The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (29 page)

Before the 1990s, drama series generally avoided gay and lesbian teenagers. With few exceptions, such as the “Rites of Friendship” episode of
Family,
the subject was limited to teens who are not gay, just confused. As we’ve seen, their anxiety, shame, and/or guilt are alleviated by some “straight talk” from a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, detective, or high school counselor.

Before drama series were ready to acknowledge the existence of gay teens, several made-for-TV movies made in the mid-1980s/early 1990s examined a gay male’s struggle with his homosexuality and its effect on his family. The central conflict typically involved the teen and his father, who always has the most difficulty accepting his son’s homosexuality.

The first made-for-TV to address the subject was the 1985 television adaptation of Laura Z. Hobson’s 1975 novel,
Consenting Adult.
Hobson’s best-known work,
Gentleman’s Agreement,
examined anti-Semitism in post-war America. The novel was the basis for the 1949 Academy Award-winning film starring Gregory Peck.
Consenting Adult
looks at another form of prejudice — homophobia — and how an all-American college student’s “coming out” affects his family. The novel, inspired by Hobson’s relationship with her gay son, Christopher, was set in the late 1960s/early 1970s during the emergence of the gay rights movement. The TV version stripped the novel of its historical/political context by setting the story in the present day. The novel’s basic themes remain the same, though the AIDS crisis isn’t directly addressed, perhaps because it was considered too complex. (The first network TV movie about AIDS,
An Early Frost,
would air nine months later.)

One afternoon Tess Lynd (Marlo Thomas) meets her son Jeff (Barry Tubb), who gives her some disturbing news.

“I’m a homosexual. I know you didn’t want to believe it. I don’t want to either,” he admits, “but I’ve been fighting against it for years. But it’s true and just gets truer.”

Tess puts on a brave front for Jeff and thanks him for confiding in her. But her true feelings are revealed when she rushes to her family doctor to ask why her son is homosexual (“I can’t even say the word! I choke on it! It’s an ugly, ugly word!”) and what she can do about it. Feeling guilty and responsible, Tess enlists the help of a psychiatrist, Dr. Daniels (Thomas Peacock), who also believes homosexuality is an illness and claims that 25 percent of his patients “have turned to heterosexual behavior.” Jeff’s father, Ken (Martin Sheen), recovering from a stroke, is disgusted by the very thought of his son being gay. Upon hearing the news, he locks himself in the bedroom and bursts into tears. Later, when Jeff comes home for a visit, Ken avoids him. But we find out Ken is having some problems of his own in the bedroom department. He and Tess are no longer intimate, which he blames on his health.

When Jeff enjoys his first homosexual experience (in the back of a van during a rainstorm with a guy he meets in a diner), he realizes all the therapy in the world isn’t going to make a difference. “He can’t cure me. I’m not sick!” he tells Tess. “I’m a queer, a fag, a fairy, a homosexual!” Although his college roommate (John Terlesky) throws him out when he learns Jeff has been lying about all his sexual conquests with women, his sister (Talia Balsam) and brother-in-law (Matthew Laurance) offer him their support and a place to stay.

Tess isn’t ready to accept the truth and Ken clearly never will. So Jeff cuts his parents out of his life, only to return home to attend his father’s funeral. Afterwards, Tess gives Jeff a letter Ken wrote to him, but never mailed, in which he attempts to reach out. “I’m not ready to embrace the whole homosexual world,” he writes, “but I will not give up on my son.”

Consenting Adult
is an earnest made-for-TV movie about a gay college student’s struggle to gain the acceptance of his controlling mother and homophobic father. The story’s primary focus isn’t so much Jeff’s homosexuality, but his parents’ inability to cope. Once a homosexual liaison confirms what he already knew, Jeff simply has to wait for his mom and dad to come around. What little we learn about Jeff’s gay life, like the sudden appearance of his live-in lover Stuart (Joseph Adams), is revealed in a series of short scenes that establish he’s happy, well-adjusted, and still thinking about mom and dad.

