BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR Hey pals and gals. Got a quick one here for ya. Editor-in-chief JV shot me an email the other day (thanks boss) alerting me to a new development in the Christian coteries: apparently, it’s not enough now to censor the sex (nudity), violence, substance abuse, and demonic images (oh lord) in video games, homosexual content is now on the chopping block. According to Tumeroks, a blog dedicated to covering the development and growth of online games (Warhammer online, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, etc) a Christian conservative investment firm called The Timothy Plan has just added homosexual content to the list of no no’s parents should be aware off before purchasing video games for their impressionable offspring. According to the the Timothy Plan’s website, “[We are] not attempt[ing] to ban video games, or dictate whether people should play them. This [list] is purely meant to inform parents who are concerned with the moral content/issues contained in video games and make available to them information which is not easily found.”
Now, I’m all for parents monitoring the activities of their children/adolescents—to an extent. But consider this: all the games included in The Timothy Plan’s “30 most offensive” list require that purchasers must be 17 years of age. Seventeen-year-olds are going to buy whatever they want; there’s not much you can do about that. With that in mind, I’m guessing that the “30 most offensive” list is intended for parents buying video games for their nearly pubescent and teenage brood. If that’s the case (The Timothy Plan does not specify), why are staunch Christian parents even considering buying video games for their kids like Fallout 3 and Manhunt 2—games where it it’s part of the fun to watch your enemies evaporate into blood and to loot their carcasses to make ends meet?
And about the whole video game homophobia: do you really think that exposing adolescents to homosexual content is 
going to influence their orientation? Like so: “Oh, those two men are kissing. I’ve never seen that before. What a novel idea!Hmm, I wonder what Timothy’s doing right now? Next time I see him, I’m going to give him a big smoocharoo!”
Folks, there is no legitimate study that exists that shows a correlation between video games/TV violence and violence crimes in the real world, much less homosexual content and the actual number of homosexuals in the general population. With that said, however, there is a reason video game makers put age restrictions on the games, and they hope that parents would abide by them (mind you, that’s purely allotted to the violence and graphic displays of nudity, not homosexual undertones). Here’s an idea: instead of cocooning their kids from realities they’re going to eventually encounter (unless they become cloistered monks or nuns, but even that’s no guarantee) why don’t parents spend time with their kids and educate them about what they’re watching/playing on the television? Like so: “Oh, there on two men kissing on Timothy’s video game. Timothy, why don’t you pause that for a moment so we can have a little talk.”
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