We’ve seen the Cheers episode where Sam learned that his college buddy is no different just because he’s gay. We went to the AIDS movie where middle America learned that people with AIDS can be as nice as Tom Hanks. And we’ve now read hundreds of books written about how hard it is to come out in high school, or deal with the affections of your best straight female friend, or be a hot, rich, 22 year-old gay guy living in New York and having lots of sex (and we’re not quite sure how that last storyline makes any sense either).

We say it’s time for the next wave of gay entertainment, which we hope will be books and television shows and movies that are about something other than Being Gay.

Let’s face it. The Gay Story has now been told—plenty of times, a few times even well. We’re not saying there won’t always be room for another coming out story. We are saying that from this point out, that story will have to be pretty spectacular to get our interest—and hopefully, will be about someone other than some white, witty, starry-eyed misfit lost in the American suburbs.

So what do we want to see instead? Gay genre!

That’s right, we want gay mysteries and fantasies and science fiction and horror and action-adventure and thrillers—the kinds of books and movies and TV that we usually watch when we’re not being gay consumers.

In short, why can’t Indiana Jones have all his same adventures, but also be gay? Why can’t the next Desperado be slightly less of a straight-shooter? Why can’t E.T. phone a homo? (Sorry, it’s late.)

Of course a few of these projects already exist.

On television, both Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess managed to incorporate some seriously gay characters into the fantasy/action-adventure genre.

And word on the street is that the here! TV, one of three new gay cable channels, will offer a wide range of genre offerings, including thrillers and mysteries.

In the world of books, the gay genre choices are already considerable. We recently enjoyed Dreamer, by Steven Harper, the first in the “Silent Empire” series of four science fiction novels. Unlike a lot of science fiction and fantasy that has an incidental gay character or two, the main characters here are gay, and their love is integral to the storyline. In any event, it’s a fantastic read.

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