Roseanne reboot boycotted by One Million Moms for gender fluid character
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Back in May, ABC announced it was reviving late 80s-early 90s sitcom Roseanne, reuniting the cast for an eight-episode run. The series is set to reunite Roseanne Barr with her TV family, including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke. Johnny Galecki hasn’t confirmed yet, as he’s still kind of busy with Big Bang Theory. Some new faces are joining the revival as well, and one casting call is drumming up some controversy.
First, the less controversial casting news. Deadline announced last week that Emma Kenney, who plays Debbie Gallagher on Showtime’s Shameless, is playing the daughter of Darlene and David (Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki). This is the daughter who arrived prematurely during the show’s ninth, and final, season. According to Entertainment Weekly, Emma’s character “recently arrived in Lanford, Illinois, after spending some time in Chicago, but she’s determined to make a better life for herself than her parents or grandparents.”
In addition to Emma’s character, another of Dan and Roseanne’s grandchildren will join and may be gender fluid. According to Showbiz411, the casting call for the role describes a character who would be “gender creative” and is seeking actors who could be “sensitive and effeminate” and display “qualities of both young female and male traits.”
Of course, some are offended at this news. Right wing organization One Million Moms (1MM), a division of the American Family Association, has launched a boycott against the new show and have set up a petition to encourage its members and followers to do the same. In a statement, the group asserts that the character promotes a “transgender agenda” and is “child exploitation at its worst.” The statement went on to accuse ABC of “glorifying gender dysphoria, also known as gender identity disorder, and using a child to promote this mental disorder.” Ugh.
This story made me cranky. Gender fluidity is not a mental disorder. Fortunately, the Huffington Post is on the same page as I am about introducing this kind of character on a network TV sitcom. They said:
Including a gender-fluid character on a mainstream show that will likely attract a large variety of viewers gives those who identify as gender-nonconforming a chance to see a character ― a role model or point of inspiration ― to which they can relate. It can also help that segment of the LGBTQ community a to be more visible and, as such, more accepted in a society where they experience verbal and physical abuse at disproportionate rates.
[From Huffington Post]
Exactly. It’s not like Roseanne hasn’t courted controversy on her show before, her show was the first sitcom to feature a lesbian kiss. There has already been a gender fluid character on television, Asia Kate Dillon’s character on the Showtime series Billions has that distinction. But there need to be more. I hope Roseanne (and ABC) doesn’t bow to the pressure of this group and helps improve the visibility of the LGBTQ community in the media. I have a feeling she will prevail.
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Photos: WENN.com, Getty Images
Source: Roseanne reboot boycotted by One Million Moms for gender fluid character
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