Way Out Parenting: Even Hannah Montana can teach your children about gay culture

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Sat, 05/10/2008 - 9:16pm

Positive gay-world connections can be made in the most unlikely places—if you’re creative. Here are some ideas to get you started. And remember, there’s no such thing as over-consumption of television programming as long as you can make it educational.

Title	Network	Gay-World Connection
Hannah Montana	Disney	By day she’s an auburn-haired small-town girl named Miley. By night, she’s a wigged blond rock star. Discuss your own experience leading a double life before parenthood forced you permanently out of the closet.
Torchwood	BBC America	Captain Jack Harkness is the immortal crusader against alien invaders, and he’s gay. Point out that if the world didn’t accept the contributions of this gay person, humans might find themselves caught in the rift with all the alien monsters.
Dr. Who	BBC America	Season 3, Episode 3: The Casini sisters have been trapped for years on the motorway. But wait! They’re not sisters at all. They’re married, and they hold hands to prove it.
Iron Chef America	Food Network	As your children watch the clock and bite their nails hoping lesbian Iron Chef Cat Cora can peel, chop, braise, grill, and sauté her way into the judges’ hearts, point out how difficult it is for any woman—let alone a gay one—to make it to the top of the culinary world.
Ice Road Truckers	History Channel	There are places on this earth where no gay person should venture, and the Arctic Circle is one of them.
Queer Eye	Bravo	(Repeats only) Acknowledge that some stereotypes about gay people do contain more than a grain of truth. Most gay men do have a superior design and fashion sense, whereas most lesbians do need considerable help in these departments.
Man vs. Wild	Discovery Channel	Nature is the great equalizer. In the wild, survival isn’t contingent on whether you are gay or straight—only on whether or not you can take off all your clothes like Bear Grylls and do push ups on the face of a glacier to prevent hypothermia.