Survival of the Fab-est: How Gay TV Characters Evolve

Imagine, if you will, a pivotal moment toward the middle of the 22nd century. The planet’s top scientists have released definitive proof of evolution in the one arena in which it matters most: for television characters.

That proof? A photo from Ugly Betty’s 2007-08 season. Pictured sitting on a sofa are series regular Marc St. James (Michael Urie), and alongside him, the source of this stunned reaction, his boyfriend Cliff (David Blue).

Until now, conventional wisdom held that the pinnacle of Gay Character Evolution had been a type more like Marc — fabulous, fashionable, and, most crucially, rail-thin. Here was something new. Sitting on the couch next to Marc was something of a couch potato, a regular, somewhat stocky guy without discernible product in his hair or designer labels on his clothing.

And Cliff wasn’t the only example from that era, as evidenced by the discovery of a second shocking image: The Sarah Silverman Program’s Brian and Steve, another pair of regular guy gays more akin to the dudes of those stoner comedies so beloved in the late 20^th century.

Here, at long last, was proof of an undiscovered, unrecognized gay character type who had once slumped his way across the American TV landscape: the Homo Sloppian.

In all seriousness, the relatively recent appearance of the Gay Shlub on TV today is something to celebrate in our own times. While at AfterElton.com, we continually (and justifiably) mourn the lack of greater numbers of gay characters on television, at least we’re finding that the ways in which gay men are portrayed is being expanded and diversified, and that is a very good thing. In celebration of that, we think it’s time to offer up a “history” of the evolution of gay characters on television.

Genus: Punkus Progenus

Lay Terminology: “The Troubled Son”

In the beginning, all was darkness. That’s how it is inside the closet.

But out of that inky, primordial, moth-balled ooze, emerged an early example of Televisia Gayguyus: the Troubled Son. Classic examples include Soap’s Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) in 1977 and Dynasty’s Steven Carrington in 1981.

Crystal (left) and Jack Coleman as Steven Carrington

These initial gay characters, introduced as part of prime time television ensembles, demonstrated an early inclination to portray them in the context of being the “gay son” within large families in which their sexuality presented a particular burden for their parents. Soap examined the comic possibilities of this scenario — Mary walking in on Jodie wearing woman’s clothing — and Dynasty the more (melo)dramatic — Blake threatening Steven’s lover with bodily harm.

While over the long term, both sons earned tolerance if not outright acceptance from their clans (and only after they each made a stab at heterosexual mating), their primary function in their respective shows was to provide a catalyst for ongoing family drama.

More Recent Evidence: Exhibit A) The War at Home’s Kenny (Rami Malek); Exhibit B) Desperate Housewives’ Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom). Both exiled from family caves by disapproving clan chieftains.

Malek (left) and Pyfrom

But these recent examples also indicate a significant evolutionary mutation; the sons in question are now teenagers, a shift in age that indicates a change in perception about the nature of coming out over the last decade. It’s no longer viewed as the norm for a gay character to hide his sexuality, in shame, into adulthood, until he’s reluctantly or accidentally outed.