“As Gold remembers, GAA leaders ‘blew a cork’ when they read the script. ….Instead of waiting for an appointment with ABC executives, the activists – with the help of another network insider – ‘took over’ the network executive offices. Recalls Gold: ‘We knew somebody who worked there who gave us a kind of place of the place and we did a little scouting in advance and we managed to sneak into the offices. The confrontation at ABC headquarters was hostile and explosive.”

It ended with the arrests of several activists. Montgomery notes that although the program in question still aired, “it did have an impact on later decisions….ABC executives decided to invite gay activist comments on any new scripts dealing with homosexuality. Since gays had their own ways of getting scripts anyway, this approach was even more essential than with other groups.”

The other networks soon followed, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation now routinely vets all TV scripts dealing with homosexuality to make sure that the public sees only what the activists want.  That means, among other things, no programs showing “ex-gays,” people who have overcome homosexual temptations, unless it is to mock them.

Montgomery summarizes:  “In time, the gay activists gained a reputation within the industry as the most sophisticated and successful advocacy group operating in network television.”

The stakes go far beyond television. A September 2008 fundraising mailer from GLAAD proclaims:

“History proves that social change drives legal and political progress. To succeed as a community, we must transform the way millions of Americans feel about us.”

With a record number of homosexual characters on television, and only pro-gay story lines, it’s not surprising that polls show that Americans are becoming increasingly accepting of homosexuality.

The activists are well on their way toward their goal of recasting traditional sexual morality as a form of bigotry. The next step will be to bring government muscle down on traditionalists – just like they’re doing right now in Canada and Europe.