Excerpts from Entertainment Weekly's "Gay Teens on TV" Report

As we mentioned yesterday, the January 28th issue of Entertainment Weekly will include a special report called "Gay Teens on TV."

Here's the hook: "Led by a poignant anti-bullying arc on Glee, gay teens are finally having their stories told all over television. EW takes an in-depth look at how producers and networks are making up for years of on-air silence and providing inspiration for real-life youth (and parents) still searching for answers."

The report compares recent gay TV teens (Glee's Kurt in particular) to the first gay character on a network series: Rickie Vasquez on My So Called Life. Back in 1994, poor Rickie (played by Wilson Cruz) was beaten up, kicked out of his home, and only once uttered the word "gay" (in the last episode of the series).

"If only Rickie could see Glee’s Kurt Hummel now. The breakout character on TV’s most buzzed-about network show has won an Emmy nomination, a Golden Globe, and viewers’ hearts with an at times poignant, but often, well, gleeful depiction of a modern gay teen. It took Kurt only four episodes to say the words 'I’m gay' to his dad, to which his father shrugged and said, 'If that’s who you are, there’s nothing I can do about it. And I love you just as much.'"

In what seems unusual for an Entertainment Weekly article, the piece goes well beyond discussion of gay characters on television and talks at length about the relevance of those characters to their real world counterparts.

"Jason Galisatus, a 17-year-old student ambassador for GLSEN, would be the first to agree with Murphy. 'I think that Kurt will become a historical figure in LGBT history,' says Galisatus. 'My friends talk about the episode where he came out to his dad. We all talk about how amazing that is and how crazy it must be to live in a conservative, Midwestern community and be able to be open about your sexuality. That’s very inspiring to all of us, and we can say, "Well, hey, if Kurt can do it, why can’t we?" Frequently, even if it is just a show, it does give us hope that coming out is not always a horrible thing to do.' And a little hope can often go a long way. The Trevor Project, which runs a toll-free suicide hotline for gay youth or those questioning their sexuality, has been receiving numerous calls from teens who have been moved to pick up the phone after watching relatable TV characters such as Kurt. 'There are conversations that happen with counselors that point to characters on TV,' says Trevor Project executive director Charles Robbins. 'Obviously, Glee is dealing with a very spot-on issue with Kurt’s character. Since September, our call volume has increased, and that coincides with the Glee story lines and all the news media coverage of gay bullying.'

The issue will be on newstands tomorrow. You can find more excerpts at EW.com, as well as a charming video of the cover shoot with Darren Criss and Chris Colfer. (Sorry, the video is not embeddeble, else I would have included it here.)