GLAAD, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, have posted their concerns over last Sunday's episode of Family Guy in which Quagmire's father changed sex: The Quagmire's Dad episode has ignited significant controversy among the LGBT community with the majority opinion being that the episode was incredibly offensive to transgender people.
"Queers United, AfterElton, Queerty and several other blogs have written about the episode and GLAAD has been contacted by community members concerned about scenes such as one in which food prepared by Ida is thrown in the trash by Lois Griffin and another in which Brian Griffin vomits after having sex with Ida and learning about her transgender identity. One community member also expressed concern about a later scene that implies that transgender people are sex offenders and should be classified as such."
It should be noted that the opinions expressed by GLAAD do not represent all from the LGBT community. Seth MacFarlane is a big supporter of gay rights and has spoken to Advocate about his support in the past.
Of course this is Family Guy, a show that's no stranger to controversy.
phil on Wednesday May 12, 2010 at 04:36:20 AM said:
get over it,it was just a joke.I could understand gay groups being upset if family guy was bashing gays in every episode but in all honesty this didnt come off as anti gay.I consider my self for the most part a independant and i do believe in god and family guy comes after my beliefs in almost every episode.Sometimes it bothers me because of the amount of time they spend on those subjects but i still like the show and im not about to start rounding up the troops to go after them.Its comedy and u cant take this stuff all that seriously.We are all subject to parody and if we keep letting interest groups from the right and the left tell us what we can and cant say“especially in comedy“the more power we give them.This politically correct stuff kills me.U cant make fun of black people,asians,muslims,gay people at all or youll have a group come after u calling u racist or intolerent.The only groups that can be attacked in comedy are white southerners,christians and conservatives because thier easy targets.Yea those groups complain but nothing really ever happens when they do.All the groups i mensioned including the ones im apart of should be able to be made fun.We all need to understand that this stuff is just humor nothing else and if it offends u beyond belief turn on tvland and watch old episodes of the andy griffith show.
Haunted208 on Wednesday May 12, 2010 at 05:52:52 AM said:
Most people seem to be mentally weak these days. If these people were proud of what they are then they wouldn’t give a crap about these jokes. I’m classed as legally blind (Have some sight but not mutch) and I get HEAPS of blind jokes but I don’t care one bit, most times I even find them funny. These jokes only offend if YOU allow them to.
Last of all the scene where Brian vomits when he found out that Ida was a dude. SERIOUSLY the idea of a straight man vomiting in real life if he found out that the chick he just did was a dude isn’t so far fetched, in my opinion that would be an under-reaction because no one would just say “your a transexual? oh ok then” (No one would do that) they would completely lose it!
phil on Thursday May 13, 2010 at 02:57:48 AM said:
If i found out i had sex with a woman that use to be a man i would go insane,any streight guy would.I have no problem with gay people ,even have a gay friend but in all honesty i dont wanna hear about his sex life,does that make me a bad person?Im not homophobic at all but seeing two men kissing,or god forbid having sex just really makes me sick.It really just disgusts me as a streight guy and i dont understand why people just cant except that thats something that bothers me and i cant help it.Like i said i have no problem with gay people living thier lives the way they see fit,its just dont get offended at me if your making out in public and i prefer to turn my head.I would never trash a person for being gay and people that go out of thier way to hurt someone because thier gay also makes me sick.I try and respect all people no matter what color or sexual oreintation but we all have to realize we are all subject for parody even myself.In life we are all going to run across something that offends us or annoys us but its our jobs as humans to accept the fact that its gonna happen and to not over react.Family guy goes after my religous beliefs all the time and when i see something like a jesus joke pop up i just turn the channel and thats that.I dont complain or start protesting outside of fox studios.I understand that not everyone feels the same way that i do and i respect them for thier opinions.Besides there are plenty of other jokes on family guy that i find funny as hell that i know offended someone and at the end of the day i hope they just do what i do,cut thier losses and just watch something else for a while.
Rhode Island on Thursday May 13, 2010 at 06:41:50 PM said:
I’m a big fan of family guy. Love the adult with a child’s brain. Stewie n Brian are a wonderful double act their intelligence (and Lois’s) thankfully counterbalances the sometimes ignorant comments made by Peter and Quagmire. Let’s face it, Peter and dickhead (as I call him!) roles are simply to highlight, more often than not, what should be seen as offensive.
Long live Family Guy, this dyke loves you
Kenny Kardashian on Friday May 14, 2010 at 04:10:14 PM said:
Mr. McFarlane simply shows us Americans that there’s still bigotry and discrimination against transgenders. He was basically telling all of us, Look in the mirror because you people that do hateful things towards the TRANS community should rethink yourselves. I’m sure this episode was written and several transgender individuals were contacted.
kayleigh miles on Saturday May 15, 2010 at 12:09:42 PM said:
Im a big fan of family guy me and my cousins love it so much its just so funny our favorite charactor is stewie because he is funny and talks like he is an adult he isent like a baby at all hahaha i love a good laugh and family guy is the best…
DC on Tuesday May 18, 2010 at 02:05:36 AM said:
This doesn’t have anything to do with being gay. Sexual orientation and Gender Identity are completely different, although they are lumped together as LGBT because they are often discriminated against in similar ways.
