What's Wrong With TLC's My Husband's Not Gay?

TLC's upcoming reality series, My Husband's Not Gay, turned some heads for its sheer absurdity when the network revealed the program's first trailer late last year.

The show sets out to chronicle the love lives of a number of Mormons, three couples and one single man. While all the men say that they are attracted to women "for sure" (with varying levels of convincibility), they also all admit to being attracted to men. All the men resist a non-heterosexual identity on the grounds of their religious beliefs, so the show is not attempting to document gay or bisexual Mormons--which is problematic.

Josh Sanders, a gay Christian who was forced to undergo "reparative therapy," characterizes the show as promoting "the false and dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight in order to be part of their faith communities." In order to combat this, he's launched a Change.org campaign to convince TLC to cancel the show and "stop telling America that LGBT people should lie to themselves and to their faith communities about who they are and who they love."

Especially given the recent tragedy of Leelah Alcorn, who was driven to suicide after being forced to attend gay conversion therapy by her unsupportive and bigoted family, it's unsurprising that there has been such a tremendous outpouring of support for the campaign. In just over a week, nearly 80,000 people have added their signatures, quickly outstripping Sanders' goal.

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO, has also weighed in, calling the program "downright irresponsible." She then added, "No one can change who they love, and, more importantly, no one should have to. By investing in this dangerous programming, TLC is putting countless young LGBT people in harm's way."