While it’s not difficult to believe a parent would reject his/her son or daughter when he/she comes out, the film relies heavily on typical made-for-TV theatrics and plot contrivances to send a warning to heterosexual viewers: don’t let this happen to you. In the final scene, Tess makes sure it doesn’t by picking up the phone and extending an invitation to Jeff and his friend Stuart to spend the holidays with her.

The following year, CBS aired its own gay teen movie-of-the-week,
Welcome Home, Bobby
(1986). The original story involved a high school senior, Bobby Cavalero (Timothy Williams), who is arrested during a drug raid while in the company of an older gay man. Unlike Jeff, Bobby isn’t entirely sure he is gay, though their fathers feel the same way about having a queer son. But while Ken is able to distance himself from Jeff, Bobby’s dad, Joe (Tony LoBianco), has to deal with the situation because Bobby is a minor still living at home.

When rumors about the arrest spread around school, Bobby starts getting harassed by a gang of students who nearly drown him in the swimming pool. The only support Bobby receives is from a bohemian couple, Beth and Cleary (Nan Woods and Adam Baldwin), and a gay teacher, Mr. Geffin Uohn Karlen).

Unfortunately, the film’s potential to expose the rejection, hatred, and violence a gay teenager is confronted with at school and at home is compromised by the decision to play it safe and keep Bobby’s sexuality ambiguous. Also, by depicting Mark Reed (Stephen James), the older man Bobby becomes involved with, as a letch who preys on teenagers, homosexuality is hardly painted in a positive light. Yet his teacher, Mr. Geffin is obviously introduced to demonstrate that there are healthy, normal, well-adjusted gay men in the world. He opens up to Bobby and tells him he lives a quiet, happy life with his longtime lover. However, his closeted status at school (he clues Bobby by secretly writing “I am gay” on the blackboard) contradicts any positive message he is trying to send. Furthermore, as Keith Howes observes, “there is, as usual, nary a hint that anything approaching a gay community or a small group of understanding individuals could be there for Bobby to help him sort through his muddled feelings.”
⁵⁹
Despite some overly melodramatic moments between father and son, Williams’s performance perfectly captures the confusion and angst experienced by many teens coming to terms with their sexual identity.

Far more problematic is the critically acclaimed
Doing Time on Maple Drive
(1992). Directed by
thirtysomething
star Ken Olin,
Maple Drive
is the story of the Carters, an All-American dysfunctional family. The family is under the control of Phil Carter (James B. Sikking), an ex-military man, whose idea of parenting is demanding perfection from his troubled children: Tim (Jim Carrey), an alcoholic who feels like a failure; Karen (Jayne Brook), the insecure daughter hiding her pregnancy and contemplating an abortion because her husband Tom (David Bryon) can’t support his family; and Matt (William McNamara), the overachiever who attempts suicide to avoid telling his family he is gay.

The family’s secrets begin to surface when Matt’s fiancée, Allison (Lori Loughlin), discovers he’s gay. Matt confides in his best man, Andy (Phillip Linton), who is surprised but supportive (as long as he doesn’t sing show tunes on long car rides).
⁶⁰
Still afraid to tell his family, a distraught Matt comes close to crashing his car on purpose. When he finally tells his parents the truth, his mother, Lisa (Bibi Besch) becomes hysterical. We find out she’s been in denial about her son because she once walked in on Matt and a male friend in the middle of an intimate moment. But she is mostly concerned about what their friends will think when they cancel the wedding. Meanwhile, Phil gets very quiet and tries to understand why his son would think his parents would rather have him dead than disappoint them.

For the first 85 minutes, Phil is an oppressive monster, so it’s difficult to accept his transformation into a somewhat rational, calming force in the final ten. Equally problematic is Lisa’s near-breakdown when her son admits he is gay. Her reaction is way, way over-the-top, which seems unfair considering Phil is the one demonized up until this point. Of course, it’s reasonable to believe Matt’s suicide attempt would be enough of a wake-up call for Phil. Though it’s made clear he’ll need time to come to terms with his son’s homosexuality (the fact Alexander the Great was gay and a great general is in Matt’s favor), the film ends on a quiet, hopeful note. But after 95 minutes of
sturm und drang,
it’s all tied up a little too neatly and far too quickly.

