I stopped watching two TV shows. One, “Family Guy,” is replete with homophobia and blasphemy. Iconoclastic humor is one thing, but relentless ridicule of oneself – and of Jesus Christ -- crosses the line.

In the second, “Two and a Half Men,” Charlie Sheen’s character often mimics stereotypically effeminate gay men and the teenage son pronounces sensitivity “gay.” But when the housekeeper disparaged the brothers with, “You two are such mos [short for ‘homos’],” I had enough. Imagine replacing “mos” with any racial epithet – and imagine the outcry. But the media often consider it perfectly acceptable to derogate gays.

Some years ago I complained to “Prairie Home Companion’s” Garrison Keillor for having a character jeer ballplayers with an anti-gay epithet beginning with “F.” I contended that that word is as bad as “the N word.” A spokesperson defended the usage.

Sixty-four percent of Americans say gays face a lot of discrimination – more than Muslims, Hispanics, blacks, women, evangelicals, atheists or Mormons, according to an August 2009 Pew Research Center survey. Even majorities in groups responsible for the discrimination -- Republicans (58%), evangelicals (57%) and Catholics (60%) -- think so.

Discrimination results from tolerated bigotry, which, like charity, begins at home.

Toward equality,