By Adam Glen – Whenever
people come out in droves to protest the latest push
for queer rights or attempt to help queer youth feel accepted, they say they’re
just trying to “protect” children. But the March 30 episode of ABC’s Primetime: What
Would You Do? showed plenty of parents and ordinary
people in a New Jersey restaurant standing up to two teenagers who were bullying the
children of two gay dads.
The show sets up hidden cameras in various locations around the US and stages different scenarios using paid actors. The
goal is to capture the reactions of a range Americans to the scenario and to
watch how they react. The two bullies, telling the two adopted children that
their dads are wrong to be gay, made most of the patrons uncomfortable. One
man simply walks over to the teens and demands they get out.
This isn’t the first time What Would You Do? has
created queer situations to see what will happen. In 2010, a lesbian couple and
a gay couple with their kids were asked to leave a restaurant by a waiter, only
for him to come face to face with a defensive diner.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the internet,
popular blogger Single Laughing Dad posted
a response to his controversial post “I’m Christian, unless
you’re gay.” He received a response from a mother who was
infuriated by his promotion of love and acceptance for queer people. That
is, until her 15-year-old son was assigned an essay about the post. Her son’s essay and her response are touching and
moving. The entire post made me . . . uh . . . get something caught in my eyes. I totally didn’t cry . . . a lot.