If asked to pick their favorite characters on ABC’s hit show Ugly Betty, most gay fans probably first think of Marc (Michael Urie), Amanda (Becki Newton), Alexis Meade (Rebecca Romijn), and, of course, Justin (Mark Indelicato).

But gay fans shouldn't overlook another gay-friendly character on what is the most gay-friendly show on network television – the straight yet very pro-gay Tony Plana. Plana’s name might not immediately register for fans of the show, but the minute you mention Ignacio Suarez, Betty’s father and Justin’s grandfather, those same fans immediately know who you are talking about.

The Suarez family is a Hispanic, working-class family that last season embarked on a journey which saw all of them grow more accepting of Justin’s “artistic” side. (The character has not yet been identified as gay, though many gay men see themselves in the fashion-obsessed, Broadway-loving boy.)

While his mother Hilda (Ana Ortiz) may not quite be sure what to make of her son, she nonetheless is not only protective of him, but encourages him to follow his heart. And before he died, Santos (Kevin Alejandro) learned to appreciate his son’s uniqueness, whatever the differences between them might be. Now that Santos is gone, gay fans can expect to see Ignacio help Justin on his journey to figuring out just who he is.

During an interview in the offices of Betty’s executive producer Silvio Horta, both Plana and Horta discussed Ignacio’s evolution concerning Justin and where his story will take him next.

“I think it’s a huge shift for Ignacio,” said Plana referring to his character’s acceptance of his grandson. “It’s a big change for everybody. His mother too. It is the seismic shift that he takes as a grandparent where at first he’s maybe frowning a little bit on it even in the pilot, however subtle it may be. But little by little, especially when he has to defend Justin against Santos, he has to take a side. He has to say, ‘Where do I stand here? This is my grandson.’ He has to say, ‘Well, you know what? I love this kid unconditionally, forever. As long as he lives, it doesn’t matter what he does or who he is or what he becomes. I am his grandfather. I need to love him unconditionally.’”

That shift in how Justin’s family treated him was no more apparent than in “Derailed”, the episode where Santos stood up for Justin while his “artistic” son performed “Good Morning, Baltimore” for his parents while on a subway in New York.

Even though Ignacio is considerably older than Santos, Plana explains the journey to acceptance wasn’t as long or difficult for the older man. “Ignacio’s a chef by profession. He loves the kitchen, he loves to cook. He’s an artist in his own right. And he has an artistic sensibility, a feminine side, nurturing, mothering type of father. He had to because he’s a widow and I think the shift for Ignacio is not so radical, is not so big, to see a little bit of himself in the kid or the kid in him.”

In upcoming episodes, Ignacio will continue to function as Justin's male role model who helps the soon-to-be-teen deal with his father’s death as well as figuring out who he wants to be.

In last week’s episode, Justin met the shopkeeper whom his father saved during the robbery attempt that took his life. At one point the man told Justin “you must be just like your father,” to which Justin sadly responded he wasn’t like his dad at all.

When Justin was later offered the chance to choose a possession to remember his father by, he overlooked the more kitschy objects that a possibly gay boy might choose, instead opting for his traditionally masculine father’s basketball. This despite the fact Justin’s interests thus far have tended toward Broadway musicals, Martha Stewart and the New York fashion world. The implication being that Justin wanted to be more like his father, more like a “real man,” something Horta confirmed.

“We have an arc beginning where Justin is dealing with the death of his dad in a way that is, he sort of tries to emulate his father, he tries to be this kid that he’s not and Ignacio is one of the first to point out, this kid is not being himself.”