2008 Gay Pop Culture Wish List

Ugly Betty keeps its gay stride

There is nothing worse than the sinking feeling you get when a favorite television show starts to slip. It happened with season two of Twin Peaks, and again in season four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (college is the kiss of death!). And as Heroes jumped the cheerleader halfway through Season One, now all of our gay eggs are in the Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters, and Pushing Daisies baskets. We can’t bear to see either of them go, but especially given what it has done for gay visibility, to lose Betty would be a huge blow. We’re most eager to see more of the unusual but very satisfying relationship between Marc (Michael Urie) and Cliff (David Blue).

Either Perry Moore’s Hero or James St. James’ Freak Show get picked up as film projects by a major studio or reputable indie company

It’s time for gay teen characters to step out of the sidelines and into lead roles. Both of these books did very well for themselves in the mainstream press despite being unabashedly gay and featuring gay teen lead characters. We’d love to see either made into a film, and not by a fly-by-night production company. These are mainstream-targeted books and a mainstream-targeted movie would be wholly appropriate, and would fill a gaping hole in entertainment when it comes to stories about gay youth.

We also think it would make financial sense for the studios. Young people, especially young women, are particularly gay friendly and would likely turn out to see such a movie. Besides, how many Disney Channel spin-offs can there actually be an appetite for?

Milk and The Mayor of Castro Street are made, released, and don’t suck

We know — does it really matter if a biopic about a dead gay guy gets made? Look at Capote, which nabbed Best Actor awards in 2005 and didn’t exactly lead to a boom in films with gay protagonists. But Milk is different as it’s about a civic leader and gay martyr, while Capote was about a self-obsessed artist seriously lacking in sex appeal.

If Gus Van Sant’s Sean Penn-starring biopic hits the right notes, it could be a landmark film in terms of depicting the struggle of gay Americans for their rights as well as a star-studded cry against homophobia. We realize we’re probably not talking huge box-office here, but even Hollywood likes to occasionally make something not based on a comic book or a Saturday Night Live sketch, or filled with nothing but explosions.