‘Doctor Who’ Promotes ‘Gay Agenda,’ Viewers Claim In BBC Complaints
Does the decades-popular sci-fi series Doctor Who promote ‘the gay agenda,’ whatever exactly that may be? That’s what some viewers are saying, and the BBC has actually received formal complaints about the show. Some complaints further allege that the network itself is biased in favor of a ‘pro-gay’ viewpoint.
According to Pink News, some episodes of Doctor Who, including a lesbian kiss between a lizard woman and her human wife, have been controversial enough to be censored in some locations. The aforementioned interspecies same-sex kiss was banned throughout Asia.
Another character disappeared from the series, only to return as a member of the opposite sex.
A report released by the BBC covers just over a year and a half of complaints, and includes several angry responses about Doctor Who, including three formal complaints about Doctor Who promoting homosexuality. There have also been complaints to Ofcom, the communications regulator in the U.K. In particular, the agency received six complaints about the episode with the gay lizard kiss.
The Independent notes that these portrayals are not new on the show’s behalf. Doctor Who has long portrayed characters of ambiguous or non-cis sexuality.
A particular fan favorite, Captain Jack Harkness, who also stars in the Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood, was introduced as ‘omnisexual,’ and the gay couple who kissed in the August episode have been portrayed as a couple for three years — this is just the first time they’ve been shown kissing on-screen.
The BBC’s position on the complaints is that they welcome feedback from their diverse viewership, and that, after initial response, will shut down any complaints that “are hypothetical, use abusive language, fail to cite any evidence or breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines.”
The tenth Christmas Special of the Doctor Who series aired this year, to largely positive reviews, and there’s no sign that the complaints are going to have any effect on the show’s popularity, or its airing. The newest Christmas special has been called “exceptional festive viewing” and “one of the best scripts of the series” by Wired, and has a rating of 8.5 stars on IMDB.
However, it’s notable that in 2014, a government agency is still receiving complaints about a television show depicting characters of diverse sexualities (especially when that show also depicts the couple as being from diverse species). Though a few viewers may think that Doctor Who is pushing a “gay agenda,” it’s very clear that the show embraces every type of diversity, and is simply good sci-fi.
[Photo: Nelo Hotsuma]
