To say Queer Eye for the Straight Guy made a splash when it first premiered on Bravo in July of 2003 would be an understatement. For the first time in history, openly gay men appeared on national television and their being queer was part of the draw.

The trailblazing show opened the door for other gay friendly series to follow on Bravo including Project Runway, Work Out, and Top Chef, though it eventually took the back seat to those very same shows.

However, thanks to some fresh ideas (making over professional baseball teams and Kevin Bacon's brother, for instance) Queer Eye still pulls in viewers every week. And on Tuesday night's all-new episode, the Fab Five do something completely different: they make-over Miles, a transgendered man.

AfterElton recently spoke to culture vulture Jai Rodriguez about this unusual episode, as well as how the show continues to break new ground, what really goes on behind the scenes, and whether the guys will be back for another season.

AfterElton: In doing Miles' makeover, what special issues did you have to take into consideration?
Jai Rodriguez: When they told us about Miles, we were so excited. Our show is about starting over. And that's what Miles is doing. He's got a whole new life. He's in his mid 20's and he's become a new person.

If you look at pictures of him when he was a little kid, he looked like a drag queen. Like a boy in a wig. And he felt it. Like a stranger in his own body. So, he changed himself. And that's admirable.

AE: What did Miles want help with in particular? Did he want to be more masculine or was it something else?
JR: We thought he'd be really feminine. But he was the butchest one of all of us. There was no teaching him to walk like a man or shake hands like man. He knew better than all of us. And he was totally comfortable with his masculinity which surprised us.

He was not afraid to wear designer outfits. He wanted that New York aesthetic. He said he felt so comfortable as a man. And he felt more comfortable around men as a whole. He gets more respect as a man. He told me this story about how he was on a subway, and a guy was checking out his sister. All he had to do was look over and the guy quit it.

AE: What do you hope the public will learn from this episode?
JR: Acceptance and tolerance. Beyond that, it's interesting to see how we are all uniquely different. Some people, when they heard what we were doing, were like “Eww…” Even gay people.

There's such a taboo over transgendered people. I don't even think twice about it. I hope people get humanity out of this episode. And acceptance.

AE: How did you relate to Miles? As a man? Or some other way?
JR: You know, Miles's family are Born Again Christian. So are mine. So we related to each other a bunch. We knew a lot of the same church songs. We had a lot in common.

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