Interview With Kevin Rankin: "Trauma" Character Just Happens to be a Gay EMT

Talk about traumatic!

NBC recently announced that they are canceling Trauma, their new show about paramedics set in San Francisco (although they have said they will air the remaining few episodes).

This is a shame for gay viewers, because the show's cast includes Tyler, a major gay character who is actually complicated and gets actual screentime. In the October 26th Halloween episode “Masquerade,” Tyler, played by Kevin Rankin, revealed a mask of a different kind when he came out to his riding partner, Boone, an African American man who is clearly uncomfortable with gays.

In other words, the show is "going there" on the complicated emotions and politics of homophobia in the African American community.

Recently, we talked to Kevin, who might also be familiar to viewers from his reoccurring role as a paralyzed athelete on Friday Night Lights. The interview took place before NBC had made a final decision regarding Trauma's fate.

AfterElton.com: Your character, Tyler, has been riding with Boone for 3 years, why did it take so long for it to come up that Tyler is gay?
Kevin Rankin: Tyler was bouncing around from city to city, and I think the subject was approached in other cities he worked in. I think Tyler might have come up against some opposition with some of the partners he was riding with, so I think it was a personal decision for Tyler to keep his personal business to himself, and he was able to do it for three years. He kept his professional life professional. He was scarred from these other experiences, and in the ["Masquarade"] episode, it all came to a head.

It's sort of like how my father is deaf in real life, and I've been around people who were joking about deaf people. And it's the same thing. It just came to a point of finally saying, "Hey Boone, my dad's deaf. Don't keep on talking about deaf people."

In that episode, it kind of shows the stereotypically religious African American, that they have certain views of the gay community. He was just talking about the gay community throughout the episode, and by the end, it was just one of those things where, "Hey, I wasn't going to tell you, but I don't want you to keep saying all these things and you not know your partner, the guy closest to you, standing right here is gay too."

It's not really a coming out to Boone to come out, it's to say, "Hey, it's not always what you think. Don't judge a book by its cover." It's sort of teaching Boone a lesson as well.

AE: It's interesting that you mentioned the African-American religious attitude for some people. So you guys were aware of that aspect of their relationship and that was something you were purposefully addressing there?
KR: Yeah. For me, playing a gay character, I wanted to approach it. It's something they usually ignore, especially on network television. They usually put the gay character into a box. There are a lot of people in this country that don't know any gay people, or they think all gay people are flamboyant and out there, not realizing that gay people are just like everybody else. They're individuals.

On that same note, we're dealing with a stereotypical African-American religious household, and that was sort of the whole purpose, to explore that relationship. You have someone like Boone, a very religious person, who spent three years with someone and then to find out. It's sort of like what we're doing with the audience. Let them get to know Tyler, then spring it on them that he's a gay man. I think the reactions that people have, their own personal reaction, will say so much about themselves.

Next Page! Tyler's boyfriend!