Gay men:
We’re not all white, not all flamboyant, not all catty, not all fashionable and not all “fabulous”. But watching mainstream television, you’d be hard-pressed to know otherwise; the stereotypes of gay men, rather than the depth and breadth of our culture, are often what’s depicted on TV.
Before the 1970s, gayness on television was unheard of; in a very real way, we’ve made a boat-load of progress. When I was growing up in the 90s, I seldom saw people like me on TV. In fact, I was 12 years old before I knew that other guys were also attracted to men – until then, I thought I was all alone in the world. Stereotypical or not, there’s something to be said for how far we’ve come.
Kurt, from Fox’s Glee, is certainly the most watched gay character in recent memory. But just like the boys of Will & Grace and Sex & The City, he’s white, flamboyant, catty, fashionable and fabulous. I’d love to see a greater balance and some of the more common stereotypes challenged on TV.
In short, I want to see a gay character that doesn’t fit a certain predictable mold on a mainstream show during prime time. Is that too much to ask?
The gay community isn’t one dimensional, and we homos are as diverse as the world in which we live. I’d love to see a broader, more inclusive spectrum of our gayness beamed into the TV sets of people across this country and around the world. Yes, our progress is truly astounding – but I think there are many barriers yet to be broken.
Have you seen any non-stereotypical gay characters on TV? If so, let us know in the comments below!
September 8, 2010 at 7:53 pm
The son of Bree in Desperate Housewives is I think a kind of a good image for gays.
September 8, 2010 at 8:04 pm
It seems that in the last few years, TV especially, has been leaning toward the old stereotype. I think it is what most straight people are comfortable with, so the producers/writers just go with it. Very sad. We have had to live with that stereotype for generations, and I kinda hoped it would not be the only kind of gay left on TV. Rather like being black and watching a minstrel show. We don’t all act like Carson Kressley and Perez Hilton.
September 8, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I should be on TV. I don’t seem like your typical gay guy. My friend said she thought I was completely straight until I had to tell her I was gay. It’s ridiculous how much TV gives us a bad name. I understand why people stay in the closet sometimes. I wouldn’t want to be labeled with such a stereotype either.
September 8, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Yes! as a teen i watch Degrssi a lot. And there is a gay Character Named Ryley. He is an out football player who has come to terms with him self. He is the quarterback and the captain of the team! He really breaks the mold and is not what most people think of when they hear the word gay. It is a great breath of fresh air and he is some one a lot of teen(lgbt and straight)can look up to!
March 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm
i love deggrasi and love to see that riley is portrade as a tuff guy, i love that you would relize that he was not portrade as a catty, femaleish guy.
September 8, 2010 at 9:54 pm
There was a gay character of Middle Eastern descent on the first season of Nurse Jackie that I liked, but I read somewhere the actor was a bit of a diva and got the axe.
September 9, 2010 at 12:27 am
I’m not sure you’re getting the point.
We are happy for there to be representations of gay men (and women, although I’ve rarely encountered a lesbian stereotype on television).
We just don’t think that all the unaware people watching these representations realise that it is the gay character’s choice to be flamboyant, as you say, and not an automatic personality trait.
These stereotypical characters cause a lot of people to believe that they are a true representation of every gay man.
Unlike us, who are highly aware of the diversity in the gay community, some people might rely on television shows like Glee to gain insight into the lives of the characters presented.
September 9, 2010 at 12:33 am
I think the main reason Kurt is so flamboyant is to make the other characters look less gay.
With all the singing and dancing, they need his steretypical traits to make the straight characters seem straighter.
September 9, 2010 at 12:57 am
My all time favorite gay characters are Kevin and Scotty on Brothers and Sisters. They’re more true to life than any of the others portrayed in other shows.
September 9, 2010 at 3:13 am
The British girl on White Collar is gay (the main character, HAWT, is gay IRL but not gay on the show). But she is and it’s basically a non-issue, just a fact.
September 9, 2010 at 5:34 am
Alice, all the candlestick patterns are applicable in trading as long as they appear on the charts. I would tend to look for bullish and bearish marubozu for trend continuation. Spinning tops come into play when the market is in consolidation or when market is directionless, so I’ll prepare for a trade setup when the market goes for a big push.
September 9, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Check out Sam Adama on Caprica. Finest (and only) example of a gay mob enforcer i’ve ever come across.
Also, the show don’t suck.
September 9, 2010 at 2:22 pm
One sterotypical, rather the only one I have ever seen on tv, for lesbians was on will and grace when we met jacks son, elliots mother (played by the fabulous Rosie) and when he asked her to prove she was a lesbian she replied “home depot”
September 9, 2010 at 2:26 pm
also the movie Valentine’s Day had Eric Dane playing a star football player who came out as gay, as well as Bradley Cooper character. Neither of them portrayed a sterotype in my eyes.
September 9, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Did anyone mention Lt. Felix Gaeta, or Admiral Helena Cain in Battlestar Galactica. The downside is that we didn’t hear much about it during the main part of the show. But there is also a character on Caprica I believe.
September 9, 2010 at 11:02 pm
If you want gay characters that aren’t stereotypical try Queer as Folk. It may be old, but it had a much broader range than any show I’ve seen in a long time.
September 10, 2010 at 11:44 am
Maxxie from the British TV show skins wasn’t stereotypical at all. But he WAS hot and british ;D
September 10, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Try Marshall from United States of Tara. He is white, but doesn’t show any signs of over the top flamboyancy. Also he’s the chillest, nicest person on the show.
