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According to the Florida Family Association, a conservative political organization led by David Caton, the girls of Pretty Little Liars are a group of hot, fashionista lesbians poisoning the minds of oh-so-impressionable thirteen-year-old girls one girl-on-girl make-out session at a time.
The FFA is taking aim at PLL’s advertisers by urging its members and supporters to contact sponsors of the show and encourage them to pull their ads. The organization noted “McDonald’s and Chrysler are leading advertisers on [the] lesbian TV show watched mostly by girls under 18.” Apparently they aren't aware of how many girls and gay boys over 18 are addicted to the show...
But for the sake of argument let's go over a few of the things wrong with this picture, shall we?
First, we are talking about ABC Family’s hit drama Pretty Little Liars – not The Real L Word, or even The L Word (which has aired on Logo since it’s final season aired on Showtime in 2009). The FFA seems to be confused on this point, saying: “Unlike any other show on unrestricted advertiser-supported television networks, the majority of the primary cast on Pretty Little Liars are lesbians. The Series has grown from one lesbian lead character to three.”
In our dreams! While that scenario would definitely have us glued to our couches waiting for the next PLL slumber party, it is very (disappointingly) false. Of the four leading characters on PLL, only one is gay: Rosewood bombshell Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell).
Emily has had a few crushes - her first, Maya, was shipped off to some strict boarding school situation that smacks of homo rehab; Paige, her teammate and second interest, wasn’t out of the closet; and finally Samara, who recently reminded Emily that they are not in a relationship (not that they have even kissed or anything). Considering that the show is about the drama ‘A’ causes in the lives of Emily, Aria (Lucy Hale), Spencer (Trojan Bellisario) and Hanna (Ashley Benson), and not about Emily’s love life, most of the show doesn’t even touch on anything lesbian. The speed at which Emily has gone through these flings when lesbian love does get airtime makes it difficult for any of the girls to qualify as “primary cast.”
The FFA is particularly upset about the message PLL is sending to young girls, noting, “The majority of the viewers of 'Pretty Little Liars' lesbian show are children. More than half or 1.3 million of the 2.5 million female viewers are children -- girls between the ages of 12 and 18 according to cable reports on Deadline.com. This report does not include girls younger than 12, but certainly they are also watching by the tens of thousands.” The FFA also said that “ABC using salacious and glamorizing scenes portraying young, pretty women as lesbians sends the wrong message to these young girls, a message that reinforces and legitimizes this homosexual lifestyle in a manner that could affect these young girls’ sexual identity for a lifetime.”
I can’t be alone in thinking that the show has done a great job portraying a gay teen coming out to family and friends. The fact that Emily’s sexuality wasn’t any big issue to the other little liars has the power to motivate teens everywhere to not hide their sexual orientation. PLL also shows us there is absolutely no need or obligation to treat a “homosexual lifestyle” any differently than a “straight lifestyle.” Case in point (and one of the reason she is so lovable) - Emily is just like the rest of the girls in her posse: she is super stylish, very attractive and dates around.
Teenage girls will be teenage girls, regardless. I also doubt (even as much as I love it) Pretty Little Liars has anywhere near the influence as Harry Potter, Twilight or whatever other tween crazes are out there right now. I am sure there are additional "wrong messages" being sent in those books and films that should be higher on the FFA's list of priorities than one lesbian character on a show aired by ABC Family.
