From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Inquirer Ellen Letter Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 23:23:25 -0400 (EDT) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 10 congregations and religious organizations and 48 clergy from 14 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. October 14, 1997 The Philadelphia Inquirer PO Box 8263 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: We were incensed by the October 14 editorial in which you said that the networks should use the parental rating system to pander to some parents' prejudices. Would it be appropriate to warn parents of a kiss shared by a mixed-race couple? Would it have been an appropriate warning 20 years ago? How about a show like Nothing Sacred? Should we be warning parents about the portrayal of people with religious beliefs that may be contrary to their own? After all, it isn't the subject matter on Nothing Sacred that the American Family Association and the Catholic League find offensive, it's the beliefs expressed by the priest. And you know as well as we do that isn't the kiss on Ellen that upset some people, it's Ellen's notion that it's "OK to be gay." The kiss is just a graphic representation of the idea. If this is the way the ratings system was supposed to work, if the intent was to legitimize the concerns of those who want everybody else to look and act like them, then the system was not a good idea. Ratings systems aren't just warnings for parents, they're statements about what is generally acceptable by society, and we're setting a very bad precedent when we say that the same behavior is acceptable for some people and not for others. The double standard wasn't right when it was applied to mixed-race couples, and it isn't right now that it's being applied to same-gender couples. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations iwg@libertynet.org and clergy supporting gay rights, http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ reproductive freedom, and the 215-235-3050 separation of church and state.