And, on a lighter note

This one's just kind of confusing, but I think it might be a good thing.

A recent study done surveyed the television preferences of people on the basis of their political standing, and here's an interesting fact: among typically anti-gay Republicans' favorite shows is ABC's comedy "Modern Family," which if you don't know it, features a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese daughter among its characters.

Wait, what?

Okay, to be fair, Modern Family features a very large family made up of three separate households: the aforementioned gay couple and their daughter, a traditional American household with a loving husband and wife and three children, and an older man (the father of one of the members of the gay couple and of the wife in the traditional household) who remarried to a somewhat younger Colombian woman with a son from her first marriage.  As explained to me by my sister's communication's professor (I was interviewing her about television for a school project) it presents lots of different options and lets the viewer decide which ones they like in order to appeal to a wide demographic.  But still, it's interesting that a show acknowledging the presence of many alternative lifestyles makes it into the top TV picks of Republicans.  What pleases me about this is the idea that the supposed best way to convince people to join a pro-gay rights stance is by them getting to know a gay person.  Although fictional characters are no substitute for reality, and may not actually have any effect whatsoever, at least Republicans are getting exposed to the idea.  Mitch and Cameron, the couple in question, have realistic concerns in a realistic life, and Mitch isn't even a stereotypical gay man.  Maybe seeing that will help people come around to the idea that there is no such thing as a secret gay agenda.