This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I'm no stranger to TV reality shows. Twice now Sonny and I have been shopped by Hollywood companies desperate for fools to film.

Both times they wanted to follow us around with cameras while we pursued our normal activities of picking up road kill, grave robbing, cannon shooting, rocket launching, blowing #$%@ up, and assorted other idiocies.

We were interviewed, filmed, re-interviewed, had our neighbors interviewed, and were even asked to sign temporary contracts. However, none of these shows went beyond the corporate "these guys are serious liabilities" stage.

It was probably for the best. It's one thing to do something and tell people about it, and another to have it filmed and available for subpoena. We would have made a whole bunch of acronyms mad: PETA, BLM, LDS, DOT, ATF and NORAD to name just a few.

Besides, reality shows are a waste of time. None of the ones I've seen or been involved in have had much to do with "real." Both times Sonny and I were asked to "act" in ways contrary to the real us.

"Now punch each other in the face."

"Say that again but without [deleted] and [deleted]?"

"Are those … human teeth?"

Lately, a Utah-based reality show has been shaking things up. The new TLC reality show featuring gay Mormon men choosing to be married to women is making a lot of people mad, many of them gay.

Much of the anger no doubt stems from the patently misleading title: "My Husband is Not Gay." The show, set to premiere Sunday, features men with same-sex attraction who are happily married to women and have fathered children.

Rather than face excommunication and possible ostracism from family and friends, the men say they choose not to "live a gay lifestyle." Whatever that means.

For Rusty, a friend of mine who's gay and living with his longtime partner, the "gay lifestyle" consists of going to work, coming home, making dinner, watching TV and then crashing. Their lifestyle is every bit as wild and crazy as the people I sit next to in church.

I've only seen part of one episode of "My Husband." Even so, I can tell that a more accurate title would be "My Husband is Flaming Gay But So Far Has Chosen to Live Straight."

GLADD insists that "My Husband" undermines the reality of being gay and that it will encourage other gay people to try to be something they're not, which will only lead to misery for everyone involved. Good point.

However, there is a bit of irony in one group that has long suffered social pressure to live only in a prescribed way now pressuring another group to do the same thing.

On the other hand, we're talking about another group with strong objections to having their lifestyle misrepresented in other television productions: Mormons.

Mormons and gay people. I figure both groups are going to have to get used to the idea that their "lifestyle" is fair game for contrary commentary, including/especially by the people in it.

I'd say how the "My Husband" guys and their wives choose to live is their own business, or would be if they hadn't decided to make it everyone else's business through a reality show.

You'll just have consider the source. "My Husband is Not Gay" is no more credible than a reality show featuring my wife and Sonny's wife titled, "My Husband is Not a #$%@!"