I’m sorry if gay people kissing grosses you out, but as straight people we have to deal with it, because they’re subjected to seeing straight people make out all of the time. It may seem just as unnatural to a gay person or it may not. I don’t know. You don’t know. We don’t know so until we know a person’s story, lets not judge. It is best to understand visceral reaction for what it is in order to make sense of it and, if necessary, overcome it. The visceral reaction is a conditioned reaction based on what we “should” feel in response to seeing gay people kissing according to misinformed people that are fearful and thus follow the conservative majority opinion.
The reason this episode wasn’t funny was because there was no humor to justify the parody. The episode did not redeem itself in the end. If I were a transgender person, I would probably be offended as well. Usually Family Guy has a way of showing that the bigoted characters are being ignorant. In this episode, all of the characters were bigoted and no one was the “voice of reason,” if you will. In the end, there was a resolution between Quagmire and his father, but that was on a personal level excluding dealing with the nature of Quagmire’s father’s transgender nature.
Alice Sofia on Friday June 4, 2010 at 01:35:12 PM said:
Haunted208 wrote: “If these people were proud of what they are then they wouldn’t give a crap about these jokes.”
A lot of women in Ida’s situation have to work hard to be proud of what they are and many of them aren’t there yet. It’s really kicking on those who are down.
Brian first falling for her, wanting to be with her, only to turn on her is harsh, and so is Lois throwing out her gift.
“The chick he did”? It seems you have women issues that go beyond just transphobia.
Haunted208 on Friday June 4, 2010 at 05:15:56 PM said:
@Alice Sofia
Not once in my post did I ever mention the scene with Lois throwing out Ida’s gift, Yes that part is wrong VERY wrong. BUT my argument about Brian puking after learning that Ida is a man STILL STANDS. You can call me ignorant, intolerant or what other long words you have in you vocabulary but you see this behavior alot in movies and real life so why should a cartoon be any different especially a comedy?
Last of all “Women issues”? really? just because I use slang to express my opinion means I have women issues? I’m not going to pull out a freekin dictionary just to get my opinion across. I just speak my mind simple as that. YES sometimes it is the wrong thing to say but that is the way it is.
That is all
Quinn on Saturday June 12, 2010 at 05:54:23 PM said:
Wow, seriously? People are freaking out about this episode? I thought it was hilarious. If you are really that thin-skinned and offend-able why would you even watch Family Guy? Don’t watch it if you don’t like it. PERIOD. The rest of us sane, rational people who enjoy a good laugh without crying about it will continue to watch it.
Alice Sofia on Monday June 14, 2010 at 12:19:26 PM said:
@Haunted208: Thanks for the clarification. I apologize for that part of my comment. It was out of line and unfounded.
We disagree about Brian’s reaction, but I guess Quagmire’s violence is supposed to cancel that out.
Ida is exactly the same person that Brian met at the Merriot and fell for.
The scene follows an extend diatribe of transphobia from both Stewie and Brian. I was expecting something like Brian to choke on his own words, like — “but I love her! Why did I just say all those things?”
Instead he screamed that they should notify the neighbourhood when a transsexual moves there.
I guess it’s the prerogative of Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane (who IMDB lists as writer for this episode) to make fun of anyone they want. I just thought it was dumb that he also said:
“I can safely say that the transsexual community will be very, very happy with the “Quagmire” episode that we have coming up in a couple of months. It’s probably the most sympathetic portrayal of a transsexual character that has ever been on television, dare I say.”
Sympathetic portrayal? Sure, I guess they did good work writing Ida and her relationship with her son.
Very, very happy with the episode? Well, reactions have been mixed and you can read some of the specific complaints posted to GLAAD above.
@Quinn: Part of the offense was Seth MacFarlane’s promises before the show.
Alice Sofia on Wednesday June 16, 2010 at 05:29:54 AM said:
I’ve been doing some thinking about this episode and maybe it’s not wrong in and of itself to depict transphobia.
Compared to things like South Park’s episodes on the same topic, this episode was more benign.
Seeing the reaction among fans though, writing for example that they would “go insane,any streight guy would”, or that they would “completely lose it!” is disconcerting.
Haunted208 on Friday June 18, 2010 at 03:36:13 AM said:
@Alice Sofia
Family Guy has always been a “Watch at your own risk” kind of show and it always will be. I watch this show knowing one day my beliefs will be challenged or made fun of, That’s just the way everyone needs to think about it.
To a straight male “A man is still a man no matter how many parts you change” I’m going to go on the record as saying that I don’t hate transsexuals but my mind would just not allow me to have an intimate relationship with one. Unlike women men arn’t so open-minded when it comes to Homosexuality or Trans sexuality.
Alice Sofia on Monday June 21, 2010 at 06:03:24 PM said:
I don’t think of people like Ida as men. Do you think a real man would want to go through what she went through?
Brian seemed to enjoy sex with her [wait, did I just write that? He’s a dog, for crying out loud!] and called her “an amazing woman”, and “a classy, smart, beautiful lady”.
It was only upon hearing that she’s gone through changes, and that she had at one point been considered a man by the people around her, that he reacted negatively and compared her to a sex offender.