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Xena: Warrior Princess was full of gay innuendo and nudge-nudge-wink-wink subtextual suggestions of a lesbian relationship between hero and sidekick. Everyone, from co-executive producer and out lesbian Liz Friedman to Lawless herself, have acknowledged it. When Friedman was onstage at the convention, she said, “I was always there like gum on people's shoe. … ‘No, no one's going to think they're lesbians; shut up, it's fine.' They fell for it.”

Beyond the lesbian subtext, episodes were peppered with gay slang and references — or, in the case of “Here She Comes … Miss Amphipolis,” one long gay in-joke. Hoping to avert a war, Xena goes undercover at the Miss Known World Pageant, at which pretty much everything that can possibly happen backstage at a beauty pageant happens — except that the ultimate winner of the competition is a man. A really gorgeous man, played by the late Karen Dior.

The actresses who portrayed Xena and Gabrielle, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, have always welcomed their gay fan base, and that may be one reason behind the show's status in the gay community. Lawless, who is currently testing the waters of a musical career after a star turn on the cheesy but fun Celebrity Duets, recently released a dance mix CD single with RuPaul and performed two sold-out shows at Los Angeles' Roxy Theater for a mostly gay audience.

Hartinger admires the actors and their relationship with their gay fans, and attributes a lot of their success to that relationship. “Look how great being true to herself has worked out for Lucy — and it is clearly her own nature, her free spiritedness, that we're all sensing,” he said. “She's bigger than ever on Battlestar Galactica and on Celebrity Duets. She is genuine; she's totally sexy and fun. And who she is, is exactly where society is going, especially among young people. She was totally ahead of the curve, being so inclusive and open.”

At the convention, Lawless told the crowd that Xena was voted the second most-loved lesbian icon in the world, and asked, “Would you like to meet number one?” The audience screamed and applauded, and O'Connor joined her co-star on the stage. But they don't owe that status solely to their lesbian fans. After the convention appearance, O'Connor laughed and said, “Yeah, when I was voted … what was it, number one lesbian of the year …”

Lawless broke in, also laughing, “Yeah, yeah, you're lesbian icon number one.”

O'Connor said, “That's it. And when I posted a thank you to ‘the girls,' a lot of guys posted, ‘Wait a minute, we voted for you, too!'”

Henry admits he feels a little bad about Xena's iconic status among gay men, and said with a laugh, “Gay men have our own icons … we iconize everybody. Let's leave the lesbians something. I mean, they have Gina Gershon and they have Lucy Lawless. Let them have it.”

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