A group of Republican senators is calling for a TV ratings system to warn parents about LGBTQ content in children’s programs.
Their statement singles out Disney repeatedly.GOP Senators Roger Marshall (Kan.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Braun (Ind.), Steve Daines (Mont.) and Kevin Cramer (N.D.) sent a letter to Charles Rivkin, Chairman of the TV Guidelines Ratings Board — the entity that manages and monitors the designations on programs such as TV-Y, TV-14, TV-MA, etc.The missive begins, “In recent years, concerning topics of a sexual nature have become aggressively politicized and promoted in children’s programming, including irreversible and harmful experimental treatments for mental disorders like gender dysphoria.”It continues, “Considering that the cognitive markers of sexual desire emerge during puberty when adolescents undergo natural hormonal and physiological changes, it is wholly inappropriate to display this content in a TV-Y7 category and for other young audiences.” The letter casts suspicion on “the motivations of hyper-sexualized entertainment producers” who, the letter says, are “striving to push this content on young audiences,” calling those motivations “suspect at best and predatory at worst.”The Senators call on the TV Guidelines Ratings Board to update its designations to reflect some parents’ concerns over “sexual orientation and gender identity content in children’s TV shows.”The Congressmen ask for a response by May 18 and for a briefing with the members of the board in person.
A GLAAD spokesperson responded to the Senators’ letter by saying, “LGBTQ people are in every family, workplace, school and neighborhood.