On the ABC edy's 40th anniversary, Michael Montlack reflects on how he learned to be gay om a straight actor playg a straight character pretendg to be gay.
Contents:
- THREE'S COMPANY MA ME THE GAY MAN I AM TODAY
- ARE HOMOPHOB REALLY GAY?
- GOLN GLOB HOST RICKY GERVAIS MAK ‘GAY’ JOKE ABOUT ‘FAMO SCIENTOLOGISTS’
- MIKE WHE AND ‘THE WHE LOT’ STARS BREAK DOWN THAT JAW-DROPPG TWIST: I WANT TO ‘MAKE GAY SEX TRANSGRSIVE AGA’
THREE'S COMPANY MA ME THE GAY MAN I AM TODAY
* gay pretending *
Have you and your iend ever pretend to be gay to h on ladi? He then troduc this other guy as his boyiend which nfed a ltle at first bee he didn't seem gay (he was obvly flirtg wh ), but whatever, ol he's gay - we don't have to worry about him beg terted . Then we're about to leave and one of them turns to and says "Actually, neher one of is gay- do you want to e hang out at his place?
ARE HOMOPHOB REALLY GAY?
TL;DR: my iend and I hung out wh two guys a club bee we thought they were gay (we didn't want to get h on/both have SO's), turned out was an attempt to hook up wh ? Luckily, there's hardly the void of gay role mols many of experienced g up the 1970s and '80s. Who would show me the gay way?
GOLN GLOB HOST RICKY GERVAIS MAK ‘GAY’ JOKE ABOUT ‘FAMO SCIENTOLOGISTS’
But that imagery led to an even more alien notn: Were those the only kd of gay people the world? Jack Tripper appeared on the screen 1977 (the 40th anniversary of the first episo is this March): boyishly handsome, adorably clumsy and generally ordary most ways, except one -- he was pretendg to be gay orr to live wh two female roommat. This was certaly "a step that was new" but not pletely unfaiar to a boy pretendg to be straight orr to live peacefully an unwelg (and John Rter, who played him, for that matter) wasn't queer, but the fact that he had the dacy to even label himself gay was astoundg.
MIKE WHE AND ‘THE WHE LOT’ STARS BREAK DOWN THAT JAW-DROPPG TWIST: I WANT TO ‘MAKE GAY SEX TRANSGRSIVE AGA’
) that we did fact exist and uld even fd zy hom for ourselv: sunny beach muni wh fun sisterly iends and zany, if often backward, landlords who might actually prefer a gay tenant over a straight one.
MICHAEL MONTLACK is the edor of My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (Universy of Wisns Prs).