Wele to the gay iendly Phoenix Metropolan Area - GayArizonaGayArizona

Contents:

• GAY DATG CHANDLER
• GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG
•  ARIZONA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• WELE TO THE GAY IENDLY PHOENIX METROPOLAN AREA
• GAY CHANDLER
• WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.
• GAY CHANDLER V. CLEVELAND METROPOLAN SCHOOL, ET AL
• TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?
• MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR

GAY DATG CHANDLER

We all know this gay uple. FriendsThis weekend Friends fished filmg a rnn episo, slated to appear on HBO Max at some pot, which has me thkg about jt how close the show me to featurg what uld have been the most proment gay s character history. Shownners me this close to makg the Chandler character gay, only pullg back after they st Matthew Perry.

GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG

But spe havg straightened Chandler out, creators Marta Kffman and David Crane gave the st and crew explic stctns to reta the gay vibe: “wre gay, ” they told everyone, “and play straight. I wonr, lookg back now, if they had allowed Chandler to be gay — or bi, or any other flavor of queer — would that have been better?

When Friends premiered, dienc stantly picked up on the gay unrton. I was bg through newspaper archiv om the mid-90s, and a surprisg amount of the verage is voted to slow, patient explanatns that Chandler isn’t gay — really, we promise.

 ARIZONA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

On top of that, Chandler’s d as queer a way that would have been faiar to dienc of the time — not only bee he’s sassy and sarstic, but bee he also nforms to a gay trope that was observed by his lleague, Jerry Sefeld: “Sgle, th, and neat. Throughout the show’s n, Chandler was the nstant butt of gay jok — always assumed to be “that, ” as the show tend to say rather than g the word “gay.

” He also had a plex relatnship wh his parent, whose handlg is plited to discs: Intified on the show as a gay man who performed drag, the character was scribed by shownners terviews as a transgenr woman.

WELE TO THE GAY IENDLY PHOENIX METROPOLAN AREA

But if he had been gay … would that have been better?

For one thg, spe the “wre gay, play is straight” directive, the show seems a b wobbly when to gay humor, returng over and over and over to the same joke: It would be funny if someone was gay. For another, I thk ’s bt that the first proment recurrg gay character on a US primetime s was played by a queer person. Matthew Perry might’ve been able to handle gay Chandler (or maybe not) but Ellen’s groundbreakg Puppy Episo set a strong tone for gay s characters by pictg a posive g-out.

Before Ellen’s g-out, ss tend to treat gay characters as a crisis, wh “what do we do about this” Very Special Episos.

GAY CHANDLER

Gay episos that followed on other shows seemed to take the cue, and queerns was sudnly a e for celebratn on TV stead of agatn.

The creators of Friends got a sort of send chance at gay Chandler on their next show, Veroni’s Closet.

That’s not to say that Friends uldn’t have done the same — if anythg, their more sensive handlg of the Josh character on Veroni’s Closet shows that a more nuanced take than “lol he’s gay” was wag the wgs.

WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.

” As was, Friends seems to stggle wh gay edy, repeatedly dippg to the same “haha someone’s gay” well, whereas other gay ics of the time like Stt Thompson and Bob Smh were dog far more nuanced and funny tak on queer life the '90s. Ultimately, I spect — if I had to gus — that at the end of the day, “wre gay and play straight” is not, fact, the most eful of prompts.

A longstandg and oft-repeated urban legend is that Chandler was origally supposed to be gay  Friends until Matthew Perry was st the role. “If we had st a different actor – who was gay – there was the optn that we would have taken the character that directn.

GAY CHANDLER V. CLEVELAND METROPOLAN SCHOOL, ET AL

This ntributed heavily to fan speculatn that Chandler was origally supposed to be gay – a theory given crence by Phoebe Buffay actrs Lisa Kudrow, who 2014 revealed that she thought the character was gay when she first joed Friends.

TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?

Friends might not have pulled off havg TV’s most visible gay character.

Bme said Chandler has “a gay sensibily, but no gay storyl”. “If they had ma fully gay – wrten gay, played gay – would that have been a good thg or a bad thg?

MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR

“On the one hand, would have been amazg to see a gay ma character on one of the most popular shows TV history. They’d often repeat the same simple joke, that would be funny if a person was gay.

Bme said Friends was at s bt when tellg “heterosexual stori”, addg: “I’m not sure they uld have pulled off the challenge of featurg TV’s most proment gay character.

Unlike some ci, Chandler don’t have one specific “gayborhood, ” or area where most of the LGBTQ populatn liv. Bee much of the cy is very LGBT-iendly, there’s no gay neighborhood per se. Instead, many gays and lbians live throughout the area.