Glee for President

I am fairly certain that I have mentioned this 1 or 22 times, but I love Glee.

I love it.  

Of course, anytime people solve their problems by singing and dancing you can pretty much be sure that I am going to be nearby with a smile on my face and, much more certainly, a tear in my eye.

This week's episode, "The First Time," was no exception.  At least not to me.

Rachel and Finn slept together for the first time.  So did Kurt and Blaine.  (The progression leading up to their decisions to do so was set to songs from West Side Story.  Perfection.)

***NEWS FLASH***

The PTC (Parents Television Council) and the Conservative Culture and Media Institute spoke out against this episode before it aired last week.  

PTC president Tim Winter said that, "the fact that 'Glee' intends to not only broadcast, but celebrate children having sex is reprehensible," and the CCMI said that the show is "stepping up its campaign of homosexual promotion" with Tuesday's episode, and has "consistently advocated a progressive tilt on homosexuality, portraying the behavior as completely normal and uncontroversial."

Now, I'm not going to get into a conversation about homosexuality today.  


Even though I do have one or two things to say about what I think is normal and uncontroversial.

And I am not a mother yet, so I honestly cannot speak to how I will feel about teen sex when I actually am worried about my teenagers doing it.  

What I can say is that I think that the way that Glee has handled sexual situations has been impressive from the beginning of the show.  

When the sex is inappropriate they say so and portray it as such.  And when the sex is appropriate they say so and portray it as such.  

There are two story lines on the show about adults who are still virgins.  

The conversation Rachel had with the girls this week about whether or not she should do it was thoughtful and funny.  

I'm not trying to say that those organizations are wrong to be concerned about teen sex.  But I think it's safe to assume that a lot of high school students are having sex.  And, honestly, I would be willing to bet that most of them do not think about sex the way that these characters on the show do. 

In which case, maybe some of the kids watching will think about it in a different way.  

Or maybe they won't, maybe I'm wrong.  

Maybe the parents who are complaining about a television show will have an honest conversation with their kids about sex, and explain to them that it's not okay to do something just because fictional characters on television are doing it.  

After all, like Cher said, in Clueless, "until mankind is peaceful enough not to have violence on the news, there's no point in taking it out of shows that need it for entertainment value."

I've been getting frustrated lately about people getting caught up in what I think are the wrong problems.  

I'll just never understand why anybody cared that Chaz Bono was on Dancing with the Stars.  

Or why the riots that happened this week were because a football coach lost his job and not because of the countless lives that will never be same again.

Or why the Occupy protestors revel in the attention that they get from people who make millions of dollars each year by making movies or singing songs.

Or why anybody would want to keep their children from learning the values that are promoted each week on Glee.

But maybe life really isn't how it seems to be on Glee.  

I can tell you one thing for damn sure, though.  

I wish it was.