AfterElton.com has covered the ups and downs of gay entertainment and the media for almost three years now, and this year we'd like to recognize the people, projects and trends that have most positively (or negatively) impacted gay visibility in American popular culture. So without further ado, here are our 2006 AfterElton.com Visibility Award winners!

THE AFTERELTON.COM MAN OF THE YEAR:
Thomas Roberts

Having one or two well-known celebrities come out in a year is newsworthy, but this year brought us four gay men who did so. Each came out under slightly different circumstances and with varying degrees of willingness. Coming out is often not an easy thing to do, and doing so in front of the whole world with your livelihood potentially at stake must be especially daunting. But one man in particular came out solely of his own volition, without prodding from blogs or wagging tongues, just because he thought it was the right thing to do. So for all of this we name CNN reporter Thomas Roberts as our Man of the Year.

Television

Best Scripted Network Series Featuring a Regular Gay Character

Brothers & Sisters (ABC) — With acting heavyweights Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths in the large ensemble cast, we were initially concerned that openly gay character Kevin Walker, played by a little-known Welsh actor named Matthew Rhys, would be given short shrift in terms of screen time. It turns out that Kevin is front and center on Brothers & Sisters. After 10 episodes, he has emerged as a complicated, three-dimensional character. Kevin has his problems, just like everyone else on this angst-ridden drama, but they go well beyond the stock coming-out conflicts that so many gay television characters are limited to.

Best Scripted Cable Series Featuring a Regular Gay Character

The Wire (HBO) — This gritty cop series has a large cast of characters, but for over five seasons a true standout has been Omar Little, played by Michael K. Williams. Omar, who makes his home in the Baltimore projects, is a stickup man who earns his living robbing drug dealers. Still, he has a clear moral compass, and never messes with anyone outside the drug trade. He never curses and even attends church with his grandmother on Sundays. He also happens to date men and makes absolutely no apologies for it. Love him or hate him, you have to respect him. (But you might not want to date him — his last three boyfriends got brutally murdered.)

Best “Gay” Episode on a Scripted Series Not Featuring a Regular Gay Character

“Forever Blue,” Cold Case (CBS) — Viewers who tuned in for the Dec. 3, 2006, episode of Cold Case, "Forever Blue," had little inkling of the emotional ride in store for them. After all, passionate same-sex love stories aren't exactly a network staple — and certainly not on police procedurals. “Forever Blue” centered on the 1968 murder of a cop. Through flashbacks, we learn the tragic motive for the murder: The victim was gay and having a Brokeback-type of relationship with his cop partner. The gay subject matter was handled with great sensitivity and grace and, in our opinion, episode writer Tom Pettit deserves an Emmy nod for his efforts.

Honorable Mention: “Gay Witch Hunt,” The Office (NBC)

Worst Scripted Series Featuring a Regular Gay Character

Help Me Help You (ABC) — This sitcom starring the ubiquitous Ted Danson (Becker) offers up recurring character Jonathan (Jim Rash), a married, closeted gay man who is fussy, uptight and prone to wearing pink J. Crew blazers. The distasteful running joke: He's the only character on the show who hasn't yet figured out that he's gay. Despite having been on the air for several months now, the show has hardly explored his character. Fortunately, this sitcom was just put on hiatus, so here's hoping we will be spared a second season.

(Dis)Honorable Mention: Rescue Me (F/X) — It's never a good sign when a character arc is written as an amusing way to make an actor uncomfortable. Rescue Me writer Peter Tolan said that making actor Mike Lombardi uncomfortable was part of the inspiration in making his character, Mike “Probie” Silletti, question whether or not he was gay this past season. Probie's relationship with another man was neither believable nor particularly gay-friendly, what with the abuse, cheating and lying dished out by his boyfriend. To be fair, there were those who saw the matter differently, but we have to disagree.

Worst Gay Episode on a Scripted Series Not Featuring a Regular Gay Character

The (unseen) "I'm Not Your Little Faggot!” episode, Grey's Anatomy (ABC) — OK, “I'm Not Your Little Faggot” is not technically a Grey's Anatomy episode. Instead, it was a backstage blowup involving Grey's actors Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey. We're giving it the nod here, though, because of the discouragingly limited backlash Washington received over the use of the F-word. About the only good thing to come out of the whole mess was when T.R. Knight showed himself to be a class act by coming out publicly. Here's hoping we see more of Knight in the future.

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