The Broadcasting Standards Authority has decided not to uphold a complaint made against TVNZ by viewers for editing scenes of a male couple kissing during singer Christina Aguilera's Beautiful music clip. TVNZ say their decision was based not on the gender of the kissers but the “intensity” of the kisses. TVNZ believed the kisses were in the realm of “sexual passion”, any example of which “would be removed from a chart show likely to be seen by young children”. The Coca-Cola Chart Show, which screens on Sunday mornings from 10am-midday on TV2 regularly features music clips with uncensored and suggestive heterosexual activity. Aguilera was recognized by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in America earlier this year for conveying a “powerful message about self-respect and empowerment”, in a video that was described on youth websites as featuring “romantic kisses” between two men. Aguilera herself said, "My video captures the reality that gay and transgender people are beautiful, even though prejudice and discrimination against them still exists." The Broadcasting Standards Authority did not uphold the complaint on appeal because the edited version of the video could not be “construed as encouraging denigration of, or discrimination against, homosexual people".
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 27th August 2003 - 12:00pm