Stopping Dr. Laura

By Katherine Lemons, AlterNet. Posted July 6, 2000.

America's most opinionated talk radio personality has big plans for the fall. Dr. Laura Schlessinger, host of the most popular radio show in the country, has a contract with Paramount Television to launch a television show in September. Like the radio show, the television series will feature Dr. Laura's straight-shooting advice on a broad range of moral issues and make clear calls to action. Dr. Laura claims that through her shows, she is "getting people to stop doing wrong and start doing right."

But Dr. Laura's definitions of right and wrong are offensive to many people -- especially gays and lesbians, whom she has called "sexual deviants," "aberrant," "disordered," and "dysfunctional," among other epithets. "I have called [homosexuality] an error," Dr. Laura said on her radio show. "And I think that it is irrefutable and obvious. It's dysfunctional, it is deviant. According to religion, it is not moral. But biologically it is clearly an error."

The proposed new TV show has become a focal point for activists who object to Dr. Laura's agenda. StopDrLaura.com, a Web site that grew out of Washington writer and Internet consultant John Aravosis's impatience with the tactics of mainstream gay civil rights organizations, has galvanized protestors. The site, whose subtitle is 'a coalition against hate,' has become a behind-the-scenes forum for communication and activism. It has attracted millions of hits, plenty of media attention and the support of some high-profile activists.

"Dr. Laura has a right to her opinion," writes actress Susan Sarandon on the StopDrLaura.com site, "but I think it's irresponsible of Paramount to not give equal time, at the very least, to a person with a more enlightened and contemporary perspective. I'm totally against wasting the airwaves to giving visibility to a person who is clearly in dire need of compassion, education, and a good shrink herself."

However, when it comes to influencing the entertainment industry, strong sentiments are not enough. Moral arguments must be backed up by money, and so the coalition behind StopDrLaura.com has pressured the advertisers who will finance the show to revoke their support.

On May 20, Procter & Gamble, the advertising giant with a $2 billion-plus per year budget, withdrew its support for the upcoming show. P & G has also pulled its advertising from Dr. Laura's radio show. P & G's decision put pressure on other companies who advertise on Dr. Laura's radio show or who had agreed to buy space on the television series. As of July 5th, Xerox, United Airlines, American Express, AT&T, and Toys "R" Us, More.com, Boxlot, and Amica Insurance have all withdrawn their spots.

Recent maneuvers by P&G have cast the optimism of Dr. Laura's critics in a new light. P & G executives met with several right-wing, anti-gay organizations who are trying to pressure the company to reverse its decision on June 12, one day after Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchannon announced that Dr. Laura is a potential running mate. The company decided to pull its advertising from MTV's "Undressed" and "Tom Green Show," programs that it called "inappropriate."

"Procter & Gamble has been a model of corporate responsibility for refusing to profit off of 'Dr.' Laura's intolerance," said Wayne Besen, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian and gay political organization. "We hope this meeting will not change or affect Procter & Gamble's commitment to fairness and to treating all of its valued customers with the dignity and respect they deserve," he said, minimizing the significance of P&G's pullout from MTV.

But just two months after withdrawing their support from the Dr. Laura show, Focus on the Family received an apologetic letter from P&G's global marketing officer, Bob Wheling. Although Wheling defended P&G's decision to pull advertising from Dr. Laura, he described her as "an eloquent spokesperson for traditional values."

And yet with some last-minute withdrawals a new precedent has been set -- advertisers and stations are not just refusing to sign on to the show, but are pulling out of previously existing contracts. Paul La Camera, the general manager of WCVB in Boston, who has expressed concern about the content of the show, told the Boston Phoenix that "What they [the protesters] are asking is quite significant -- that after making a commitment to a program, we cancel. It's unprecedented and will require a lot of thought."

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