Now's the time for more same-sex affection on television programs, say a panel of gay journalists.
At a weekend panel discussion called "Beyond Ellen" - the title alluded to actress Ellen DeGeneres's public announcement of her own homosexuality and introducing a gay storyline into her former sitcom - the journalist talked about the impact of same-sex kissing scenes on prime time and the future of television portraits of homosexual affection, says Conservative News Service.
The panel was part of a four-day convention of the National Lesbian-Gay Journalists Association, with some 600 reporters and other media officials taking part. CNS says major TV and print news groups - including NBC, CNN, NPR, the New York Times, and others - recruited journalists and other staff there.
USA Today television critic Robert Bianco told the panel sexual traditionalists and religious people who oppose homosexuality on those grounds are displeased because they see "the war is already won" as far as homosexual characters on television are concerned.
But CNN president Richard Kaplan warned against having homosexual reporters covering gay news on objectivity grounds. Doing so, he told the panel, "might play into Jerry Falwell's hands."
