Yes, I'm jumping on this bandwagon. It's already been blown up out of proportion so I might as well add my two cents since it's not as if I'll be giving it any extra attention.
Remember Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains back in the 80's? I loved that show. I was a little too old to have a crush on Kirk, but I could understand why so many girls (and apparently from the backlash guys) did.
During his stint on the show Kirk became a Christian. Initially his new found faith apparently caused problems on the set but he eventually settled down.
His career afterwards didn't maintain the same heights but he did continue working and found a niche for himself in the Christian market while his co-star Leonardo Di Caprio became a famous movie star. Yes, Leo was in that show for the last season. There's a bit of TV trivia that not everyone knows.
Kirk found happiness with his large family (6 kids) stable marriage and his Christian career and didn't worry too much about Hollywood. Although in the past he has been criticized for his beliefs his life has not had the usual Hollywood scandals. No drugs, no illicit affairs, no blow ups at paparazzi (although by now they had mostly forgotten him), and he's lived a life that has been honest and true to his moral standards.
Last week he appeared on Piers Morgan. I have no idea why, but he did and Morgan asked him some questions that weren't part of Kirk's agenda. Here's the link to the interview. Some of it is quoted but if you watch the video you will get a more honest idea of what's going on rather than the quotes that are picked out.
Kirk Cameron's View on Gay Marriage
Note that Kirk is not angry. He appears thoughtful and carefully answers the question. Morgan on the other hand appears more aggressive.
There was a huge backlash. GLAAD of course had something to say and stated he was "Out of step".
His fellow costars Tracy Gold, "I am a strong supporter of the #LGBT Community, and I believe in equal rights for all," and Alan Thicke "I'm getting him some new books. The Old Testament simply can't be expected to explain everything." both tweeted about it right after it happened.
And of course good old Rosanne Barr had to say something as well. "Kirk or kurt or whatever Cameron is an accomplice to murder with his hate speech. So is rick warren. Their peers r killing gays in Uganda."
Kirk responded.
Kirk Cameron Defends Himself after Backlash
So now that I've laid the foundation I'll get to my point.
No where did I find Kirks comments unloving, or filled with the hatred he was accused of. What he was, was honest about his beliefs. Nor was he the one who brought up the subject and he didn't intend his interview to be a platform for anti-gay views. He was asked several questions and responded to them honestly. Since that time he's been called homophobic, a bully, and an accomplice to murder.
When Piers asked him the questions should he have lied?
I haven't always agreed with things that Kirk says. Our views on God and Christ have some differences. But I do think he has a right to say what he thinks. Granted others have their right to disagree but the response has been greatly out of proportion to what he said.
For GLAAD to say that he is "Out of step" is pretty hypocritical. Wasn't being gay 'out of step" not that long ago and haven't they demanded that society march to their beat? And since when is being out of step a bad thing? Aren't the people who are out of step the movers and shakers of the world?
Tracy Gold did not say anything condemning toward Kirk nor were her comments bad, however it was her timing that is noticable. It is in response to what he said. Is this a woman who should get on her moral high horse? Did Kirk go after her when she got into her car with her husband and children and got into an accident that caused injuries because she was drunk? I'm far more concerned about the results of drunk driiving than I am about someone saying that "marriage is between a man and a woman".
Alan Thicke's responses were a stab at anyone who reads the bible.
As for Rosanne. Really? First she makes a point about not knowing who he is because he hasn't been a media hog or had scandal attached to his name or had a hit show since the eighties, oh wait, has Roseanne done anything of note since her sit-com? Anyway, she then calls him an accomplice to murder and accuses him of hate speech which sounds like a lot of hate speech to me. This is a woman who couldn't handle fame and proceeded to cause controversy and hurt people wherever she went. When Marie Osmond's son committed suicide instead of sending her condolances, or keeping her mouth shut, she blamed Marie and the entire Mormon church for his death because she got on the bandwagon that claimed that because he committed suicded he must be gay. Even though there was no proof anywhere that he was.
As horrendous as her comments were, she did far worse when she went on national tv and claimed that her family sexually abused her. Later she admitted the statements were false. False statements about sexual abuse not only hurt the accused (how do you recover from that- it ruins your life), it also hurts all those people who were sexually abused. It's why sexual abuse is so hard to prove, because of liars like Roseanne who would do and say anything for attention. And yes, I did just call her a liar.
At one point Piers tells Kirk that he wouldn't care if his son was gay as long as he's happy. Kirk answers with a thoughtful response.
"I wouldn't say 'That's great, son, as long as you're happy.' There are all sorts of issues we need to wrestle through in our life... Just because you feel one way doesn't mean we should act on everything we feel."
Guess what. It's not a parent's job to agree or support everything that their kid does. It's not up to kids to dictate to parents what they should believe. Nowhere in that statement did Kirk say that he would hate his kid, stop loving his kid, or give up a relationship with his kid. He simply says "we can't act on everything we feel". And we can't. Imagine if the world acted on everything we felt. Oh wait, much of it does and that's why he have murders, teen pregnancies, drug addictions, rape etc. No I'm not comparing being gay to those things I'm simply pointing out that acting out on everything we feel can cause problems.
Here's another thing. Kirk was not condemning gay people. He was talking about homosexual behavior. Let's be clear. Same gender attraction is not a choice. Romantic and/or sexual behavior is a choice. Because someone doesn't agree with your behavior does not mean that person can't like or respect you. There are things that people I love have done and I still love them.
Now having said that, there are still going to be those who disagree with Kirk and say so. Fair enough. But frankly I'm getting tired of people who want the right to speak but will condemn others for saying things they don't agree with. Kirk didn't do that.
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