US: Advert for anti LGBT church, shown during new gay TV show

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

An advert for a new series of sermons at a church which opposes the rights of LGBT people, aired during a break in a new series about a gay couple and their surrogate.

The advert was for the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, which recently objected to a city proposal which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. It was shown during the season premiere of NBC show, The New Normal.

Jacksonville.com reported that, Jeff Stoll, executive pastor of communications at the church, said:

“We are placed on an ROS [run of site] schedule per station which is part of our contractual agreement. The station chooses the location of spots based on availability,”

“First Baptist Church isn’t involved in the placement of ads.”

The advertising deal the church made, called ‘run of sale,’ reportedly relinquishes them of control of ad placement, but offers better value for money, and a larger reach.

The adverts were for a series of sermons by Senior Pastor Mac Brunson, who said: “This series deals with the the spiritual dimensions of life. It is in the Spiritual realm that we have life and gain real power and strength. The topics that pastor will cover include UnStuck, Underwater, Undervalued, UnKnown, etc.,”

The New Normal, was recently deemed inappropriate by a spokesperson from the Utah-based KSL-TV, due to: ”crude dialogue, explicit content and offensive characterisations,” but was aired on another station instead. 

The NBC show was also attacked by anti-gay campaign group, One Million Moms. Ryan Murph, creator, said the group would probably enjoy it if they watched it.