Queer television recap: Rebecca Romijn, Rebecca Romijn and Tim Gunn

Rebecca Romijn certainly had a busy day yesterday, stopping to speak with Regis and Kelly in the morning and later appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In her conversation with Kelly Ripa, Romijn had a short exchange that certainly got me thinking:

KR: Do you know any post-operative transsexuals?

RR: I actually have a couple friends who are and its.... you know, it's a little bit of a sensitive subject so we don't talk about it openly, but my research comes from my personal experience with them, so the choices I make for the character... I'd never want to offend my pals.

That, unfortunately, made me think of Romijn's recent defense of Jimmy Kimmel, who made trans-phobic jokes when she appeared on his show. In an Advocate interview, Romijn dismissed the controversy as political correctness but hearing her talk about her transgendered friends made me wonder if she considered that one of her pals could have easily been the target of Kimmel's mocking.

I don't want to get too harsh on Romijn, though, because she has done quite a bit to get people to think about transgender issues. While the majority of her talk with Conan focused on fiance Jerry O'Connell, they talked a bit about how important it was that her Ugly Betty character stick around for a while. If Alexis and her gender reassignment were part of a guest-star's story arc, it wouldn't have offered much more than scandal and surprise, but by keeping the character around we were able to see Alexis as a person who has more to offer than a plot twist.

Meanwhile, if you caught Tim Gunn's appearance on the Rachel Ray show yesterday, you saw some fun television. Gunn came in to surprise a trio of 12-13 year old fashion designers, who were challenged to create a special outfit for their last day of school. The segment reminded me of Project Runway's better days, when the show focused on how an artist takes on a creative challenge instead of highlighting personal tensions.

After that competition, Gunn presented some of the outrageous outfits from the Wish-Bone Summer Salad Fashion Show, where bottles of Wish-Bone dressing and fresh produce were incorporated into the clothes. Throughout the segment, Gunn comes off as refined and classy, which is amazing considering that he was shilling salad dressing at the time... how does he do it?

Here's a picture of designer Chris March and his fiber-rich creation: