Tonight on FOX, ratings sensation American Idol presents twelve of the twenty-four finalists who made it past the audition stage and into the actual competition. Unfortunately, this season's auditions haven't gone as smoothly as a Luther Vandross ballad. Several times the show found itself accused of being insensitive toward gays, if
not outright homophobic.

So, is American Idol anti-gay or not?

According to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the answer is no. Despite the organization's concerns, ultimately they don't believe the show is homophobic. Openly gay first-season finalist Jim Verraros agrees with GLAAD's stance. “I really don't think that they're trying to single out gay and transgendered people,” he says.  

Drag queen Amnesia Sparkles—another contestant from the first season—is unsure whether AI is anti-gay, but she does bring up an interesting point: that the pre-auditioning process is sometimes used against contestants on purpose.  

Candidates are auditioned (although not in front of the three judges) before they appear on TV. Another talent show might use this pre-auditioning process as a way to weed out the bad contestants. AI uses it as a way to insure there'll be an “entertaining” mix of great singers and lousy ones.  

And AI may be using it in another way as well: to set up bad male singers who are effeminate. But unless a disgruntled staffer writes a tell-all, we'll never really know.  

This season's “gay” controversy erupted primarily over the Charles Berry and Zachary Travis auditions. Just in case you haven't seen them, here's a brief recap:

“You know what my advice to you would be?” Simon Cowell said to Berry on the January 17th show. “Honestly? Shave off the beard and wear a dress.” When asked by Randy Jackson why he made that comment, Cowell responded, “Because he would be a great female impersonator.”

In the next episode, Jackson asked Zachary Travis if he was a girl—even though Travis had already made it clear he was a boy by saying “people confuse me for a girl a lot of [the time].” Cowell added more salt to that wound by calling Travis' performance of Whitney Houston's “Queen of the Night” “confused.”

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