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John and Scott were by no means the first openly gay contestants on the very gay-friendly Amazing Race.

In Amazing Race's first season, boyfriends Joe and Bill (the famed “Team Guido”) competed (and finished in third place).

Amazing Race 3 featured 16 teams, three of which included gay men. Gay contestant Ken Duphiney (paired with his straight brother Gerard) came in third place. There was also liberal, openly gay, college cheerleader Andrew 21 (who was teamed with his conservative Southern Baptist father Dennis). And then there was the very attractive young couple of gay Aaron paired with his best (straight) friend Arianne).

Amazing Race 4 showcased the very handsome gay married couple Reichen, 28 & Chip, 36, who won that season's race.

Amazing Race 7 aired with three openly gay contestants. There were boyfriends Alex Ali, 22 and Lynn Warren, 30, a "gay couple from West Hollywood, California" who had been together for four years. After season 7 ended, Ali and Warren were married in Ottawa (because gay marriage is illegal in California).

That season also included openly gay Patrick, who competed with his mother Susan as part of the show's first mother-son team.

The appearance of “married” gay couple Reichen and Chip on The Amazing Race season 4 caused something of an outrage among religious and political right groups.

The arch conservative and homophobic WorldNetDaily, which calls itself “A Free Press For A Free People” was not only angry that gays were included in “family programming” like The Amazing Race. The anti-gay publication was especially incensed that CBS labeled gay couple participants as “married.”

WND's shrill headlines proclaiming “CBS television thrusting 'married gays' on public” and “The Amazing Race promotes real-life men as joined in matrimony.”

"Two men is not a marriage. It's pretend marriage," said Robert Knight, a former news editor at the Los Angeles Times who is now director of the Culture and Family Institute.

WorldNetDaily launched a public relations campaign against CBS. To their credit, both the show's producers and the station stood their ground and refused to cave in to the bigots.

In the last year, this viewer has noticed at least several gays who have appeared on reality television shows and then claimed they did so as a way to come out to their family. Perhaps as a sign of a trend, closeted gays are now using the power of television in a new creative way. (There's an idea for a reality series in there somewhere…)

For example, Amazing Race season 7 contestant Alex Ali claimed his family didn't know he was gay until he went on The Amazing Race. Ali said he probably subconsciously went on the reality show to come out to his parents (who did not even attend his wedding).

Since The Amazing Race debuted in 2001, it has wavered in the Nielsens. The three-time Emmy-winning reality show is dumping its last season's gimmick of four-member family teams and returning to its original format for season nine, pitting 11 two-person teams against each other in a race around the globe for a million-dollar prize. CBS is hoping a return to the original format will boost the shows ratings. Last season's family edition averaged only 10.8 million viewers, down from 13 million from the previous two-person team season.

Luckily for gay viewers, the Amazing Race's producers continually look for interesting people to cast, regardless of sexual orientation, and appear to have no qualms about casting gay men in a variety of combinations.

As related by Amazing Race 3's gay contestant Ken Duphiney to Planet Out Entertainment, the show's co-creator has told him, “I love gay people. Let me just tell you they're the most interesting TV. They're the most fascinating people."

But, of course!

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