TLC’s reality-show-heavy slate has focused on the lives of people associated with the Mormon church in the past, with shows like “Sister Wives” and “Breaking the Faith.”
But a one-off special airing this weekend is causing controversy because of the way it depicts men who are attracted to men, but who are married to women.
“My Husband’s Not Gay,” which airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on TLC, focuses on four Mormon men who refer to themselves as “SSA” — same-sex attracted, as opposed to homosexual. The men, three of whom are married, do not act on their urges, although the show’s protagonists (male and female) rib each other when they happen to run into men who trigger their “danger scale,” which is their way of gauging attractiveness.
In the Mormon faith, engaging in homosexual acts is strictly forbidden; it is against the religion’s “law of chastity,” or moral code. The subjects of “My Husband’s Not Gay” admit their attraction to men, but settle down with women and raise families.