September 11, 2010 at 3:59 am
You can see kevin from Brothers and Sisters… He’s gay and he’s not an sterioptycal gay… and his story is so well explored aswell his life with his family and boyfriends…
September 11, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I just finished working on a film called Judas Kiss (judaskissmovie.com) with out stars Charlie David (Dante’s Cove), Brent Corrigan, Belgium singer/actor Timo Descamps and newcomer Richard Harmon (Caprica), who is straight, but plays gay here. The film, about one man’s redemption from his past, has gay elements, but is not a gay film per se and will not fall into the stereotypes that TV and gay films have in the past. That was the intention of its director J.T. Tepnapa and co-writer, Carlos Pedraza. This film is about people who just happen to be gay and not one of the characters is a stereotype.
I ask anyone who comes here to keep an eye on this film when it begins making the festival runs in 2011 -we’re also on Facebook.
September 12, 2010 at 2:50 am
I know of one show that features non-stereotypical gay males! It’s basically a high school “drama” series called “Degrassi.” It’s generally about life in high school, but a teen struggling with being gay is part of it! There are like two(?) series, the original and “The Next Generation.”
September 12, 2010 at 5:03 pm
I see your point but I do not think that glee is a good example. Glee as a whole is calling out those stereotypes using satire. Though this comment is not any better because I have a bias towards glee and kurt is my favorite character.
September 14, 2010 at 10:56 am
What about a foreign tv series. XY in México has a gay character and follows no stereotype. The actor, Luis Gerardo Méndez said in an interview that being gay is not about being fabulous and glittery, and there’s so much more in a gay guy than that, besides, we gay folk are not much different from straight. I think…
September 19, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Brothers and Sisters has the gay couple that are kind of just themselves. Six feet Under has a couple that while has their moments are pretty authentic men who happen to be gay and in love.
The big tricky balance is when we (the gay community) are offended and why. Because the truth is there are alot of awesome but raging queens in the gay community, and I don’t think the networks are playing it safe when they portray the butch “normal” gay characters, as opposed to Fox’s bold character Kurt. They also made jack extravagant cause it was funny, or at least they thought it was, not as a community statement. So while I see you’re point, i did want to play the devil’s advocate. Even as an effeminate gay man.
Great blogs and vid keep it up.
September 22, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Imagine how many Glee viewers have no openly gay friends. (Probably a lot.) Their idea of a gay person would probably look and act just like Kurt if they’re a fan of the show.
No one wants to be seen or imagined as a stereotype, with their interests predetermined and no individuality. Even positive trait stereotypes are offensive.
Sure, it’s good that they have a gay character, but their whole first season was a wasted opportunity to do something better.
September 29, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I guess an example could be the gay couple on Modern Family who is not that stereotypical at all. It is interesting that TV is changing the way we look at LGBT themes and less stereotypes are being shown on shows and series. Another great issue to talk about also is why people are still offended by gay themes, and what makes it offensive. Here’s an example of a video that pokes fun at gay stereotypes that are still shown in the media today while entertaining people at the same time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Efbcvfe1GQ
October 1, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Not trying to bring race into it, but it’d be fun to see gay people from other races like Syed in eastenders. Asian, middle eastern(yeah i know it’s not a race), blacks etc. They might make up minorities, but all gay people are not white.
October 4, 2010 at 12:44 am
Queer As Folk! Probably an eye-opening show for a straight person to watch, but I loved the show in its entirety! I think the character who really broke the stereotypes was Ben, the smart, muscular, even-tempered college professor who married Michael. Also, Brian was such a firm, successful businessman that even his family didn’t know that he was the smooth, promiscuous guy in the gay clubs.
The show is enthralling!
October 19, 2010 at 11:18 pm
well, this show is on HBO so less people have seen it, however on the show True Blood, there’s Lafayette, a black guy who works as a cook in a bar, with some drug dealing after dark, he is flamboyant but still manly. His boyfriend, Jesus(pronounced Hey-zus) is hispanic and works as a nurse.
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February 18, 2011 at 10:42 am
On the series Shameless (UK I think, probably season 6) there is a gay/bisexual character, Mickey MaGuire, that completely avoids the stereotype, he has 5 oclock shadow and typical hetero mannerisms, but fantasises about a man.
In the first season, one of the children is found to be gay (somewhat typical) and has an affair with his manager; an ?Indian? man (fairly non-typical) in the office of the supermarket who is married.
There is also a medical show Mercy, starring Guillermo Díaz (“Guillermo” from Showtime’s “Weeds”) as Nurse Angel Garcia and he is atypical, and actually openly gay in reality.
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October 15, 2011 at 2:26 am
Terry Kimple from The Cleveland Show and his husband
October 16, 2011 at 9:36 am
Max from Happy Endings
, I’m actually like him (hang-out with straight people, play videogames, watch sports etc), less chubby though.
March 19, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Gay and Lesbian people are portrade as “flaming” or “colorfull” and it is not the right mind set for people to learn. I think gay people should be showed as regular people cause they are.
March 20, 2012 at 2:48 am
Although it’s a show full of quirky characters. ABC’S HAPPY ENDINGS character of Max is definitely a non-stereotypical gay character who actually has a sex life and relationships and is probably the most masculine character in the show. While I admit the show is over the top its nonetheless refreshing to see a unique gay character that kinda reminds me of myself.p