Mainstream media is raving about an 8-year-old boy coming out as bisexual on the popular television series “Law & Order: SVU,” but Christian organizations that specialize in entertainment believe that the development is “disappointing.”
On last Thursday’s episode of the long-running NBC show, Capt. Olivia Benson (played by Mariska Hargitay) celebrated her on-screen son, Noah (Ryan Buggle), for sharing with her that he is bisexual.
A confrontation in school where a kid was bullied is what made Noah bring up the conversation with his mother.
“I said that I was bi,” Noah tells his mom. “And there’s no shame in being true to yourself.”
Benson replied, “That’s right, Noah,” and called his remarks to the bullies “incredibly brave.”
NBC’s “Today” show lauded the episode, suggesting that Hargitay deserved an Emmy Award for her response.
But Ted Baehr, founder of Movieguide and the Christian Film & Television Commission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media, said the creators of “SVU” should know better.
“The 8-year-old son is in a premature stage of cognitive development, which is not advanced enough to make this decision,” Baehr told The Christian Post.
“The process of maturating involves moving beyond propensities such as violence, lying, stealing, etc., which the ‘Law and Order’ folks should understand,” he continued, “People of faith understand that there is a freedom and more abundant life in living their faith!”
Adam Holz, the director of Plugged In, Focus on The Family’s entertainment review site, said the narrative on the mainstream drama show was “not surprising.”
“The storyline regarding an 8-year-old boy coming out as bisexual is disappointing, but not surprising,” he told CP. “In the last several years, we’ve seen many examples of children embracing an LGBT perspective, both on kids shows (‘Arthur,’ ‘Owl House,’ ‘Blues Clues,’ ‘Doc McStuffins,’ among many others) and on shows and movies aimed at an older audience.”
Holz argued that advocacy of this kind reflects a worldview in which “personal and sexual sovereignty are embraced as the highest values, where boundaries between childhood and adulthood are obliterated, and where any limits on sexual identity, gender and behavior are rejected.”
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