"Brothers" & "Betty": Breaking New Gay Ground

On another ABC series, Ugly Betty, there was no single breakout main gay character like Kevin. There were, however, three secondary characters who nonetheless represented significant advances in GLBT-friendly representation on television—ones who referenced and then cleverly defied stereotypical representations.

When Marc (Michael Urie) was first introduced to viewers, this assistant to the show's villainess Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams), appeared to be a familiar type from the Jack McFarland school of scene-stealing second bananas. An “effete sycophant,” as Wilhelmina called him, with a gift for hilarious, lacerating put-downs. But as the season progressed, the show depicted more intricate dimensions to his character that succeeded in humanizing him.

This was especially true in “Don't Ask/Don't Tell” when Marc at last came out to his mother (there's that closet story arc again), played by musical theater diva Patti LuPone. Although the episode played it as comic farce, it did so with genuine heart while demonstrating the absurdity of closeted adults acting roles that so clearly go against their natures.

In the character of Alexis (Rebecca Romijn), Ugly Betty explored another GLBT character's struggle for and insistence upon acceptance. Alex, the presumed dead brother of Betty's boss Daniel (Eric Mabius), made a dramatic mid-season appearance as the post-op Alexis. Whereas gay characters on network television are grossly underrepresented, transgender characters are practically nonexistent, and certainly none have been portrayed with as much respect and understanding as Alexis.

Her pain at being rejected by her father and manipulated by cruel male suitors was rendered so heartbreakingly that most viewers could not help but empathize. More importantly, Alexis refused to be forced into the background, repeatedly putting her proud self out there before a scrutinizing public by strutting down the catwalk of a fashion show and placing herself on a magazine cover.

And then there was Betty's 12-year-old nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato). Tap-dancing, Martha Stewart-reading, couture-following, showtune-loving, dieting Justin. It's safe to say that there has never been a child character remotely like Justin on network television, one who for the first time presented many gay men with an image of queer boyhood that reflected their own. But what was so remarkable wasn't just the fact that Justin was shown happily being Justin week after week – and, as various web forums indicated, developed a huge following of fans along the way – but that his family was completely supportive of him.

When his father, Santos (Kevin Alejandro), wanted to butch Justin up, his mother, Hilda (Ana Ortiz), insisted that Santos be the one to change. “If Santos wants to spend time with Justin,” she said, “then let him do the things Justin likes to do.” And, incredibly, fabulously, Santos did just that.

In one stand-out episode, the family got stuck on a subway train on their way to see Hairspray (a musical that, appropriately, celebrates tolerance). Determined his parents not miss a moment of the show, Justin acted out parts for them and, when a passenger made a homophobic remark, Santos rushed to his defense. From that moment on, Santos was revealed as actively trying to connect with Justin just as he was, memorizing facts, for example, about the Broadway shows his son loves.

More significant than the inclusion of these characters was the way in which Betty tied them together within a broader context, one that dramatized how self acceptance benefits not only the individual but all of society. This was most clearly demonstrated by the title character. Working in the cutthroat world of fashion, one in which the superficial is fetishized, Betty (America Ferrara) refused to compromise her style, her values, or her sense of self worth. And that refusal—that insistence on remaining fully “out” as her “ugly” self no matter what others might think of her—again and again had a positive effect on those around her.

It was Betty's influence, for example, that led Daniel to be more accepting of Alexis, and that led Marc to come out to his mother. Marc, in turn, came to the defense of Mode's mean girl receptionist Amanda (Becki Newton), who had been in several self-destructive relationships in which men tried to keep her a secret. “Come out of the closet sweetie,” Marc encouraged. “I promise it's better.”

So Betty's example of openness, indirectly came to better the life even of someone like her nemesis Amanda. In this way, coming out was depicted as something much bigger than an individual's personal struggle, and the psychic damage of the closet—of not being true to oneself—was expanded from a gay issue into a human one.