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Since 1997's double Bingo year, however, Esquire's gay content has been scarce. A quick survey of articles in the magazine's online database archiving past issues, using the keyword "gay," reveals little in terms of gay or lesbian content. Most links lead to joke-y references or sarcastic references to other news items. One piece the search engine identifies is a profile of actress Mia Kirshner, which makes a passing reference to her playing a role on the Showtime series The L Word.

A second article reveals that a Navajo memoirist named Nasdijj, who got his start penning books about his tragic life with a piece published in Esquire's own pages, is, like his heartbreaking life story, pure fiction. He is the creation of a married straight man named Tim Barrus who makes his livelihood writing gay erotica (a point driven home as though to underscore the Barrus' sinister nature, even though "Nasdijj" is not depicted as gay himself.)

George Clooney did pen one opinion piece in which he briefly discusses the inevitability of same-sex marriage. This is two paragraphs more than Esquire devotes to the topic elsewhere, but hardly qualifies as in depth coverage. Even when the openly gay columnist Andrew Sullivan appears in the magazine, it is to tout his support for the election of the arguably anti-gay George Bush. (Sullivan has since changed his mind about Bush.)

Finally, there's a link to the Esquire cover gallery, a complete catalogue from the magazine's 1933 inception onwards. Writer Gay Talese, it turns out, was once the subject of an Esquire magazine cover; so much for the sudden hope that the publication had perhaps been covering some election year example of gay Americans being used as a political football, or taking a stand on the foul verbiage of anti-gay activist Anita Bryant back in the 1970s.

Trying the keyword "homosexual" yielded only the message, "Error: homosexual was not found." Not in these pages, it wasn't. Plugging in the keyword "queer" yielded the hopeful suggestion that one might try the alternative search term "queen," which led to an article on (female) Hollywood unknown Kelly Hu.

Diving into the magazine's online archives and trawling back to June of 2005 yielded the usual men's magazine fare: sex, sports, rock and roll. The actor Val Kilmer ("Is he the most advanced actor of our time?") is there along with politics lite ("What Would Jesus Really Do?"). Then there is more sex (the sexiest women alive), "intelligent design", drinking games, still more sex, and food ("The best bar snack ever," "The worst Gatorade ever").

Naught was to be found about the nice married boys down the street trying to get health coverage for the stay-at-home dad from the breadwinner's corporate group plan. Nor was there a word about grooms and grooms tying the knot, or same-sex soul-mates with the bad fortune to be born in different countries facing off with the three-headed Cerberus of Immigration. There was one promising link to an interview with gay filmmaker Gus Van Sant--but it wasn't active.

Calls to Esquire's editor-in-chief David Granger were not returned.

To find a gay story in Esquire, you need to read between the lines; there's a wink, maybe even a nod, to the queer reader, but it's all wrapped up in a bright blue ribbon that signifies this publication as belonging solidly to the "real boys."

The state of the Gay American Male as far as Esquire is concerned? More or less invisible.

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