I have to nfs that I never thought Barney Miller was a show for me. A child of the '80s, I would nstantly see on the syndited afternoon TV schle, but bee of s lack of aliens, puppets, or nja turtl I never gave a moment’s thought. Of urse, that’s before I learned about the show’s subversive gay backstory. Barney Miller buted 1975 as a mid-season replacement after ABC axed a whole...
Contents:
- HOW BARNEY MILLER’S GAYS DEFEATED ABC’S NETWORK CENSORS
- 17 GAY SEX SNDALS THAT ROCKED AMERIN POLICS
- 20 STRAIGHT CHARACTERS WE DIDN'T KNOW WERE OPENLY GAY IN REAL LIFE
- THAT GAY EPISO: ‘BARNEY MILLER’ GETS THE WRONG LGHS OUT OF A GAY EXTORTN PLOT
- MY LIFE AS A GAY CONGRSMAN
- BARNEY FRANK IS THE FIRST MARRIED, OPENLY GAY CONGRSMAN
- STRAIGHT FOR PAY: TEN GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED IT STRAIGHT
- RERD 13 CONGRS MEMBERS INTIFY AS GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL
HOW BARNEY MILLER’S GAYS DEFEATED ABC’S NETWORK CENSORS
* gay barney *
Of urse, that’s before I learned about the show’s subversive gay backstory. But Barney Miller charged right to relatively uncharted terrory, openg s first episo after the pilot wh a gay purse-snatcher storyle. ”) Personally, I love the character: He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s nfint, and he’s unambiguloly gay.
So Danny Arnold, the shownner, brought a nsultant om the Gay Media Task Force, a new anizatn that advoted for better pictns of gay characters.
Gay dienc were miffed by Marty’s pictn: A sassy flamboyant crimal who leered at straight men, many viewers felt that Marty rerced negative stereotyp about gay people. But bee those trop were particularly mon on TV at the time, there was ncern that viewers would get the imprsn that Marty reprented all gay men.
17 GAY SEX SNDALS THAT ROCKED AMERIN POLICS
Disvery: Directed by Lee Bernhardi. Wh Hal Ln, Barbara Barrie, Abe Vigoda, Max Gail. Marty claims that a member of the precct is harassg the gay muny. The precct puters have rerd Fish as ad." data-id="ma * gay barney *
They crafted a few tweaks to the character, epeng tails of his personal life and planng to add more gay characters to the show. They regnized the dissatisfactn of gay viewers, and were nfint that they uld addrs the cricisms.
But Danny believed the chang they’d planned and wasn’t willg to give up on them, so he took a big gamble: Dpe ABC tellg him that gay storyl were forbidn, he spent $100, 000 to shoot the planned episo anyway, and then sent to the work to see what would happen.
And two days later, he rmed Danny Miller that the gay episo uld air. The character was no longer picted as a crimal; he was given a partner and a sympathetic backstory; and the episo has a surprise twist at the end that unexpectedly subverts old gay stereotyp.
20 STRAIGHT CHARACTERS WE DIDN'T KNOW WERE OPENLY GAY IN REAL LIFE
Barney Frank beme the first stg member of Congrs to enter to a same sex marriage on Saturday eveng. Frank married Jim Ready, who he's been wh sce 2007, and The New York Tim gave them the full nuptial treatment. Frank was also the first Congrsman to openly e out as a gay man 1987. * gay barney *
The succs of that episo led to more: Over s eight seasons, Barney Miller would go on to feature a storyle wh a gay immigrant; would touch on gay parentg and Supreme Court lgs; and a gay uple would be woven to the show so tightly that they were featured one of the fal scen of the seri fale, biddg the regulars farewell. C., and the forc of homophobia only amplify the nsequence when gay enunters make headl. Many a gay sex sndal ret the urse of Amerin history and transformed the way natnal lears will be remembered for time immemorial.
Pl Internatnal Airport known by thori as a popular spot for gay trysts saw s most notor occupant ever on June 11, 2007. Pl his emphatic claratn he had "never been gay" prompted men claimg to be his ex-lovers to speak out to the prs.
The two never publicly acknowledged a sexual relatnship, but the closens earns scty even today, pecially wh Hoover's history of antagonizg gay people, but the FBI matas still that there was no evince Hoover was Foley Gets Too DeepHow much trouble did U. Some historians nsir the men to be the first gay print and vice Brgs Down LBJ HonchoWalter Jenks served as Print Lyndon Johnson's chief of staff, and by many acunts was key to brgg the former Texas senator to his historic posn of power. But the New York Post reported that the polician fact was payg for gay sex an tablishment n by Nazi foreign agents.
THAT GAY EPISO: ‘BARNEY MILLER’ GETS THE WRONG LGHS OUT OF A GAY EXTORTN PLOT
Alben Barkley that the Army handle such sndal by offerg an officer the tools for suici, acrdg to Charl Kaiser's The Gay Metropolis. But the cint would be jt one mark on a sndal-plagued reer and he would eventually rign due to tax evasn by SndalIt would be nice if the first out ngrsman to serve Washgton's halls of power fact ma his own cisn to make his homosexualy known to the world. Dan Crane had had an affair wh a female page, Studds had to publicly acknowledge his gay sexualy.
MY LIFE AS A GAY CONGRSMAN
He would go on to be an outspoken Hoe member supportg same-sex marriage and other gay rights long before public opn swung a directn helpful to LGBT Social Conservative to Out, Poz ActivistRepublin Congrsman Jon Hson started his reer as a young pol reprentg a socially nservative area of Mississippi. Jim McGreevey stunned the polil world 2004 when he announced he was gay and had been cheatg on his wife wh a man.
At the Tribe Film Ftival 2009, sent rippl across the polil world for intifyg several allegedly closeted policians as gay. In the wake of the Larry Craig sndal (see earlier this list), Dick suggted that policians who were a posn to vote agast gay rights spe beg gay themselv served special scty and srn.
BARNEY FRANK IS THE FIRST MARRIED, OPENLY GAY CONGRSMAN
Many of the policians the film have nsistently nied mors they are gay, but the film ensur that discsn Number? Fallg From the Bully PulpTed Haggard wasn't jt your n-of-the-l relig lear exposed as a hypocre when a gay sex sndal brought him down 2006. Bh, the man had practilly ma a reer of rallyg churchgoers around anti-LGBT polil , fightg agast same-sex marriage and labelg gay sex as an act nmned by God.
STRAIGHT FOR PAY: TEN GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED IT STRAIGHT
In the past, celebri who were gay would tend to keep to themselv, not wantg their personal life aired out for the public to have an opn on. Here are 20 straight characters who were played by actors so amazgly, we didn’t know they’re gay real life.
RERD 13 CONGRS MEMBERS INTIFY AS GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL
Knight officially me out of the closet when was revealed that a star lled him a homophobic slur. In 2007, Miller actually nied the fact that he was gay InStyle magaze and didn’t e out of the closet until 2013. Zachary Quto is known for playg the famo character of Spock the Star Trek reboots and while his character is straight, Quto himself me out as gay 2011 and before then was an active supporter of gay rights and gay anizatns.
In 2015, he was honored by the Pot Foundatn for beg a “trailblazer” the gay muny.
Guillermo Diaz, the actor who played Huck has been openly gay his entire reer Hollywood. He was named one of OUT magaze’s “100 most fluential gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr people” 2013.