Meet The Voic Gay Conttants

Contents:

• MEET ’S GAY CONTTANTS
• 'THE VOICE' HAS OPENLY GAY SGERS: WHERE ARE THEY ON 'AMERIN IDOL'?
• KELLY CLARKSON FIR BACK AT OPENLY GAY 'VOICE' NTTANT WHO ACCED HER OF BEG 'SMALL-MD'

MEET ’S GAY CONTTANTS

For 10 seasons of Amerin Idol, fans search of a gay superstar have almost always had to wa until a nttant was kicked off for him to e out -- even when the guyler, teased hair, and viral vios of same-sex lip locks ma pretty 's no need to wa on NBC's new vol petn, The Voice. The show boasts four gay nttants -- two men and two women -- headg to the battle round, where they will be ached by the lik of Blake Shelton, Cee Lo, Christa Aguilera, and Adam Leve. And while a uple of them might be elimated the next few weeks ( the battle round, teams of eight are whtled down to four when teammat face each other a sg-off), chanc that there will be a lbian or gay sger petg to bee the first "Voice" are Vicci Martez, Nakia, Tyler Robson, and Beverly McClellan on the followg pag.

Superst, gay, and Mormon, the performer is also passnate about tap dancg and mil theater. THE VOICE -- "Bld Audns" Episo 2303 -- Pictured: (l-r) Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Chance The Rapper, Niall Horan -- (Photo by: Evans Vtal Ward/NBC) NBC’s The Voice has only aired two episos, but already viewers have heard somethg that viewers have probably never heard on Fox’s Amerin Idol: “I’m gay.

'THE VOICE' HAS OPENLY GAY SGERS: WHERE ARE THEY ON 'AMERIN IDOL'?

” The Voice featured two openly lbian nttants durg s premiere, then two openly gay men durg s send episo.

While there have been gay Idol nttants, most famoly Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken, they’ve eher publicly acknowledged their sexual orientatn after their rpective seasons nclud, or that aspect of their inty was ignored on the show self.

In fact, out of hundreds of nttants that have appeared on TV’s biggt seri over 10 years, openly gay portrayals are eher nonexistent (nobody ntacted for this story uld remember one), or at bt, extremely rare, let alone numbers like The Voice has picted s first two weeks. This isn’t to suggt Idol and/or Fox is secretly enforcg a closeted agenda — producers hired the openly gay Ellen DeGener as a judge and Fox airs Glee, perhaps the most gay-iendly drama on broadst. When craftg The Voice, executive producer Mark Burt said the choice to prent sgers’ sexual orientatn was discsed, and said he was surprised havg openly gay sgers wasn’t already faiar terrory on Idol.

KELLY CLARKSON FIR BACK AT OPENLY GAY 'VOICE' NTTANT WHO ACCED HER OF BEG 'SMALL-MD'

“It didn’t cross my md to do anythg but be thentic, ” said Burt, whose first season of CBS’ Survivor was not only groundbreakg realy TV, but also featured an openly gay nttant, Richard Hatch, who won the petn. And sce there have been many gay sgers on the show, there’s clearly a choice beg ma at some pot the Idol procs by somebody to not clu that rmatn. ” It uld simply be a difference of productn style: That producers on Idol, as Fox’s statement suggts, don’t thk sexual orientatn is relevant to a sgg petn and so they don’t really see a reason to go there wh nttants (“I don’t re if a sger is gay!

(Lambert, who like several Idol nttants was wily prumed gay durg the ntt, said after he me out, “I wanted the foc to be on my abily as a sger and as an entertaer — not on my private life. Ironilly, after prentg four openly gay nttants across two episos, the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn nounced The Voice bee ach Blake Shelton tweeted what some terpreted as a homophobic song lyric. ) Asked about this matter, GLAAD Print Jarrett Barrs told EW: “Wh more and more Amerins embracg openly gay sgers like Adam Lambert, Idol voters would clearly support a talented openly gay nttant if given the chance today.

If Amerin Idol expects to ntue leadg the ratgs, Idol producers should regnize that posive gay cln on televisn not only fosters acceptance but, as evinced by the populary of shows like The Voice and Glee, is a smart programmg move.