THIS WEEK'S COLUMN BROUGHT TO YOU BY...YOU!
To come up with material for the BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER, I frequently scour the internet looking for items that I think would be of interest for our readers. But this week I need not venture too far afield as our own readers started several interesting threads over in our forums. In fact, they were so interesting, I wanted to give them wider attention, so here we go!

Homoguy563 started a television forum asking the question "How far has gay visibility come?" It's a great question and something AfterElton.com frequently discusses in our articles and blog (say, every day). Judging from the number of wide-ranging responses, it's a topic in which folks are very interested and have very different opinions. There are so many different aspects to the question that it's impossible to address them all here, but depending on which day you ask me, the glass is either half-full (Greek) or half-empty (Heroes).

There is no arguing that, when looking at the broadcast networks' gay representation, we are down from the late 90's high-water mark when we had a lesbian (Ellen DeGeneres) and a gay character (Will on Will & Grace) as leads. It's 2007 and we currently have no gay leads and that pretty much sucks. But things have picked up from three or four years ago when it seemed gay visibility on broadcast TV was going downhill fast.

And when you look at cable, including the addition next month of the out John Barrowman as the bisexual Captain Jack on BBC America's Torchwood, things are getting better. That being said, too many of the roles are still bitchy assistants, gay reality contestants who are hairdressers, designers or some other cliched occupation, or bisexual serial killers. There is a ton more to be said on the topic, so why not join HomoGuy563 and share your thoughts!

Speaking of gay visibility, we love hearing about out actors playing straight roles so I was pleased when GayTVluver introduced us to one Benjamin Hart from the U.K. Hart was recently seen on Hollyoaks as Foz, but has since migrated Down Under where he now plays Adam Rhodes on Australia's most famous soap opera Neighbours.

According to Benjamin's MySpace page he is 29, best buds with Danni Minogue and has done modeling campaigns for Diet Coke and Jasper Conran. Benjamin also played gay in the upcoming Mr. Right from which I'm happy to provide a YouTube clip. But first some pics of Benjamin!

I guess this what they mean by "chiseled" looks.

I'd wager Benjamin doesn't just shill for Diet Coke, but he must drink it too!