What’s Next for "Ugly Betty" (Gay-wise)? And Would There be a "Glee" Without "Betty"?

Warning: The following article contains general plot spoilers about the upcoming season of Ugly Betty.

Last week, Ugly Betty aired “Backseat Betty,” a touching episode involving Betty’s 15-year-old nephew, Justin. Over the course of the episode, we saw the friendship that is developing between Justin and Marc, an out gay man. But at the end of the episode, Justin announced, to everyone’s surprise, “I’m not gay” – although it was written in a very open-ended way.

We were curious about the future of Justin, Marc, and Ugly Betty in general, so we asked Silvio Horta, the out gay man who is the creator and executive producer for the series, and executive producers Jon Kinnally, who is also an out gay man, and Tracy Poust, who wrote last week’s episode.

What exactly did it mean when Justin claimed he wasn’t gay after being named homecoming queen by his classmates?

“We didn't want to wrap it up in a neat bow,” Kinnally says. “Quite frankly, we've seen coming out stories that in my opinion, are always effective, but we thought there is another way to go, there's a deeper way to tell this journey in which it's not so clean and not so wrapped up in a bow and a little bit messy.”

So is Justin gay or not? The producers won’t say directly, but actor Michael Urie, who plays Marc, suggested in a recent interview with NPR that Justin will ultimately be revealed as gay.

“Every time there's been some kind of gay issue, there's so much argument, in such a good way, in the [writers'] room,” Poust says. “For us, [coming out] is a process rather than today, ‘Hey, I'm gay!’ Instead, it's a process of denial, it's a process of trying to fit in. Isn't it more interesting to explore?”

In our review of last week’s episode, we commented on Marc’s reaction to Justin saying he isn’t gay – and Marc’s firm response, “Then he isn’t!” Urie’s expression in the scene says many things: "Just let the kid be," "He needs to go through this," and "I've so been there."

That expression “was everything and more than we'd hoped,” Poust admits.

“Michael Urie played it exactly right,” Kinnally says. “Sometimes writers see things in their heads one way, and the actor has to say it and act it and it comes out differently, but that was exactly how we pictured it. He delivered it, and better.”

Next Page! Lots of skin, lots of sex! Plus, a new boyfriend for Marc!