2007: BEST GAY YEAR EVER!

JUNE: THE GAY ACTOR UPSET THE BISEXUAL ACTOR — IN SO MANY WAYS
In the biggest upset since the New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Superbowl III (or to put it in more gay terms for those not into sports, since Chloe Dao upset Daniel Vosovic in Season 2 of Project Runway), out gay David Hyde Pierce upset out bisexual actor Raul Esparza for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his work in Curtains. Esparza was widely considered a shoe-in for his performance in Stephen Sondheim's Company.

After the show. Esparza was reportedly seen staggering drunkenly around Times Square bellowing out "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables.

Perhaps Tony voters were swayed to vote for David by our shocking revelation last month that Hyde Pierce is gay. Speaking of which, after we broke that news, reports of heartbroken female fans jumping from bridges, or at least very high curbs, skyrocketed from none to, well, okay, none were reported, but we're sure some clueless lass out there dreamed that one day David would meet her and promptly be driven to whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

The abomination that is The Real World: Denver went off the air. This is almost as good as news as confirmation that David Hyde Pierce is gay. And singer Enrique Iglesias serenaded a gay man during a concert in London. Okay, this is better news than Pierce being gay. Much better.

Speaking of Broadway, this month James Carpinello broke his leg while rehearsing his role as Sonny in Xanadu. This prompted out actor, hunk, and all around good guy Cheyenne Jackson to strap on his skates and save the show.

In a daring programming move, Bravo shattered their image of only creating programming that features a certain kind of gay man — you know, fashion designers, hair stylists, super fit gym trainers — by announcing YouTube sensation William "Hey Bitches" Sledd would get his own show on OutZoneTV.com. (Later in the year Bravo would announce Sledd was getting a show on Bravo itself.) Thankfully, thanks to this groundbreaking news, the myth of gay men as nothing other than doctors, athletes, and A-List action movie stars playing superheros will forever be put to rest.

Speaking of superheros, the Sci Fi Channel announced the cast for Season 2 of Who Wants to be a Superhero? which included the out Dan Williams and his alter-ego Parthenon. Dan ultimately finished in fourth, but did us 'mos proud.

IMHO — The Year in TV

30 Rock was one of the sitcoms nicely displaying post-gay panic tendencies with Will Arnett as a gay foil to Alec Baldwin. Even better was the "Gay for Jamie" episode which had a straight guy smitten with the hottie who delivered coffee. Oh, like that's never happened to you!

 

Call it South Park on acid or just plain offensive, but when it comes to gay visibility Comedy Central's Drawn Together had bucketfuls of it. And right now it's the only way were getting to see, or at least hear, the under-used Jack Plotnick.

 

The Graham Norton Show brings to late night talk shows something us Yanks can only dream of — a smart, witty, out gay man with a hit show. Even better — he proves you can do it without being bitchy and relentlessly smutty.