Jam Corn's performance as a gay man "The Prom" was lambasted, but Ewan McGregor's turn "Halston" has been acclaimed.
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PIXAR SHORT ‘OUT’ FEATUR THE STUD’S FIRST GAY LEAD CHARACTER
Longtime TV cric Dan Avery charts the history of gay, queer, and transgenr reprentatn popular Amerin seri om 1971 to today, om Ellen to Pose. * gay lead characters *
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. 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!
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. 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. 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.
Pixar’s new short film “Out” is remiscent of classic Disney body-swap edi like “Freaky Friday” and the “Shaggy Dog” movi, but ’s also a first for the stud, bee s ma character is gay. * gay lead characters *
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. 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.
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 . 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).