Crazy Christians need a life

[vinnieponte]

Oh no!! The world is coming to a end. Christians think sponge bob is sending gay signals to your children? What next, Nickelodeon is ran by terrosits and is part of the axis of evil. When will these people get a life?

Gay alert issued over SpongeBob video

10:06 AM CST on Friday, January 21, 2005

From Staff and Wire Reports:

First it was Tinky Winky. Then it was SpongeBob SquarePants. And now it's, well, it's SpongeBob again.

Dr. James C. Dobson, the conservative Christian leader and founder of Focus on the Family, is sounding the homosexual- agenda alarm over a new public-service video that features SpongeBob and other cartoon characters.

In many circles, SpongeBob needs no introduction. He is popular among children and grownups who watch him cavorting under the sea on the Nickelodeon cartoon. He also is a camp figure among adult gay men, perhaps because he holds hands with his pink animated sidekick Patrick.

Now Dr. Dobson is putting the spotlight on SpongeBob, saying his creators enlisted him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appears with characters from Barney & Friends, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Jimmy Neutron, among many others.

The makers of the video, he said, plan to mail it to thousands of elementary schools this spring to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity." He urged his allies to work to stop it.

Fashioned after "We Are the World," the video shows a chorus of cartoon characters singing "We Are Family." The video's creator – Nile Rodgers, who wrote the disco hit – said Dr. Dobson's objection stems from a misunderstanding. Mr. Rodgers said he founded the We Are Family Foundation after the Sept. 11 attacks to teach children about multiculturalism.

The video has appeared on Nickelodeon and other networks, and does not contain references to sexual identity.

Mr. Rodgers believes it's being confused with an unrelated "We Are Family" Web site owned by a Charleston, S.C., group aimed at supporting gay youth. On Wednesday, a Focus on the Family spokesman said the group stands by its allegations.

Meanwhile, over at Nickelodeon, spokesman Dan Martinson was marveling at how a story about the purported sexual orientation of a cartoon sponge could spark such a media grassfire.

"The show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, has said over and over that SpongeBob is just an innocent kid," Mr. Martinson said. "But here we go again, anyway.

"Once a misperception gets in the news cycle, it just keeps spinning around."

Dallas Morning News pop culture critic Tom Maurstad and The New York Times contributed to this report.