Popularity of gay images doesn't equal revolution

By Heather Salerno
Journal News (Westchester, N.Y.)

In 1989, on ABC's yuppie drama "thirtysomething," recurring gay characters Russell and Peter landed in bed together. It wasn't a sex scene, but the implication was enough. The show lost a reported $1 million in advertising revenue, and the episode was pulled from summer reruns.

While popularity is skyrocketing for gay shows and celebrities — such as "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" with, from left, Ted Allen, Jai Rodriguez, Carson Kressley, Thom Filicia and Kyan Douglas — polls show Americans remain ambivalent about rights for gays. Gannett News Service

This time around, there's barely a peep from the public.

"But it took from 1989 to 2003 to get there. That's a long time," says Scott Seomin of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

These days, it seems as if gay images, gay characters and gay topics are everywhere. The "Queer Eye" quintet, for instance, has become ubiquitous, landing on magazine covers and offering style tips to everyone from Jay Leno to Howard Stern's Artie Lange.

Tickets are selling briskly for the upcoming musical "The Boy From Oz," in which Hugh Jackman plays gay songwriter Peter Allen.

A new reality show is searching for America's first openly gay country singer.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has struck down Texas' anti-sodomy law, Canada is pushing to legalize same-sex marriage, and the Massachusetts high court is expected to rule soon on the same matter. Meanwhile, President Bush is talking about codifying marriage to mean "between a man and a woman."

"I think it's somewhat of a coincidence that all of this has come together at the same time," says Eric Marcus, who has written several books on gay topics, including "Making Gay History: The Half Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights" (Perennial, $15.95).

On the other hand, he notes, "I think we've reached a tipping point."

Advocates like Marcus generally welcome such white-hot visibility in both the entertainment world and political arena. Still, Marcus says, "it makes me uncomfortable on some level to see so much attention at once."

ABC's "It's All Relative" has met with little protest; the sitcom is about a girl being raised by two gay men. The series stars, from left, Maggis Lawson, John Benjamin Hickey and Chris Sieber. Gannett News Service

"I've not seen anything like this," says David Smith, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian political organization. "It's been quite overwhelming, and if it's overwhelming for us, I can imagine how the American people are dealing with these issues."

In fact, two recent Gallup Polls illustrate the confusion.

A majority of those surveyed said that homosexuals deserve equal job opportunities and that same-sex couples should share healthcare and retirement benefits.

When it comes to family matters, however, the polls show a dramatic shift, which the organization attributes to the Supreme Court's June 26 anti-sodomy decision.

Support for civil unions dropped from 49 percent in May to 40 percent in July, the lowest percentage in three years. America's acceptance of legalizing "homosexual relations between consenting adults" had increased from 32 percent in 1986 to a high of 60 percent in May; that figure dropped to 48 percent by July.

So how can America love the "Queer Eye's" fab five when less than half of the country thinks they should be allowed to get married?

"That is the million-dollar question," says Georgetown University sociology professor Suzanna Danuta Walters, who is the author of "All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America" (University of Chicago, $19).

"Look at 'The Cosby Show.' That was a big hit in apartheid South Africa," she says. "We look at popular images as a barometer of where we are as a nation. It is a sign, but it's a complicated one. It's not 'As goes Hollywood, so goes the world.' "

GLAAD's Seomin offers another explanation: "For intolerant viewers, there is a wall of safety between themselves and the TV screen."

In other words, just because the "Queer Eye" guys are the latest media darlings, that doesn't automatically translate into equality.

"We're the flavor of the month, the gays," he says.

Some activists wonder, too, if the pop-culture hype could mislead viewers into thinking that gays have more civil rights than they actually do.

"If you ask most people in America, 'Is it legal to fire someone because they're gay?' they'll say, 'Of course not. That's illegal.' But it's legal in 36 states," says Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"A huge problem in America is people confusing popular culture with the law."

That's the double-edged sword of visibility, argues Walters.

Others cite another drawback to this over-the-top attention: Conservatives interpret the increased presence as a symbol of an insidious gay agenda.

William Merrell, a vice president on the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, says that America's increased acceptance of homosexuality is "not an accident."

"It's the result of what I'd call a mass reorientation of people's thinking on a topic," says Merrell. "Some of the people who are dictating the content of entertainment are very sold on the idea and the desirability of the practice of homosexuality."

Such comments are why the gay task force's Foreman believes gay issues may be overexposed right now.

"Frankly, I think all of this attention is working against us," says Foreman. "I'm concerned that for the average reader it could feel like the gay community is forcing issues on people. It's not the case, but I can see how people would feel that way."

Still, Walters says the attention highlights one positive sign. While still controversial, gay rights are now debated more openly than they were 20 years ago.

"These discussions aren't taking place in some private netherworld. It's around water coolers and on news programs," says Walters. "And I think that's a significant change."