ERIC GOT BEAT BY A COUPLE OF QUEENS? BWA-HA-HA!
Thanks to the big site switchover on Monday (don't tell me you didn't notice I got a new hairdo, either!), I only got to watch Sunday night's episode of The Amazing Race last night. How. I. Suffer! The AfterElton.com crack team of Flying Monkeys are big fans of the show and were highly annoyed they had to wait so long to watch it. (Tough bananas, boys!)

But before I get to Amazing Race, I wanted to talk about the new site for a moment. The feedback so far has been terrific, with folks really liking all the new features. I'm looking forward to the chat feature (coming soon) and especially seeing the forums become more active as we discuss our favorite shows, movies, television shows and characters.

I frequently get frustrated on Television Without Pity trying to talk about gay story lines and characters, as most folks there are straight. Usually they're less interested in chewing over what happened gay-wise on the previous episode of programs that I watch. So I hope everyone jumps in and starts sharing, expressing, emoting and so forth.

Speaking of emoting, who watched Sunday's The Amazing Race? (If you're not watching, you should be!) Straight boy Eric is our on odds-on favorite to win the Isaiah Washington/Tim Hardaway/Garrison Keillor "Can you believe what a jackass I am?" award.

It wasn't when he referred to life partners Joe and Bill as "freaks" that chapped my knickers (frankly, they get under my skin, too, what with their matching outfits emblazoned with Team Guido, as well as some of their other antics). It was when he and Danielle came in behind Joe and Bill after losing a footrace to the finish line, and Eric got ticked they were "beat by a bunch of queens."

So not only did Eric lose to a couple of "queens," but he's the type of man who calls gay men derogatory names. (And he can't count, either. Since when are two a "bunch"? Moron .) The good news? Fan reaction has been pretty negative, and Eric and Danielle have become the team that viewers want to see sent packing.

Oh, and guess who have become fan favorites? The Cha-cha-chas. For those of you who don't speak Amazing Race-ese, that's gay best friends Danny and Oswald. These guys continue to be fantastic visibility for us 'mos as they are funny, smart, warm and just darn adorable together. It's great to see two men expressing affection for each other that isn't necessarily romantic.

And the Flying Monkeys are positively enraptured every time the two of them are on-screen. Even when things get difficult (and on this show they always do), the boys don't get nearly as nasty with each other as the other teams do (especially the married or coupled ones). The highlight of this episode had to be when a very grubby Danny and Oswald proceeded to chase Phil (he's the host) around the finish line. It was adorable.

If you're already a fan of the show, then start telling us why, who you like and who you don't over in the Amazing Race forum and vote for who you want to see win.

HERE! WON'T GO THERE WITH GLAAD
Stephen Macias of here! Networks came out swinging for GLAAD this week over the advocacy group's stance to not include programming produced by specifically gay and lesbian networks (that would be here! and Logo, who owns this site) for consideration in their annual awards. Macias makes some good points, including the fact that GLAAD's statement that they focus on "mainstream networks" seems to imply that gays and lesbians are not mainstream.

He also makes the very valid point that by focusing on "mainstream" media only, GLAAD is overlooking programs that aren't getting recognition anywhere else. Case in point is Logo's Noah Arc, the only black, gay show on television, which no doubt never stood a chance of getting nominated for the NAACP's Image Awards. (here! also points out that those same Image Awards don't exclude BET from their nominating process.)

My take is that since the GLAAD Media Awards were created in a time long before here! and Logo (which raised the same issue last year) were even on the drawing board, the powers that be at GLAAD are having trouble recognizing the need to change. What GLAAD does by recognizing those contributions of "mainstream" networks has been and continues to be incredibly important in advancing gay visibility. But things have changed, and GLAAD needs to move along with the times and to find a way to recognize that. We all know what happens to dinosaurs that can't change!