seriously, Luke and Noah are the only ones worth watching.)
2. Use the online form that the AFA set up to send an email to P&G Chairman Alan Lafley. You can edit the content of the letter that the AFA created. Just a few little changes, and you can turn their mean-spirited message into a message of diversity and equality! I suggest the following content for your letter:
Subject: Thank you for Luke and Noah!
Dear Mr. Lafley,
I am very pleased that Procter & Gamble has created a storyline to show the relationship between Luke and Noah on "As the World Turns." The kiss between Luke and Noah on April 23 suggests that you are making a shift to portray their relationship honestly, and that you are treating this couple the same way that you treat heterosexual couples.
Overall, I am also very pleased that you are portraying Luke and Noah as healthy young men with compassion and integrity. I hope to see more positive gay characters like them in the future.
3. The AFA uploaded the clip of the April 23 kiss to YouTube. They link to it from their site, with the disclaimer "WARNING - content is repulsive!" I'd like to tell them that I disagree with them, but the AFA disabled commenting on this video. Go figure! But...we can still rate the video. So check out the video that the AFA uploaded, and give it a 5 star rating.
And as a special thanks for taking action: