ABC has picked up a comedy based
loosely on the life of gay rights activist, sex advice columnist and
author Dan Savage.
The Real O'Neals is among the
three sitcom pick ups ABC announced on Friday, Deadline
reported.
The Hollywood Reporter described
the comedy as centering “on a picture-perfect family that is turned
upside down when the youngest son comes of out the closet. What
seems like the end of their idyllic life turns out to be the
beginning of a bright new chapter when everyone stops pretending to
be perfect and actually starts being real.”
Two conservative groups opposed to gay
rights were behind a campaign asking ABC to abandon the project.
The Media Research Center (MRC) and
Family Research Center (FRC) has sent more than 21,000 postcards and
put in 4,000 telephone calls to the network asking executives to
cancel the sitcom based on Savage's involvement.
MRC President L. Brent Bozell told the
New York Times
that ABC was aligning itself with Savage “not because he's gay”
but because of his “religious bigotry and personal offensiveness.”
Savage is known for going after
high-profile celebrities and politicians who oppose gay rights,
including Dr.
Laura, Mike
Huckabee, Rick
Santorum and Michele
Bachmann.