While searching for a topic for this week’s civic issue post, I did my usual google search of “gay marriage” to see what the latest news about gay marriage is about. I am immediately taken to a link that is titled, and I quote, “Former Senator Blames TV Show for Gay Marriage” and obviously, I just had to go and find out whether or not this guy was in his right mind. The former United States Senator representing Pennsylvania made a statement saying that he blamed the television show Will and Grace for making gay marriage an “issue.” Apparently, if the show had not aired, gay marriage would not be considered such a hot topic……sound idea right?

For those of you who don’t know the show, Will and Grace is a show about two best friends, Will and Grace (shocker!) and their other friends, Jack and Karen and how they deal with their lives while living in the city. Both Will and Jack are gay, but no they are not a couple. Jack is your flamboyant gay, who is often found guilty of being superficial and full of himself, seeing several men over the course of the series and struggling to hold down a job. Will is a lawyer who graduated from Columbia, where he met Grace, and compared to Jack, is for more neurotic and controlling, especially when it comes to cleaning his apartment. Although there was some speculation as to whether or not Will and Grace were just best friends or if they were actually in love with another, it had been established that they are just best friends, who happen to have a friendship very much like a romantic couple. The show brought about issues of homosexuality, as it featured a scene from Will and Grace in their college days when they were dating and Will was not yet ready to admit that he was gay, to the relationships that Jack and Will both have throughout the series with other men, to the idea of gay adoption, as the series finale reveals that Will and his partner were able to adopt a son whom they named Ben. The show was received with a variety of responses, and among the negative ones, the show was deemed too stereotypical and presented a very limited view of the gay community. Nevertheless, the show brought about very non-conservative issues and ideas as it was the first prime time television to show openly homosexual characters. It sparked much controversy among the public, and according to this article, this former US Senator took the TV show a bit too seriously, at least in my opinion.

It’s amazing how the media can provoke such individuals into believing ideas that many of us would see to be exaggerated. Yes, the media does lead us into believing in certain ways and can have a major impact in our society, but in the end, we are the ones who determine how far the messages portrayed by television will lead us. I believe that even if Will and Grace had not aired, gay marriage would still be a controversial issue. It’s not as though the TV show was the first to bring out the idea of homosexuality, it just portrayed it through the media.