No, Cam and Mch on 'Morn Fay' are not 'the gay equivalent of blackface'

Contents:

• ‘MORN FAY’ FALE: HOW CAMERON AND MCHELL FOREVER CHANGED GAY FAI ON TV
• IS ERIC STONTREET OM MORN FAY GAY REAL LIFE? KNOW ABOUT HIS AFFAIRS AND RELATNSHIP.
• MORN FAY’S BIG, GAY (AND IMPORTANT) WEDDG
• STT D. PIERCE: ‘MORN FAY’ SERV PRAISE FOR CLN AND BRICKBATS FOR GAY STEREOTYP
• 'MORN FAY' AND GAY MARRIAGE: IT'S COMPLITED
• NO, CAM AND MCH ON ‘MORN FAY’ ARE NOT ‘THE GAY EQUIVALENT OF BLACKFACE’
• ‘MORN FAY’ WRER REVEALS EMOTNAL BACKSTORY OF ‘HISTORIC’ GAY MARRIAGE PROPOSAL (EXCLIVE)
• THE MORN FAY EFFECT: POP CULTURE’S ROLE THE GAY-MARRIAGE REVOLUTN
• HOW TV BROUGHT GAY PEOPLE INTO OUR HOM
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

‘MORN FAY’ FALE: HOW CAMERON AND MCHELL FOREVER CHANGED GAY FAI ON TV

Fergon, who is gay real life, and Stontreet played the beloved married uple Mchell Prchett and Cameron Tucker for eleven seasons on ABC's Morn Fay. Fergon was nomated for five Emmys for his role, and Stontreet was nomated for three, wng two awards for Outstandg Supportg Actor a Comedy uple was much ld for their pictn of everyday married life for a gay uple on an ABC s.

They also adopted a dghter, Lily, and later another child, beg one of the most visible exampl of a gay fay on TV for fans might be beggg for the whole st to rne, this cute rnn will have to hold over until then.

While Sofia Vergara’s Gloria waltzed her way to the hearts of gay men and lbians for wildly different reasons, was Cameron and Mchell’s lovg relatnship that ma LGBTQ viewers feel tly seen and reprented. “The seri has nsistently brought lns of viewers every week for the past 11 years, and let viewers — particularly on who may not have been tung to other clive seri on ble or streamg — get to know and love a gay uple all their ups and downs and trials and tribulatns.

IS ERIC STONTREET OM MORN FAY GAY REAL LIFE? KNOW ABOUT HIS AFFAIRS AND RELATNSHIP.

Hulu buted “The Bravt Knight” last year, an animated fairy tale about a gay dad reuntg his adventur to his adopted dghter. The show was one of the first to have two openly gay characters—Mchell and Cameron Prchett (played by Jse Tyler Fergon and Eric Stontreet, rpectively)—on prime-time TV. However, her most ser relatnship has been wh on-aga, off-aga boyiend Dylan, played by openly gay actor Reid Ewg, who's appeared episos as early as Morn Fay's pilot.

In what is, at the most, a major moment televisn history and, at the very least, a quiet step forward for the marriage equaly movement, TV’s most award and send most-watched edy seri aired a gay the bate over the legalizatn of gay marriage makg headl on a daily basis, ’s hard not to read to the fact that 10. ” Ever sce Morn Fay accintally beme televisn’s go-to polil lightng rod, the show’s gay uple and the ton they’ve passed together on screen have llaterally bee bean’s of progrs when to what uld broadly be referred to as “acceptance” by the public at might argue that what two televisn characters do on a s should hardly be nsted as “important, ” but as we’ve long learned, polics and pop culture are often extribly tertwed. Now, ’s apparently OK for two guys to share that bed, ’s impossible to quantify how many words have been voted to the progrs—or, some opn, the lack thereof—when to pictg gay characters on mastream TV.

MORN FAY’S BIG, GAY (AND IMPORTANT) WEDDG

There are some who reject the ia that Mch and Cam, two characters who are broadly drawn and arguably perpetuate margalizg stereotyp of gay-ish character tras, are the unwtg poster gays for the equal-rights movement, at least some of the more uniated segments of the one thg that’s never been broadly drawn when to Mch and Cam, and much of this is owed to the warm chemistry between stars Jse Tyler Fergon and Eric Stontreet, is their love.

”From the time that Morn Fay’s brilliant pilot buted and Cam was thstg newly adopted Lily to the air while “Circle of Life” om The Ln Kg played the background—a geni moment one of the most perfect pilots om the last 10 years—Mch and Cam and their gayns were also thst forward, their every actn and even their mere existence, on a mastream seri stantly embraced by crics and viewers alike, was a gay love story that we actually jo the middle. There were no plots, as there ually are on work TV when gay characters are volved, about g to terms wh their own sexuali, g out of the closet, or nvcg their fai to love them.

STT D. PIERCE: ‘MORN FAY’ SERV PRAISE FOR CLN AND BRICKBATS FOR GAY STEREOTYP

It was the polil maniftatn of a Sefeld joke, reassurg voters that they don’t hate the gay muny—a verable “not that there’s anythg wrong wh that…”Then me the clamorg for what people wanted Mch and Cam to reprent, more than what they maybe actually did. And, fally, the petn to have them fally make legal (you know, once California, where the show tak place, ma so a legal gay marriage was actually possible) other words, this was a very special episo of the show, and a landmark episo of televisn, general. ”)There was also the edy of errors stemmg om the mismunitn between Mch and his father, Jay, who he thks isn’t on board wh the ia of the gay weddg but, of urse, uldn’t be more proud.

