Postcards from Buster

Maine Public Broadcasting is asking for viewer input about whether or not they should run an episode of the television show "Postcards from Buster" that briefly includes two Vermont families headed by lesbians (press release here).

The show recently came under attack from the new U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. She insisted to PBS that "Many parents would not want their young children to be exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode." The episode was subsequently pulled from national rotation, but has been showed on WGBH Boston and other local markets. There was a Portland Press Herald article on the controversy yesterday, and there is an editorial today in the Portsmouth Herald urging stations to air the show. From that link:

The Portsmouth Herald strongly supports the right of public television stations in Maine and New Hampshire to air the "Sugartime" episode of "Postcards from Buster" and encourages them to do so.

We feel confident that when these stations hear from their viewers, the message will come through loud and clear: Stand up for tolerance and reject the fictional notion that only one kind of family is good for America. Common sense and decency have long been the tradition in New England [...]

The episode’s critics seem to believe that the mere presence of a household run by two women in some way advocates a homosexual lifestyle to our children. We’d remind these critics that there are many different kinds of families in America, and some of them are led by same-sex couples. In Vermont, where these women live, the state bestows full legal rights on their civil union.

Maine PBS can be reached by email at comments@mpbc.org or by calling 1-800-884-1717.

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