The Gay Guide to "Sex and the City"

Stanford and Carrie pretend to be a couple in order to fool Grandma Moneybags, but the old lady isn’t deaf, dumb, or blind. In fact, she delivers this helpful warning to Carrie. ”I love my Stanford. He’s a very sweet boy, but, you know, he is a fruit”.

The end of the Season 1 does briefly see Stanford with a boyfriend, Allane (Duane Boutte), but, alas, Allane is never seen again

In the fourth episode of Season 2, Stanford again has a one episode boyfriend. This time he’s named Nevin (James Lecesne) a photographer shooting Carrie for a magazine layout.

By episode twelve, things haven’t improved much for Stanford. Single again, Stanford now goes the cyber route where one need not be rejected on street corners. Going online, Stanford starts meeting guys for cyber-sex using the screen name Rick9Plus.

This inevitably leads to complications when he agrees to meet someone named BigTool4U at an after-hours bar in the meatpacking district. Unfortunately, when Stanford shows up at the club, he discovers that the only way to gain admittance is to strip down to his underwear. Given Stanford’s less than sculpted physique and receding hairline, this naturally leads to more self-doubt and self-consciousness about his looks.

However, he summons the courage to strip down to his French designer underwear and enter, only to find that BigTool4U is nowhere to be found. But the show’s writers take mercy on our hapless gay hero and reward his willingness to let it all hang out by having him hook up with a cute twenty-something with a thing for fancy French underwear.

Then There Were Two

Anthony Marantino doesn’t appear until the 11^th episode of Season 3, but as Charlotte’s (Kristin Davis) wedding stylist, Mario Cantone makes his debut memorable. Indeed, the character was originally only supposed to appear for a couple of episodes, but thanks to Cantone’s chemistry with Davis, the show’s writers extended that to ten.

Mario Cantone as "Anthony"

Later in Season 4, Charlotte plays matchmaker, setting up a date between Anthony and Stanford by describing Stanford, again, as “a young Ed Harris”. However, just as when Stanford exaggeratedly described himself that way, things don’t go well. Upon seeing Stanford in the flesh, Anthony unceremoniously bolts, thereby creating bad blood between the two that remained throughout the series’ run.

By Season 4’s 14^th episode, Anthony has acquired a boyfriend named Gordon (Chris Payne Gilbert). As is often the case with both Stanford and Anthony, their boyfriends are usually present in one way or another to help out with Carrie and the gals. In this case, Gordon, a photographer, is there to take pictures of Charlotte and Trey’s (Kyle MacLachlan) house, another bone of contention in their already contentious relationship. And, alas, much like Stanford’s relationships, Gordon is never seen again.