Fox News: Gays “Indoctrinating” Your Kids

While Fox News has largely ignored recent debates over marriage equality, it hasn’t suddenly become gay-friendly — it’s merely focusing on a new target, what it calls “indoctrination” of children with positive information about LGBT people, according to an analysis by Equality Matters.

In a Thursday post on the media watchdog group’s blog, Carlos Maza writes, “Over the past few months, Fox has developed a specific interest in promoting the myth that gays and lesbians are attempting to turn kids gay by indoctrinating them into the ‘homosexual lifestyle.’”

He cites Fox’s reaction to California legislation that would require public schools to teach students about the contributions of LGBT people, with Fox commentators calling the move a “shocking lesson plan” that would bring “propaganda” into the classroom. Fox talking heads, he notes, have also objected to a gender diversity lesson presented at one California school and gay-inclusive messages in advertising and entertainment. “In April, the network even invited the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer to discuss whether Glee was a form of ‘product placement’ for homosexuality,” Maza writes.

This is all a rather stealthy form of gay bashing, he says. “By framing the debate in terms of concern about ‘indoctrination’ and parental rights, Fox is attempting to disguise its deep anti-LGBT bias as something more palatable to the general public,” he writes. “In reality, Fox’s ‘indoctrination’ focus feeds directly into the campaigns of some of the country’s most prominent and vile anti-LGBT groups, including Focus on the Family, the Traditional Values Coalition, the Family Research Council, and the American Family Association.”