Arts :: Movies And Tv
Out an On Air by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorThursday May 28, 2009 When it debuted on September 21, 1998, Will & Grace revolutionized LGBT representation on television. It garnered praise for bringing elements of the gay community, including a dose of queer humor, into American living rooms. Before that, Middle America didn’t know a "top" from a "bottom" unless it was hanging in their closet. Yes, some criticized the show for reinforcing certain stereotypes and promoting a limited view - urban, upwardly mobile, mostly white - of the gay community. But perfect or not, Will & Grace changed the television landscape by introducing viewers, some for the first time, to a few new gay friends. It also proved that gay characters and themes could be commercially viable on television at a level that would have once required a laugh track. Need proof? Take a look at some of the other LGBT milestones from television since the show’s premiere. There’s plenty more where these came from, but consider it a primer in homo highlights.
1998
September - Will & Grace premieres on NBC. Viewers everywhere get on a first name basis with Will, Grace, Jack and Karen.
2000
May - Willow (Alyson Hannigan) comes out as a lesbian in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sigh. That’s what happens when you go to college.
May - Jack (Kerr Smith) and Ethan (Adam Kaufman) share the first gay male kiss on network television on teen drama Dawson’s Creek. The quick peck is followed by a longer, 5-second smooch one year later.
December - Queer as Folk debuts on Showtime, and airs an explicit gay sex scene within the first 60 minutes of the series. God, these guys take it slow.
2001
February - Willow and Tara (Amber Benson) finally share an on-screen smooch on Buffy. Their relationship would become the longest-running lesbian romance in network television history.
2002
February - "I’m a dyke!" With these words, Rosie O’Donnell comes out at an ovarian cancer benefit just three months before her high-rated talk show is due to end, and remakes her public image from "Queen of Nice" to surly activist. Like they say, Absence Makes the Heart Grow Butcher.
2003
April - Even the soaps aren’t safe! All My Children characters Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Lena (Olga Sosnovska) share the first lesbian kiss on daytime television. Susan Lucci misses out again.
May - Buffy’s Willow and her new girlfriend Kennedy have the first lesbian sex scene in network television history. There’s not a dry eye in the house of the American lesbian, and not a clean sock in the bedroom of the American teenage boy.
July - Queer Eye for the Straight Guy premieres on Bravo. The "Fab Five" come out of the closet to better judge everyone else’s.
July - Reality show Boy Meets Boy plays matchmaker for a gay leading man who chooses from a gaggle of bachelors - several of whom, unbeknownst to him, are straight. Equal opportunity exploitation ensues.
August - Dressed in a groomsmen’s tux, Madonna smooches "brides" Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the MTV Video Music Awards. Tastes like Sandra Bernhard.
September - The Ellen DeGeneres Show premieres, making the talk show industry’s two major heavyweights a black woman and a white lesbian. Asian transgenders everywhere stand at the ready.
2004
January - The L Word debuts on Showtime. America glimpses lesbians in their natural habitat.
2005
February - Marge Simpson’s sister Patty comes out as a lesbian on The Simpsons. Animated-Americans celebrate by painting a closet door on the side of a cliff, and running through it.
June - MTV launches Logo, the first 24-hour network geared to the LGBT community. As of February 2009, Logo is in more than 30 million homes. 29 million are extremely well decorated. The rest live in Jersey.
2006
September - Rosie O’Donnell joins the cast of The View and proceeds to famously wrassle with Elizabeth Hasselbeck at every conceivable juncture. Two words: Sexual. Tension.
October - Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight is outed and becomes embroiled in tabloid fodder over co-star Isaiah Washington’s use of the word "faggot" in a behind-the-scenes argument. Washington later issues an apology, but less than a year later his contract is not renewed. Knight continues to star on the show.
November - Actor Neil Patrick Harris comes out on the cover of People, even while playing a serial womanizer on the hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Suddenly, Doogie Howser seems strangely hot.
2007
February - Alexis (Rebecca Romijn) reveals she is a transwoman on Ugly Betty, a show already gayer than a pink Christmas tree in the front window of Barney’s.
2008
May - Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) have a commitment ceremony on Brothers & Sisters, the first same-sex union between series regulars on network television history.
September - Isis King is the first trans contestant on America’s Next Top Model in its eleventh cycle. Tranny fierce.
2009
January - The Real World: Brooklyn premieres on MTV and features its first transgender cast member with Katelynn Cusanelli.
April - During the Miss USA pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean "ignites controversy" with her suggestion that marriage should remain between a man and a woman. Speaking out against gay marriage is now controversial? My, how far we’ve come.
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