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Despite criticism from education secretary, own network's cancellation.
Despite a rebuke from the new education secretary and an official cancellation by PBS, several large affiliates of the public TV network say they will air today a controversial episode of "Postcards from Buster," a cartoon series for pre-schoolers, that portrays homosexuality.
Shortly after taking office last week, Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced PBS for using public dollars to promote the homosexual lifestyle.
In a letter to the president of PBS, Spellings said: "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode. Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this kind of programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television."
PBS subsequently canceled the episode, entitled "Sugartime!" In the episode, Buster the rabbit visits a Vermont home headed by two lesbians.
According to a report in New York Newsday, WGBH, the powerful Boston public television station that makes the series, said it will air the program today and has offered it to other PBS stations. The paper says 18 stations plan to air it, including New York's WNET and KQED in San Francisco.
Maryland Public Television said it will not air the program tomorrow but might show it later, Newsday reported.
"We really have delineated children's television as a safe harbor for families," Maryland Public Television spokesman Larry Hoffman told the paper. "But we also realize we have a commitment to tolerance. It's a tough decision."
Peggy Charren, a WGBH board member, effused about the program.
"I am so proud of WGBH for airing this show and making it available so that other stations can now order it," Charren told the New York paper. "Unlike most of the people who are talking about this episode, I have actually seen it, and it is such a sweet, mild and wonderful program."
The American Family Association is urging its supporters to thank Spellings for taking a stand against the show.
"Secretary Spellings has been ridiculed in the liberal media and bombarded by the homosexual community because of her bold stand for our children," Don Wildmon, AFA chairman, said in a statement. "We need to let her know that mainstream America appreciates her recognition that the government should not push a homosexual agenda on children that goes against many parents' convictions.
"Children's videos should not be used to promote the homosexual lifestyle, and we want Margaret Spellings to know we appreciate her commitment to our children and respect for their parents."
"Postcards from Buster," which gets most of its $5 million budget from the taxpayers, features a rabbit whose parents are divorced and who travels with his pilot father sending video "postcards" back home.
The Education Department has paid about $100 million to PBS under a five-year contract to provide TV programming targeting preschoolers.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42660
Despite a rebuke from the new education secretary and an official cancellation by PBS, several large affiliates of the public TV network say they will air today a controversial episode of "Postcards from Buster," a cartoon series for pre-schoolers, that portrays homosexuality.
Shortly after taking office last week, Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced PBS for using public dollars to promote the homosexual lifestyle.
In a letter to the president of PBS, Spellings said: "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode. Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this kind of programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television."
PBS subsequently canceled the episode, entitled "Sugartime!" In the episode, Buster the rabbit visits a Vermont home headed by two lesbians.
According to a report in New York Newsday, WGBH, the powerful Boston public television station that makes the series, said it will air the program today and has offered it to other PBS stations. The paper says 18 stations plan to air it, including New York's WNET and KQED in San Francisco.
Maryland Public Television said it will not air the program tomorrow but might show it later, Newsday reported.
"We really have delineated children's television as a safe harbor for families," Maryland Public Television spokesman Larry Hoffman told the paper. "But we also realize we have a commitment to tolerance. It's a tough decision."
Peggy Charren, a WGBH board member, effused about the program.
"I am so proud of WGBH for airing this show and making it available so that other stations can now order it," Charren told the New York paper. "Unlike most of the people who are talking about this episode, I have actually seen it, and it is such a sweet, mild and wonderful program."
The American Family Association is urging its supporters to thank Spellings for taking a stand against the show.
"Secretary Spellings has been ridiculed in the liberal media and bombarded by the homosexual community because of her bold stand for our children," Don Wildmon, AFA chairman, said in a statement. "We need to let her know that mainstream America appreciates her recognition that the government should not push a homosexual agenda on children that goes against many parents' convictions.
"Children's videos should not be used to promote the homosexual lifestyle, and we want Margaret Spellings to know we appreciate her commitment to our children and respect for their parents."
"Postcards from Buster," which gets most of its $5 million budget from the taxpayers, features a rabbit whose parents are divorced and who travels with his pilot father sending video "postcards" back home.
The Education Department has paid about $100 million to PBS under a five-year contract to provide TV programming targeting preschoolers.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42660
