American Family Association's Tim Wildmon backed caller's warning of "evidence of homosexuality and lesbian people on programs like HGTV and Animal Planet"

During the October 11 broadcast of Today's Issues, a daily show on the Christian broadcasting network American Family Radio (AFR), host Tim Wildmon -- president of the American Family Association (AFA), which operates AFR -- agreed with a caller's claims that "you really, really, really have to watch what you are watching on TV" because "evidence of homosexuality and lesbian people" appears in programming on cable channels HGTV and Animal Planet. He responded by telling the caller, "You're very perceptive ... because that does happen, even in the most innocent of places." Wildmon also warned that "you have to watch out for children's programs today as well because they'll slip it in there as well."

HGTV is a cable network devoted to home and garden design themes and owned by The E.W. Scripps Co. Animal Planet features animal- and pet-related programming and is one of several cable channels owned by Discovery Communications Inc.

American Family Radio is a network of nearly 200 radio stations across the United States whose stated mission is to "inform Christians about what is happening in America." AFR's owner, the AFA, was founded by Donald E. Wildmon, Tim's father. The AFA "believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded."

From the October 11 broadcast of American Family Radio's Today's Issues:

CALLER: I just wanted to make a comment that you really, really, really have to watch what you are watching on TV. I have come upon evidence of homosexuality and lesbian people on programs like HGTV and Animal Planet, where you really don't expect this to be an issue.

WILDMON: Right. You're very perceptive, [caller], because that does happen, even in the most innocent of places. You have to watch out for children's programs today as well because they'll slip it in there as well.

—A.D.