How far has gay visibility come?

 Remember the "summer of gay" back in 2003?I do.It seemed like we were finally coming into our own with shows like Queer eye for the straight guy and Boy meets boy didn't it?That prompted some people to come up with this notion that we were being over represented.John Stossel even did one of his "Give me a break" segments on it on ABC's 20/20 in which Bill O'Reilly can be quoted as saying "there's just too much gay stuff on TV".The creators of Will & Grace, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, were also in that same segment, criticizing the rise in gay visibility, saying things like "If we keep churning out all of this gay programming it's going to come back and bite us in the ass" and "It's going to feel like the gays are taking over".

 

Max and David really irritate me.They irritated me with the years they managed to drag people along through Will & Grace without giving Will a real love life and their baby steps approach to gay acceptance.As dumb as I think they sounded in that segment, not to mention other interviews, they were right.There seemed to be somewhat of a backlash to what was perceived as, for lack of a better phrase, a gay uprising because that was also the year we got the supreme court rulings on sodomy and gay marriage which was also shown in that segment.As stupid as I think people who were made uncomfortable by all of that were with their "let's keep them in their place" attitude about gay people that's not really what this forum topic is about.

As I said, people suddenly felt like we were being over represented as if there should some kind of limit.No, we were represented.Although Queer eye for the straight guy was a culteral phenomenon, it was still just one show, and ultimately proved to be just a fad as that whole metrosexual thing lasted for about 5 minutes and then the ratings dipped.I loved Boy meets boy(I have it on DVD), andra's meltdown notwithstanding, but there was never a follow up to that show anywhere.Those and just a few other things was supposedly us taking over America.It seemed to go South from there with shows like Love monkey, Emily's reasons why not, and The book of daniel that had gay characters getting canceled.

Now that our visibility has started to increase again people aren't saying we're "over represented" so much as they're saying we're "everywhere".In my August issue of Out magazine there was an article titled "Are you being served?Has turning on mainstream TV become part of tuning into our identity?", and basically said something to the effect of "you can find us just about anywhere because we're all over the place", but ofcourse most of it was about Bravo and it's shows about so-called "queer professions".Speaking of which, this morning I went to Bravotv.com and watched a couple of videos with the cast of Flipping out at this years Outfest in which Ryan says someting to the effect of "I don't think we really need this gay genre of film because you're seeing more and more gay stuff in the mainstream".I can't argue that visibility hasn't gotton better than it used to be, especially from a historical perspective, but "everywhere?"Really?

If there's so many gay people and storylines all over TV then how come I still feel unsatisfied?Here's my take on it.Yes, there's more, but in a lot of ways we're still shockingly in the same place.Bravo, the "gay without being gay" network that is so often cited as a big chunk of this so-called gay explosion, is made up of only reality shows.If i'm going to watch a reality show it's not going to be yet another show about hair, fashion, or decorating.The Queer eye guys weren't even the stars of their show.They were catering to the straight guy.How much of this explosion in gay visibilty is made up of gay assistants, secondary, or background characters you almost never see, or characters that are gay in name only, ect.?It's not just quantity.It's also Quality.

 Ryan saying we don't need a separate gay film genre is interesting because I can't seem to talk about gay media without at some point, however indirectly, grazing the topic of integration vs. separatism.That was also touched on in that Out magazine article.Assimilation, or separation?Increasing our visibility in the world, or creating a world of our own?How do we want to see ourselves?How do we want to be seen by others?How important is a character's sexuality anyway?

I'm going to sound like a broken record because of all the times i've commented on this site about how much I love Here!, and think it's the best, but I do because it atleast tries to combine mainstream type shows with the gay aspect.I like mainstream shows because they cover the spectrum of genres like action, sci fi, ect., but a lot of their gay characters are still too often pegged into certain types of roles when they're even there at all(Heroes anyone?).LOGO creates shows for and about gay people, and although I love shows like Noah's arc and Rick & Steve:The happiest gay couple in all the world, it still doesn't cover the range of genres I like such noir, teens, ect.(Veronics Mars, or anyting on the CW anyone?)Here! atleast attempts to give us gay action heroes, detectives, ect.(Excuse me, action heroes and detctives who happen to be gay.)That brings me to my next point.

I'm not saying their sexuality has to be the most important thing about them.In fact I think Here! does a good job of making it relavent without making it into an issue.whenever I hear people talk about mainstream gay characters it's always with this assumption that their only purpose is to help straight people feel more cormfortable with gays often at the expense of that character's love life, or being anything other than a stereotype.I want to be entertained just like anyone else, so that's not good enough for me.So, while it's important to push for more mainstream representation I feel my needs best being met by that niche market.I think there will always be a need and want for it because let's face it we're not in any danger of mainstream TV and movie studios rolling out things like the Donald Stratchy mysteries, or Hellbent anytime soon.

So, how about you?Do you think we're "everywhere"?Some seem to think so.Do you think we'll get another gay dating show to go along with the glut of straight ones like a gay edition of The Bachelor?You think America will get as invested in Brothers & sisters' Kevin's relationship(should he ever get one) as they did Meredith and Mcdreamy's on Grey's anatomy?That, to me, would be real television equality, seeing Mathew Rhys and Luke Mcfarlane on the cover of TVguide as America's new sweetheart couple.Assimilation, or all gay?What camp are you in?Do you only watch the gay episodes of MTV's Exposed, or Next?Do you think the niche market is better than the mainstream?