Black Entertainment Television announces new line-up. Will gay content be included?

Black Entertainment Television (BET) recently announced a very ambitious line-up of upcoming television programming. In fact, it's the network's most extensive line-up in its 26 year history. Will it be gay friendly? That's another matter that only time will tell.

It's probably not a good sign that the first openly gay face on the network was just last year when Ray appeared on the reality show College Hill. African-American and gay rights activist Keith Boykin is also on a talk show on the network's recently re-launched BET J network (which seems to change its focus with the frequency of a chameleon changing its color). In the past, Boykin has had critical things to say about BET and the way it represents the African-American community. Jasmyne Cannick, another African-American gay rights activist, has also taken the network to task, especially for the sexist and homophobic videos that receive frequent airplay on the channel.

BET's new line-up includes reality shows, primetime animated series, and their first ever scripted sitcom. It's encouraging that some of the names behind the new programs include Orlando Jones who just played gay on Men in Trees, as well as Vin Diesel and Will Smith. There is a spin-off of College Hill called College Hill Interns and another reality series titled Baldwin Hills charting the lives of upper-middle-class black teens in suburban L.A. Somebodies, a sitcom that will debut in the fall, is based on the movie of the same name that follows a group of University of Georgia graduates as they try to figure out what to do with their lives.

Any one of these shows holds potential to bring some positive gay representation to an African-American community that too often sees none, or worse, gets hate-filled music, stereotypes of guys on the down low, or stand-up comics using gays as punchlines. BET's entertainment president Reginald Hudlin bragged that BET's new line-up would show "the diverse array of programming about black culture..." Let's just how that diversity include some GLBT faces.

Here is a clip of Ray from College Hill talking his experience on the show, as well as his work with HIV/AIDS prevention program Rap-it-Up.