But Right Wing Watch wasn't promoting the show. Instead, they were expressing concerns about the hosts of the program. Basically, the whole family appears to be an assortment of anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-Muslim activists. Right Wing Watch spent a lot of time detailing the extreme activism of the Benhams' father (read about it here), but I'm not terribly interested in the Flip Benham's actions. I'm writing tonight about David (and, to a less extent, Jason) Benham.
David has a long history of anti-gay activism. For example, they spent a lot of time protesting in North Carolina for Amendment 1 and against same-sex families, asserting that our marriages are a form of demonic ideology. David has also protested outside of abortion clinics. He has also protested outside of an Islamic center.
Anyway, I learned of this article when I woke up today. I learned pretty quickly afterwards that HGTV was already second-guessing their television relationship with the Benham brothers. By lunchtime, I'd learned that HGTV decided against broadcasting "Flip it Forward."
I've already heard people complain that the "Gaystapo" has claimed another victory against the free speech rights of everyday Christians.
Frankly, I wish that HGTV would have kept the show. If the network and/or the show's producers really wanted to make a point, why not hook them up with a lesbian family or a Muslim family and force them to work with those families and hopefully learn from and gain some empathy towards those whose rights they had previously railed against?
Otherwise, HGTV just managed to teach the Benham a completely different message and they managed to indirectly accuse the LGBT communities of influencing a decision that we truly never had the time or opportunity to influence.