Mrs. Doubtfire, 700 Club? Really?

I am confused. While flipping through the channels to find something for my daughter to watch for movie night (due to my own poor planning and forgetting to visit the video store), I ran across a showing of Mrs. Doubtfire, a film that I thoroughly enjoyed around her age. It features Robin Williams before the disasters like RV, back in his prime when he was the Hollywood funny man. I sure miss those days.

For those who aren’t familiar with the rib-tickling movie, Williams plays a dad who is getting divorced. It doesn’t give you the sappy ever-after, mom and dad get back together ending you would expect; instead, it uses humor and humility (and a lot of cross-dressing) to help portray divorce in a more civil and average light. Families can still be families even if parents do not love each other anymore is basically the message, and Williams dresses up as an elderly female babysitter—and, later, television host—in order to help portray it.

So imagine my surprise that this film, which features both divorce and cross-dressing, was actually on the 700 Club channel. I didn’t put it on because of this fact (we don’t watch those channels in our house; who knows what kind of mind-numbing messaging will be present in the commercials, anyway?) but could not help but think of the irony here. This channel has hosted so many messages that denounce both divorce and the “gay lifestyle,” as so many of them put it, over the years, that you have to wonder where they’re drawing the line.

Is it because it’s just entertainment? Or because the dad is so not-gay and simply using the getup as a way to see his kids more often? I am not sure what the deciding factors were that went behind airing this film, but it’s got to be confusing for regular viewers. Of course, I’ve always wondered why the show airs the “family” show Who’s Line is It Anyway? since that show has always had many sexual, and some violent, overtones when I’ve watched it on other networks in the past. While I would definitely consider this film to be family-friendly, I would not hold that particular television show to the same standards.

And while I applaud the 700 Club for airing a movie that embraces the diversity of families and gay characters (Williams’ brother in the movie), I am still left confused. Why show this movie and maintain your anti-gay stance? Perhaps you should tear a page from the book that is your later-evening entertainment and start accepting everyone as they are—you know, like Jesus did.