Victoria Jackson and "Glee"

Last week I wondered why the Religious Right had not taken shots at Glee. With gay teens, racey outfits, suggestive subplots, the Rocky Horror episode, we all knew it was a matter of time.

The gay male kiss did it. It wasn't a peck on the lips either: it was a real kiss. It was the kind of kiss that says there is much more going to be happening between the two characters.

Glee fans have anticipated this for months. Most of the audience I talked to said nothing about it other than It's about time the characters got together. The fact that this sort of Real Kiss raised the bar for same sex relationships on TV never even came up in the conversation.

It says we've come a long way since Ellen said I'm gay on national TV during prime time, or since Murphy Brown's audacity to have a baby out of wedlock. The backlash from the Religious Right over those two events was reminiscent of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This Glee event is even further from the first interracial kiss of Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, an episode that I remember as a kid had the church in a'buzz with talks of scandal, boycott, protests, Congressional letter writing campaigns, and prayer retreats.

And it is a long, long, long way from the public swearing on Gone With the Wind with the famous line, Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. My Great-Grandmother swore that was the single event that sealed our nation's fate to be eternally assigned to Perdition. It was all down hill from there, according to Nellie Brown. (By the way, she was a fine lady and could swing a hickory switch better than anyone, and I am an expert of the receiving end of the hickory switch.)

Back to the gay kiss on Glee ...


Victoria Jackson is, I'm sure, a fine person. I have no doubt her convictions on matters of faith are genuine. But I have a problem with homophobia hiding behind the Bible as justification for discrimination, hurtful words, and silly behavior.

See makes the rest of the Christian Community look bad. In fact, too many Christians make the rest of us look bad. Unfortunately, those are the ones that jump out there and say and do silly things.

I'll post the video for you to watch. No commentary on the theology of what she is saying (or lack thereof) on my part is necessary. The point I want to make is that the Bible should never be used as a tool to bully, harass, harm, discriminate against, or marginalize anyone. Let God do handle the "sinners" (however He defines them) and let us be about the business of showing some kindness every now and then. That would be a refreshing change, I think.