Ellen Pompeo Shar How Grey's Anatomy Helped Gay Teen Come Out

Contents:

• MEET ALEX LANDI, THE ACTOR PLAYG GREY'S ANATOMY'S FIRST GAY MALE SURGEON
• 'GREY'S ANATOMY' ACTOR OUT AS GAY
• JAKE BORELLI ON WHY GREY'S ANATOMY'S GAY BLOOD BAN STORY IS PERSONAL
• GREY'S ANATOMY ACTOR JAKE BORELLI OUT AS GAY
• ELLEN POMPEO EMOTNALLY REVEALS HOW 'GREY'S ANATOM' Y HELPED A GAY TEENAGER COME OUT TO HIS PARENTS
• GREY'S ANATOMY ADDS A GAY MALE SURGEON: WHY IT'S ABOUT TIME
• T.R. KNIGHT'S FAY DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS GAY UNTIL AFTER ISAIAH WASHGTON LLED HIM A HOMOPHOBIC SLUR ON THE 'GREY'S ANATOMY' SET, A FORMER WRER SAYS A NEW BOOK

MEET ALEX LANDI, THE ACTOR PLAYG GREY'S ANATOMY'S FIRST GAY MALE SURGEON

Dpe beg troduced send to Levi, Ni is ially the first openly gay male surgeon Grey’s Anatomy. Schmt is signifint for beg one of the first openly gay ma characters and the first gay seri regular the show. But to be clear, there were many stumbl durg those early years, as gay TV characters were quietly weaved to stori and met wh cidly mixed rults.

It was 49 years ago this month that the first recurrg gay character on Amerin televisn ma his but — set signer Peter Panama on the ltle-known ABC s The Corner Bar. Played by Vcent Schiavelli (Fast Tim at Ridgemont High, Ghost), Peter was met wh risn by, among others, the Gay Activists Alliance, which took issue wh the character’s flamboyance. S to feature an openly gay lead character, though Billy Crystal’s Jodie Dallas drew siar cricism.

'GREY'S ANATOMY' ACTOR OUT AS GAY

Five episos to All The Fay‘s ne-season n, and nearly three s before Will & Grace arrived on the scene, seri creator/social trailblazer Norman Lear already had LGBTQ reprentatn on the bra when he troduced Ameri’s first gay s character the form of Archie’s old iend Steve (played by the late Phil Carey). In the 1971 episo, -penned by Lear and Burt Styler, ragg bigot Archie was forced to reckon wh his prenceived notns about homosexualy (not only was Steve a former lebacker, but, like Archie, he was a stnch nservative! Siarly, viewers saw Steve a gay man that was neher stereotypil nor ashamed of his inty.

As one of the first openly gay ma characters on an Amerin TV show, Jodie (played by Billy Crystal) drew fire om all sis.

Relig groups took umbrage wh the ABC s’s cln of (among other topics) a gay character, while LGBTQ anizatns were ncerned about the portrayal beg stereotypil and/or nflated wh transsexualism, based on the scripts for early episos. They tsted a gay man wh a child….

JAKE BORELLI ON WHY GREY'S ANATOMY'S GAY BLOOD BAN STORY IS PERSONAL

Though Blake’s send-olst child was touted as the first openly gay ma character a primetime drama, the handlg of Steven’s sexualy — largely amed as a stggle, and a tra he often had to nceal — was joyls and imperfect to a pot that origal portrayer Al Corley vated the role.

(Dynasty -creator Esther Shapiro, her fense, sisted to Esquire that Steven “was, is, and always will be gay. The Fox sudser may have done Doug Savant’s character dirty wh that off-screen ath the fal season, but Matt will still be remembered fondly as one of the first openly gay ma characters on a work TV drama. Did most of the stori volvg Matt’s sexualy clu some sort of gay bashg or discrimatn?

Rickie provid an unapologetilly lorful and rg prence as his perplexed pal Angela navigated her high school’s social circl, but Cz’s portrayal went even eper, wh storyl about homophobia and abe wh Rickie’s own fay. In addn, Cz ma history as the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character on work televisn. When Ellen Man me out the April 30, 1997 episo of ABC’s Ellen (pictured above), she beme the first-ever gay lead character a primetime s.

GREY'S ANATOMY ACTOR JAKE BORELLI OUT AS GAY

Before NBC’s bawdy h s buted 1998, the terr liv of gay characters were seldom explored, if bshed up agast at all.

ELLEN POMPEO EMOTNALLY REVEALS HOW 'GREY'S ANATOM' Y HELPED A GAY TEENAGER COME OUT TO HIS PARENTS

Pl, Will wasn’t a stereotype; his rtraed (or “borg, ” as Jack might put ) meanor proved that gay characters didn’t need to be outrageo to get the spotlight. Will & Grace s heyday ma great stris for gay reprentatn, and Will Tman — his small, subtle way — helped nudge that progrs forward, makg safe for gay men to play the “straight man, ” as were. Though not daytime soaps’ first gay character — AMC‘s own Lynn Carson (played by Donna Pw) and One Life to Live‘s Billy Douglas (Ryan Phillippe) were among her precsors — the dghter of none other than man-mag Eri Kane (played by dtry in San Lucci) ma the biggt real-world headl when she me out as a lbian a pivotal 2000 storyle, and Emmy-wng portrayer En Riegel rose to and surpassed the challenge.

“So many gay characters we see on work televisn are not three-dimensnal like Bian. Omar was also openly and unapologetilly gay, and he loved and honored his boyiend, Brandon. Bt of all, Mchell and Cam fied stereotyp and normalized gay parentg and marriage memorable and touchg ways.

GREY'S ANATOMY ADDS A GAY MALE SURGEON: WHY IT'S ABOUT TIME

Few characters on Fox’s mil dramedy were as well-veloped and fully realized as Santana, who evolved om a qutsential mean girl to a plex, beloved gay character durg the show’s six-season n.

Santana’s arc h so many beats that were important and fluential for LGBTQ viewers: Her relatnship wh Brtany was among TV’s sweett, most scere portrayals of young love (regardls of sexualy); like many gay teenagers, she was nonted wh tolerance om her clost fay after g out; and even as Santana’s sexualy remaed a re facet of her character, she wasn’t pigeonholed to exclively Very Special Storyl. From vatng on a gay cise to servg as the print of the Malibu Stacy Fan Club, Smhers has never been anythg other than himself — and he’s got the growg list of ex-boyiends to prove .

T.R. KNIGHT'S FAY DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS GAY UNTIL AFTER ISAIAH WASHGTON LLED HIM A HOMOPHOBIC SLUR ON THE 'GREY'S ANATOMY' SET, A FORMER WRER SAYS A NEW BOOK

Nearly a after High School Mil 3 attempted to pass Ryan off as straight, Disney Channel troduced s first openly gay ma character Cys, one of Andi’s bt iends (played by Joshua Rh, above left). It's rare to see a gay relatnship between men shown on a televisn show of Grey's liber, and the normalcy and emotns showg the two's love for one another are rehg.