Shrek and the "transgender agenda"

Published June 3, 2004 2:42PM (EDT)

President Bush's chief of faith-based activities stood in the White House the other day and said that while Iraq drew so much attention, there was another war, right here at home, we should heed: The culture war. (What better way to distract Americans from the war in Iraq than promoting cultural difference?)

Well, here's a sure sign of culture war: A right-wing group has watched a children's cartoon and sees moral Armageddon. Remember when Jerry Falwell deconstructed Tinky-Winky and saw not a purple Teletubby but the color of gay pride -- and a gay pride symbol instead of a triangle-shaped antenna?

Now, Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition is alerting parents to yet another danger lurking in children's entertainment. This time, the offender is a supposedly "transgender" bartender in Shrek 2. This bartender has stubble yet wears a dress and has "female breasts," the TVC alert warns. Confusing matters further, the bartender's voice is that of Larry King.

TVC watched the movie and details the offending passages: "During a dance scene at the end of the movie, this transgendered man expresses sexual desire for Prince Charming, jumps on him, and both tumble to the floor. In another scene in the movie, Shrek and Donkey need to be rescued from a dungeon where they are chained against the wall. The rescue is conducted by Pinocchio who is asked to lie so his nose will grow long enough for one of the smaller cartoon characters to use it as a bridge to reach Shrek and Donkey. Donkey encourages him to lie about something and suggests he lie about wearing women's underwear. When he denies wearing women's underwear, his nose begins to grow."

For all this and more, read TVC's report, "A Gender Identity Disorder Goes Mainstream," which helpfully explains "the transgender agenda and the effort to deconstruct the biological reality of male and female." DreamWorks is helping in this effort by "promoting cross dressing and transgenderism in this animated film," TVC says.

Concerned parents may also want to read up on TVC's research on hermaphrodism. TVC claims to "expose" the "homosexual urban legend" that "genital deformities found in hermaphrodite newborns are actually evidence of a third sex -- not a birth defect." We had no clue. Neither, clearly, does the TVC. (Thanks to reader Steve & Eve.)


By Geraldine Sealey

Geraldine Sealey is senior news editor at Salon.com.

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