Jennifer Chrisler Needs Your Help — Respond to TiVo/Focus on the Family Partnership Today!

Posted by Dustin in June 5th 2008  

In a few short minutes, the following message will go out to Family Equality Council’s supporters from Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler:

TiVo Sponsors “SuperDad” Contest with Right-Wing Focus on the Family
Nominate the GBTQ Dads in YOUR Life Today!

Dear Friends and Family,

I just found out that TiVo, the home entertainment company servicing millions of families nationwide, is working with James Dobson’s Focus on the Family on a “SuperDad Essay Contest” for Father’s Day. As you can imagine, Focus on the Family is only looking for one type of “super” dads and they certainly are not part of our community. That a national company many of our families send checks to each month would sponsor a Father’s Day contest with Focus on the Family is horrendous. I need you — all of you — to help us respond.

I won’t often ask you to visit Focus on the Family’s website, but today I am. The Family Equality Council is organizing a response to this discriminatory contest, asking you to nominate yourself or the GBTQ dads in your life. To do so, you have to visit www.family.org/fathersday/, sign up for their parenting forums (message boards), and submit your nomination (100 words or less) through the boards. I’m encouraging two-dad families to submit joint stories, highlighting the greatness of both dads in one entry!

In addition, I’m asking that you copy the text of your nomination and email it to OUTSpoken@familyequality.org, so we can feature your beautiful stories and hard work on Family Equality Council’s Blog and with others in our community!

This is a great opportunity for GBTQ dads in our community and their family members and friends to share the real stories of their lives and let TiVo and Focus on the Family know that all dads can be Super Dads!

Others can and should participate, as well. The Family Equality Council has created a petition for parents, family and friends to sign. The petition is aimed at TiVo and will let them know just how many LGBTQ-parented families and supporters are out there! Click here to sign the petition now!

Last summer more than 50 families sent their stories to Adoption.com in response to their discriminatory actions online (read about it here). I want to increase that number 10-fold this year. Let’s send 500+ nominations to Focus on the Family’s “SuperDad” contest and show them how truly super our GBTQ dads are!

Thank you for your time and for celebrating all loving families with us each and every day!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director

Jennifer Chrisler also released a statement to TiVo, Inc. this afternoon:

Jennifer Chrisler’s Letter to TiVo, Inc.

Please join our efforts to let TiVo know that working with discriminatory organizations like Focus on the Family is the wrong way to do business with all American families. Sign the petition and nominate the GBTQ dads in your life today!

Popularity: 14% [?]

under: action, general

9 Comments

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Paul Said,
June 5th, 2008 @6:18 pm  

FYI:

the ‘ads by google’ being displayed on your website are for —”Free Christian Help…As heard on Focus on the Family” And an add for “Dr. James Dobson’s book”

you might want to work with google to prevent this insulting display.

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Frank V Said,
June 6th, 2008 @11:35 am  

And you know they probably prevent pro gay ads on their website. :) Anyways this is a neat idea. It’s a shame I don’t know any gay dads.

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dale Said,
June 10th, 2008 @1:51 am  

don’t sign petition…it’s a phising scam….or at least give totally the wrong infomation unless you want tons of junk mail and emails…care2 petitions are ng.

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Kris Said,
June 12th, 2008 @12:10 am  

I’m a lesbian mom. I also, however, was a married, conservative, Christian wife in/after college. I married because the church said I should… and I lived a very obedient, skirt-wearing, head-bowing life. That said, I’m offended TiVo is partnering with Focus. I agree we should petition and let TiVo know subscribers DISLIKE their choice in partnerships. (I’m hoping the commenter above was mistaken about the phishing on the petition site. If not, can the petition be moved?)

Having lived the Focus life made me really think about the approach here. While I think I understand the point of posting to the super dad contest/site (and would likely be tempted to do so, were I a queer dad), I’m not at all sure it’s productive. I think the well-intentioned move here is to educate Focus on how many amazing dads there are that don’t fit their mold. However, they won’t see it that way. The posting on their site will be seen as a move by the heathen, pedophile queers to infiltrate their site and sully their contest.

Though I doubt this is the intention of many (or any) of us, it will be taken that way. I’ve had serious conversations with conservative folks who believe that there are queer groups out to poison (actually, physically) straight water supplies and do other equally ridiculous, violent things to rid the earth of straight folk. Though participating in a contest hardly qualifies, I think it will feed the frenzy, rather than educate it. Perhaps there should be more focus on posting our stories here and letting TiVo know how many customer bridges they are burning with this contest.

In short, I think our posting stories at Focus may be about as productive as Focus folks coming here and trying to convince us that we’re not queer.

Pingback & Trackback
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Mombian » Blog Archive » Action Alert: Tivo Teams with Focus on the Family for Father’s Day Said,
June 5th, 2008 @3:20 pm  

[…] Family Equality Council is also organizing around this, and asking people to submit names of gay dads to the contest (and […]

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Offsprung > Mombian » Focus on the TiVo? Said,
June 5th, 2008 @8:29 pm  

[…] Family Equality Council is also organizing around this, and asking people to submit names of gay dads to the contest (and […]

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Truth Wins Out - As Father’s Day Nears, Focus on the Family Attacks Fathers and Charity Said,
June 8th, 2008 @8:52 pm  

[…] the Family are no accident, according to a TiVo representative who spoke with Average Gay Joe. The Family Equality Council is organizing a letter-writing campaign to TiVo in support of gay […]

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Gay parents’ group slams TiVo! : PinkNews.co.uk Said,
June 10th, 2008 @1:21 pm  

[…] Read more…. […]

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TiVo partners with Focus on the Family... | OUTLOUD Said,
June 10th, 2008 @9:26 pm  

[…] TiVo is sponsoring a “SuperDad” contest, and partnering with Focus on the Family. Read more about it HERE. […]

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