Dan Savage rose to national prominence as a gay sex columnist whose darkly humorous, sometimes raunchy writings — like whether to use an enema before "buttfucking" — appeared in a weekly Seattle newspaper and were later syndicated to other newspapers, including New Times.
He made national headlines for a softer reason when he invented the "It Gets Better" campaign — which aimed to prevent suicides by featuring people, including celebrities and President Obama, telling gay and transgender teens in YouTube videos that life would get easier and people more accepting beyond the bully-populated halls of high school. He went on to speak at college campuses and is frequently called on TV shows as an expert.
This January, it was announced that ABC had inked a deal with Savage to produce a sitcom TV series based on his life.
The Hollywood Reporter described the show as:
a single-camera semi-autobiographical entry based on the LGBT activist/boundary-pushing columnist's life. It centers on a picture-perfect family that is turned upside down when the youngest son comes out of the closet. What seems like the end of their idyllic life turns out to be the beginning of a bright new chapter when everyone stops pretending to be perfect and actually starts being real.Now, however, the conservative American Family Association is petitioning ABC, which is owned by Disney, to quash plans for the show because of Savage's comments against organized religion. They say Savage is "an anti-Christian bully" who has even advocated for murder.
Well, as this AFA's video montage of Savage quotes shows, he has called stuff in the Bible "crazy bullshit." He did once say of Republicans, “I wish they were all fucking dead.” And he contended that a Green Party candidate who threatened a Democrat's chance of winning election “should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there's nothing left but the rope.”
It remains to be seen whether a petition is enough to sway ABC-Disney President Ben Sherwood.
Savage hasn't mentioned the controversy on Twitter.
