#LGBTQ: “The Real O’Neals” Gay Son Is FUNNY, But #OneMillionMoms Are NOT Laughing

Have you been watching the The Real O’Neals? It’s my new fave sitcom. It’s about an Irish Catholic family and their gay teen named Kenny O’Neal. He’s played by 20-year-old Noah Galvin, who is also gay. The show is loosely based on columnist and LGBTQ activist Dan Savage’s life, but as the show’s co-creators Casey Johnson and David Windsor say,

“…the Savage connection doesn’t go much deeper than that.”

ABC has been on the forefront of LGBTQ representation for decades, starting in ’75 with Norman Lear’s short-lived comedy Hot l Baltimore, which featured George and Gordon, America’s first and only openly gay TV couple. And in ’77, Billy Crystal debuted as openly gay, Jodie Dallas on Soap, where show creator Susan Harris treated him equally to the other characters on the show.

So, you’d think after Ellen‘s kiss and Will & Grace and all of the other gay TV characters, that in 2016, we’d be beyond protesting a gay teen on network TV. But you’d be wrong. The hate group One Million Moms has set their nasty sights on The Real O’Neals.

The group (which is actually just over 80,000 likes on Facebook, not 1 million) issued a press release on April 1. Nice timing, because it’s a joke. If only. It reads;

“1MM Continues to Contact Sponsors for ‘The Real O’Neals…

The Real O’Neals” mocks Christianity and insults Catholicism. 1MM recognizes this show ridicules people of faith, and Christians across America are offended by it.

Almost every scene is filled with s-xual innuendos, implications, or mockery of faith. (A dash ‘-‘ is used to bypass internet filters.)

The hate group (yes, they ARE) have compiled a nearly endless list of the show’s perceived offenses:

• Brothers view porn on laptop. Gay porn made to appear normal and acceptable. Comments between brothers and between father and sons show no form of guilt in watching p-rn. Jokes and other references such as p-rnado and p-rnward are made.

• Gay character and his brother observe that “10 percent of the population is gay,” and suggest that most of those who object to gay p-rn are h-mophobic. In reality, The Centers for Disease Control reports that 1.6 percent of the population is h-mos-xual. That is a far cry from 10 percent, but since a big part of the show’s agenda is to normalize h-mos-xuality along with other sins, it makes sense for the show to lie.

• Student at Catholic school holds up middle finger, which is pixelated.

• The daughter skips church, doubts God, disrespects priest as she verbally backs him into a corner, and he (the head of their church) fails at answering her questions.

• ABC network refers to this highly dysfunctional family as “the perfect Irish-Catholic family.”

• Foul language (purposely uses every word imaginable).

• One of the show’s producers is anti-Christian bigot Dan Savage, and the show is said to be loosely based on his life.

The press release then asks that you drop everything and “take action.” But I say, let’s be passive and watch TV. I can recommend this idea, because the show is seriously FUNNY. Catch up on Hulu or OnDemand, if you haven’t been watching. Kenny’s coming out and subsequent episodes deals with gay issues (and many others, not his) in the best way possible. With humor. Gotta say, I’ll bet it really IS changing some hearts and minds.