'MORN FAY' AND GAY MARRIAGE: IT'S COMPLITED

Jay, a b obtely standg for the ntgent of Amerins who happily endorse gay marriage but don’t know the rrect or acceptable terms for discsg , keeps parg Mch and Cam’s ceremony to a “regular weddg.

When the two men actually said “I do, ” the only thg borrg on a natural disaster was the flood of tears by the guts ’ve seen gay upl get married on TV before. (Photo urty of Gill Mgasson/ABC) “Morn Fay” stars Eric Stontreet as Cameron and Jse Tyler Fergon as cln of a gay uple “Morn Fay” is a great thg that helped a lot of viewers realize that gay men exist, and that many of them live lovg, monogamo relatnships as they raise children.

But creasgly as the seasons went past, you had to wonr if there wasn’t some harm two of TV’s most proment gay characters beg so stereotypil. [Read more: Missn acplished: ‘Morn Fay’ has changed TV]In 2014, out gay actor Tuc Watks (“Dperate Hoewiv, ” “One Life to Live”) ma headl when he posted a Facebook ment praisg “Morn Fay” but addg that he had “a hard time lghg at the gay guys.

NO, CAM AND MCH ON ‘MORN FAY’ ARE NOT ‘THE GAY EQUIVALENT OF BLACKFACE’

But also serv the cricism, bee ’s te that Mch and Cam lean to gay stereotyp — they’re flamboyant and (particularly Cameron’s se) feme. Some activists make that argument, ignorg the fact that there are a lot of gay actors playg straight rol who’d be out of work if they were rtricted to gay rol. And I agree wh Fergon (another out, gay actor) when he says that, y, there really are gay men exactly like Mch and Cam.

When the show premiered 11 years ago, there weren’t a lot of gay characters on TV — so maybe an effort uld have and should have been ma to go beyond the ’s pretty easy to say, “Oh, Mch and Cam are jt two gay guys. ” But that don’t expla why the vast majory of gay men portrayed “Morn Fay” by gut stars were jt as flamboyant, if not more so.

I’m also pretty sure that the show’s portrayal of gay men will be looked upon as quat and outdated, if not at least vaguely offensive. ABCIn a slightly prsg lumn on sex and televisn earlier this week, Washgton Post TV cric Tom Shal sgled out Morn Fay for s portrayal of gay characters.

‘MORN FAY’ WRER REVEALS EMOTNAL BACKSTORY OF ‘HISTORIC’ GAY MARRIAGE PROPOSAL (EXCLIVE)

The show, he said, "picts a gay-male marriage which both partners are rehgly dimensnal, believable human 're not flawed the silly, stereotypil ways that once domated such portrayals.

THE MORN FAY EFFECT: POP CULTURE’S ROLE THE GAY-MARRIAGE REVOLUTN

" This statement highlights both how far Morn Fay has e—and how far still has to go when to gay upl Stontreet—the actor who plays Cam, one half of the uple Shal prais his lumn—told me he's proud that the show treats his character's fay like an equal rner of the three fai who make up Morn Fay's supportg triangle.

He appreciat that the seri don't need to dwell obssively on the fact that the show portrays a lovg, healthy, stable fay head by two gay parents.

HOW TV BROUGHT GAY PEOPLE INTO OUR HOM

But apparently, the lculatn is that, we're jt too jumpy to actually watch a very realistic middle-aged and half-overweight gay uple share even a relatively chaste smooch on the show walks an tertg le on qutns of gay inty and sometim miss out on opportuni to nont homophobia. But acquired a sour note later the show when Nathan Lane showed up to portray an overdramatilly swishy stereotype of the kd Shal mend Morn Fay for wasn't the first time Morn Fay has mocked one kd of gay performance to showse the normaly of a gay fay.

In a first-season episo, the characters assumed a iend of Jay, the fay patriarch, was gay bee of his mannerisms. It's an example of the kds of promis straight Amerins make around sexual orientatn all the time, lovg fay or iends whout fully mtg to their stggl for legal and societal show ma a joke of Mch's rponse to perceived homophobia the earlit mut of the seri' premiere episo.

But if he'd been the room when Haley had her slip, the scene uld have validated his fears of homophobia—and challenged his extend fay—by revealg the gap between how much the Duphys love Mch, Cam and Lily, and how much they're still fluenced by larger societal views of gay importantly, there's a factual error Shal' asssment of Mch and Cam's relatnship: they aren't actually married, somethg Stontreet nfirmed for me. But at a time when equal marriage rights are a state-by-state battleground, Morn Fay might nsirg makg Cam, Mch, and Lily legally, as well as socially, equal wh the other fai on the 's no qutn that Morn Fay's gay fay is ft, well-sketched, funny and sweet.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

In March, ahead of Morn Fay's seri fale, Jse Tyler Fergon reflected on the legacy of the groundbreakg ABC s, which followed the liv of the Prchett fay, cludg gay uple Mchell and Cameron (Fergon and Eric Stontreet).