IMHO "The Tyra Banks Show": The Gay Kingdom

Monday saw two "gay experiments" happen, with the same sad result.

The first was The Tyra Banks Show's conducting a "social experiment" involving the "gay community". The second was my watching The Tyra Banks Show for the first time.

In both cases, the experiment failed and the subject died.

Of course this isn't the first time that Tyra has tackled gay issues. It was shows such as Gay For Pay, The Science Of Gaydar, and I Hate Being Gay that somehow led to Tyra's GLAAD Award for "Excellence in Media". I didn't see any of those episodes, but I have to assume they were GLAAD Award-worthy.

Her latest gay-themed show is unlikely to win any awards, though. Don't get me wrong, I love Tyra. I think she's bubbly, good-hearted, and bat-crap insane. Just what I look for in a gay icon. But "The Gay Kingdom" was cringe-inducing, and as far as "social experiments" go, I think I'd rather participate in that Stanford Experiment.

The experiment involved seven members of the LGBT community coming together as "The Gay Kingdom" to assign roles for each other and basically undermine each others' confidence.

Each person comes to the experiment already carrying a label, so we get the "masculine gay man," "feminine gay man," "bisexual man," "drag queen," "transgendered woman," "butch lesbian," and "lipstick lesbian".

What happens next is straight out of "Psychology 101", as the group has to assign the roles of king, queen, pauper, jester, cook, villain, and concubine. Needless to say, it does not go well as they battle over the choices, and the one fascinating aspect of the episode is how willing the group is to cling to the predictable societal roles.

Michael (the masculine gay man) is named king, while Kayden (the lipstick lesbian) is queen. This doesn't sit well with Hedda Lettuce, who not only isn't awarded queen, but has to endure being awarded jester.

The rest of the roles are assigned, with the other Michael (the feminine gay man) as cook, Sam (the butch lesbian) as villian, Sasha (the transgendered woman) as concubine, and Jasen (the bisexual man) as pauper.

It's Jasen who takes the brunt of the criticism in this experiment, with accusations that he's "confused" and that it's bisexuals who make it hard for gays to be accepted in society. And it'll only get worse for Jasen in the next part of the experiment.

After a tiresome segment about setting down "laws" for the kingdom, the last task is to vote on which member of the group should be banished from the kingdom. Unfortunately for Jasen, because he's bisexual he's considered an "outsider" in this gay kingdom, and unanimously voted off.

Okay, some of this was interesting, but most of it was pointless. What was Tyra trying to show? That in the "gay community" there's dissent and difference of opinion? No kidding! That these seven people are representative of the millions of gays in the world? Please!

By the end of the show all of the bickering and back-biting was giving me a headache, and reminded me again why I rarely watch daytime talk shows ... unless I'm assured of hearing "you are not the father!"

Did you see Tyra's "social experiment", and if so, what did you think?