Who Woulda Thunk: ABC Show Addresses Homophobia in NJ Bar

Via Womanist Musings, we find that ABC decided to use their show, What Would You Do?, to address homophobia in a sports bar in New Jersey, where they tested folks’ acceptance of a gay couple being openly affectionate. A straight couple was also used as well as another actor making homophobic remarks to see how patrons would react.

Overwhelmingly, the real patrons showed intolerance for snide remarks like his, even as the gay couple escalated their touching and affection.
“I would rather have 12 of you than four of him,” said one man apologetically to the couple.
“Seriously, this is not your [expletive] bar!” yelled an emotional woman to one harasser, in defense of the gay couple.
Later, a real patron who did harass the couple seemed to retract his views after the hidden cameras were revealed. An expert interviewed by ABC News attributed his transformation to the surprising peer pressure to be tolerant.
“Tolerance has become an American value,” she said. “People work hard to give others the impression that they believe similarly, even when they don’t.”

But things aren’t nearly as peachy as ABC seemed to want to make it. As Renee said, how tolerant were these folks actually being when even the ones who defended the couple said they still didn’t want to see them being “overly affectionate”? Not to mention Pam poses the question, “If they really want to test American tolerance, how about selecting a interracial or minority gay or lesbian couple to participate in that experiment?”
Pam also pointed out which location this experiment was done – New Jersey has civil unions on the books – which is critical to take into account (although I’ll admit I’ve experienced an overabundance of homophobia and racism in that state). There’s no doubt the degrees of tolerance would vary greatly state-to-state – so to call it an “American value” is (sadly) a bit of a stretch, albeit a damn good goal to have.
Thoughts?