AfterElton.com - Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (June 30, 2006) (page 2)

Friday, June 30, 2006 (page 2)
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SPEAKING OF FOOTY PLAYERS
This week we ran our interview with Marcel McCalla, the British actor who plays the gay soccer player on Footballers' Wives. ***SPOILER ALERT***
In the interview Marcel talks about how Noah simply vanishes after this Sunday's episode of the show. Noah doesn't ride off into the sunset with another guy, or quit the team so he can be true to himself. Instead, after having an affair with the bisexual captain of his team, getting outed in a humiliating way, gay-bashed, deciding to become ex-gay, and dating a woman, he just...disappears.

Gosh, thanks Footballers' Wives! I really appreciate your getting me to watch your show with a gay storyline and then just deciding, “Oh, well, never mind. So sorry. Ta ta and all that.”

I also fear I'm spying a trend here. Sarah over at AfterEllen.com has long decried the phenomenon of television's few lesbians all getting pregnant--because that is what most lesbians do after all. In the same vein, I'm starting to see a few too many gay characters coming out, being unhappy, going ex-gay, and then all but disappearing from their shows. In addition to Noah, it happened to The Shield's Julien Lowe (Michael Jace) and to Dennis Leary's lesbian daughter on Rescue Me. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Probie's (another of Rescue Me's lame gay characters) storyline played out the same way.

As with pregnant lesbians, it seems heterosexuals are fascinated with the idea that gays can change. Why else would they spend so much time on this storyline instead of giving us the occasional decent same-sex couple? Oh, that's right. This way they get to show gay guys kissing women instead of other gay guys.

QUEER EYE—FRESHER THAN YOU'D THINK!
I confess I haven't seen an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in quite some time. But after watching My Life on the D-List, I noticed the guys were on next doing a make-over of a fellow queer. They've done this gimmick before, but the twist this time is that Jeff has more in common with his four straight roommates than with the gay guys he'd like to date. To my surprise, QE was still funny, fresh, and relevant. This episode in particular had a nice message about not trying to make yourself into something you're not (a hip, happening Chelsea boy), but accentuating the great things about yourself. The episode also reveled in the idea of bringing Jeff's gay and straight lives together. It was rather sweet.

I also have to give the Queer Eye guys credit for still having fun, being enthusiastic, and for being smart. Like the cast of Friends, Carson, Kyan, Tom, Ted, and Jai have stayed together, none of them going all diva and deciding they alone are the true stars of the show. I've said before I can't believe the show has lasted this long, but after watching last night, I don't think it's anywhere near its last legs. Oops--that might just have been the kiss of death.

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