The Wisdom of TV

Saw an interesting "Kate & Allie" today. This was a show set in NYC in the mid-to-late 80s about two divorced women who share an apartment with their two teenage daughters and the requisite "cute kid" (Allie's son). I remember watching it when it first ran but I have to tell you, I was too young to really appreaciate it. It wasn't this super-sophisticated show by any means but it did have more adult topics (like dating for divorced women) that were rather boring for a kid.

The episode I speak of has Kate and Allie scrambling to find a new apartment when Kate's landlady (the apartment they share is leased to Kate) drops in and reminds Kate that she's renting a "one-family dwelling" and that because she's crammed another family in the apartment, they will have to pay extra.

As the landlady leaves she tells them that if they were married- even to each other- it would be different.

So when they fail to find a new place, they come to the decision that they should pretend to be gay. It all backfires, however, when the landlady becomes excited about it because she is a lesbian. She brings over her "lover" (it's sort of an outdated term now) and they have coffee and cake. Suddenly, Allie feels rotten as she now personally knows the landlady and her lover and can't stand living a lie. Kate keeps badgering her about going along with it out of the sheer necessity.

Unfortunately, the two friends-come-lesbian-lovers find themselves in a bit of a pickle when landlady and lady-friend invite them to a gay dance at the "gay center". The night of the dance Allie gets jittery and refuses to go so Kate has a talk with her which (yikes!) the landlady overhears. Having been lied to, the older lady gets her coat and her lover and is ready to march out the door, stating she's tired of being condescended to by people who think they are better.

This is the interesting part. Kate says, "Now wait a minute..." and reminds the lesbian landlady that she was about to increase their rent because they weren't gay. The landlady says that's different- the lease clearly stipulates that it's a "one-family dwelling" they rent. At this, Kate again reminds her that as a gay couple, many people wouldn't accept the two older ladies as a family, so who are they to "decide" which family is really a family. She tells them they of all people should know this is unfair.

Since sitcoms have to wrap things up nicely in 22 minutes, the landlady realizes the error and hypocrisy of her ways and asks Kate and Allie if they'll still be friends and will they still go to the dance. (They will and they do.)

I really liked the episode because on the one hand they made their political point of making the gay ladies likeable to Kate and Allie and just a normal couple but they also showed how even an oppressed group of people can turn around and oppress others or be hypocritical toward others by asking for rights they won't give others. I'm not dumping this on the laps of homosexuals only, of course, but to all people who would run us Christians out of town in the name of freedom. Trying to clamp our mouths shut or trying to squash our religion is no better than these two ladies being treated inhumanly.