June 3, 2003
JEFFERSON CITY – CBS television affiliates in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Jefferson City on May 29 decided to air “The Amazing Race 4,” a show in the family portion of primetime that included a so-called married male couple whose stated goal is to advance the cause of homosexual marriage.
Missouri is one of 37 states that have passed laws defining marriage as being only between one woman and one man and does not recognize same-sex unions that may be formed in other states like Vermont. Even so, four Missouri program directors chose not to block Reichen and Chip, the male homosexuals on “The Amazing Race 4.”
In promotional ads run prior to the show, CBS touted Reichen and Chip as “the married couple.” Viewers were encouraged to click on the biographical information on the “married male couple.”
Chip told CBS.com he wanted to be on the reality show “to present a new type of gay relationship” to viewers. While the show has had homosexual contestants before, this is the first time two have been billed in promotional advertising as being “married.” “They bring a tremendous amount of enthusiasm into the show. They are great!” says CBS.
The Los Angeles Times in its May 29 online edition described Reichen and Chip as “gay marrieds.” “This is going to be fun,” writes staff writer Mark Sachs. It is not known where their “marriage” ceremony took place.
“They don’t live in Missouri, so they wouldn’t be under Missouri law,” said Lee Gordon, station manager of KRCG-TV 13 in Jefferson City. “Not that I necessarily condone the practice. It’s just who they are, not what they’re doing on the show.”
KCTV 5 in Kansas City saw nothing wrong with airing the show.
“We just basically looked at it as it was a popular program,” said Beth Green, program coordinator. “We don’t choose the contestants. That’s something CBS does.”
Phone messages left by The Pathway at KMOV-TV 4 in St. Louis and KOLR-TV 10 in Springfield were not returned.
Larry Rice, president of KNLJ-TV 25 in New Bloomfield, said he disagreed with the decision to air the program without any kind of a disclaimer. In Missouri, where homosexual marriage is illegal, it would have been perfectly acceptable to communicate that this program does not represent the views of the management of the station, Rice said.
Rice, a Christian, would not have aired the program.
“The Bible is quite explicit about this (homosexuality),” he said. “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
The show was aired early in the evening, at 7 p.m., and lasted 90 minutes. CBS officials said an estimated 9 million viewers have watched previous episodes. The series has captured the public’s attention through a format where 12 teams of two people jet around the world in pursuit of a million-dollar prize.
“Two men is not a marriage. It’s pretend marriage,” Robert Knight, a former news editor at The Los Angeles Times who is now director of the Culture and Family Institute, told the online news journal, WorldNetDaily.
“This is profoundly dishonest and is intended to persuade Americans that so-called ‘gay marriage’ is already a reality, when no jurisdiction in America has legalized it.”
Meanwhile, pro-family groups in Missouri believe this is just one more example of how the liberal media aids the homosexual movement in gradually portraying homosexuality as acceptable behavior.
“The fact that the media is so openly flaunting the homosexual lifestyle is not surprising,” said Roger Moran, research director for the Missouri Baptists Laymen’s Association, a pro-family organization supportive of the conservative direction of the Missouri Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Homosexuality is either right or it is wrong. God’s Word clearly states that it is wrong, but if you don’t believe in the Bible then why not promote it? Homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle once viewed by Americans as perverted. That is no longer true because even the church will not speak uniformly on this matter. The seriousness of this sin has been lost,” Moran lamented.