First, congrats on your great ...
Question: First, congrats on your great column. My weeks always start and end with you. I wanted to get your feeling on the representation of homosexuality on TV shows lately, because I feel that we've reached a turning point. I think that after a short period of (needed?) overexposure, with every show having a gay character and shows like
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and
Queer as Folk, we are actually moving toward equality between gay and straight characters. For instance, I know that a lot of gay people have ground their teeth at Andrew being gay and evil on
Desperate Housewives, but I actually believe that this is a good thing: We've got past the dichotomy of, on the one hand, the political correctness of the gay guy who's a great guy with no sexuality (
Will & Grace) and, on the other hand, the cliché of the gay guy with nothing but his sexuality (
Queer as Folk). Finally gay characters get to be something else than "just gay." They are handled the same way as straight characters and they have story lines that don't revolve only around their sexual orientation. So basically, a character can now be evil and date a hot gardener. And finally, I think I've rarely (never?) seen a gay character as relatable and realistic as the gay son on the great
Book of Daniel (I'm kind of being unfaithful to
Six Feet Under's David Fisher here, but hey,
Christian Campbell from
Reefer Madness!). I really hope the show won't get canceled, no matter what the AFA thinks. Anyway, being myself nonreligious, gay and French, I guess I'm pretty much the anti-Christ for those people. After
Jack Kenny, of course. (P.S.: Please excuse my shaky English, being French and all).
Answer: Your English is fine, and your sentiments are appreciated. I have always contended the true breakthrough for gay characters on TV is when they're accepted first as characters, with their sexuality not being the defining characteristic. They can be good or evil, as long as they're interesting. Which Andrew certainly is these days.