The inclusion of teenage gay and lesbian characters on television dramas such as
Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek,
and
My So-Called Life
has no doubt had a positive impact on young gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals who may be feeling isolated or confused. Most plotlines revolve around a gay teen who has accepted the fact he/she is gay and is now ready to come out to a close friend or family member. It’s not only important for teenagers — gay and straight — to see a gay teen getting the support of his/her peers, but to see gay characters like Rickie on
My So-Called Life
, Jack on
Dawson’s Creek,
and Willow on
Buffy
as series regulars treated as just “one of the gang.”

Of course, right-wing Christian groups fail to see the increased visibility of gay youth on television as progressive. The Christian Action Network made a failed attempt in 1999 to convince the networks to rate programming specifically for HC — “Homosexual Content” — as part of the industry’s new self-imposed (and very confusing) rating systems. In an appearance on CNN’s
Talkback Live,
CAN President Martin Mawyer accused certain shows of “trying to...change the value systems of Americans, and, in particular, change the value system of children.”
⁶¹
A more direct attack was launched in March of 1999 against
Dawson’s Creek
over the “coming out” of Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) on a two-part episode that aired on February 10 (“To Be or Not to Be...”) and 17 (“...That is the Question”). Mike Gabbard, president of the Hawaii-based Stop Promoting Homosexuality International, led the protest outside the Wilmington, North Carolina studio where the show is filmed. Robert Hales, a 17-year-old who was one of the 30 teens participating in the protest, told an AP reporter, “We’re sick and tired of Hollywood trying to force its pro-homosexual values down teenagers’ throats...This show is one hundred times worse than
Ellen.
because they’re targeting high school kids.”
⁶²

It is high school and junior high school students, however — both gay and straight — who need to know that it’s “O.K. to be gay” the most. According to Columbia University researcher Joyce Hunter, who has been studying gay youth since the 1970s, teenagers are confronted with the issue at an earlier age. In a poll conducted with U.S. teens, 3 to 10 percent identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or “questioning” their sexuality. In San Francisco, it is as high as 18 percent. Hunter believes the percentage is higher than past years because there are more opportunities today to interact through the internet or community support groups.

Increased visibility also creates more problems for gay teens, who have become the target of violence on student campuses and are prone to depression and suicide. The latter assertion, made back in 1994 by the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.), was refuted by researchers. They claim there is no evidence to support the link between sexual orientation and suicide. But such data is difficult to collect and, as Clinton Anderson of the A.P.A. states, “the lack of ‘good science’ on the issue should not be an excuse for not helping teens who need it.”

The majority of gay teenagers on television are males who are non-stereotypical in appearance and behavior. In an obvious attempt to challenge their audience’s pre-conceived ideas of what a homosexual looks and acts like, these guys are usually athletes (which, ironically, makes it tougher for them to come out to their friends, who tend to be more homophobic than most).

Two early examples are HBO’s
The Truth About Alex
(1986) and an episode of the CBS Schoolbreak Special,
What If I’m Gay?
(1987). Alex is a well-crafted drama about the relationship between two high school football teammates, Brad (Scott Baio), the star quarterback who is headed for West Point, and Alex (Peter Spence), the team’s wide receiver and a gifted pianist. The teleplay is an adaptation of
Counterplay,
a young adult novel by Anne Snyder and Louis Pelletier. The novel recounts the background of Brad and Alex’s friendship, including a backpacking trip they took together when Alex comes out to Brad, who tells him it doesn’t make a difference.

The TV version, however, uses an incident later in the book as the impetus for Alex’s coming out to Brad. When Alex stops in a local gas station bathroom during a jog, a trucker makes a pass at Alex. When the teen resists, the trucker accuses Alex of putting the moves on him. A panicked Alex tells Brad what happened and suggests calling the police, but Alex says he can’t because he is gay. The scene is problematic because it reinforces a gay male stereotype (the homosexual preying on teenage boys in a restroom). From a narrative standpoint, Alex’s “coming out” to Brad, which is so simple and honest in the novel, is overshadowed by the nasty incident.

Once the truth about Alex begins to spread, both guys find themselves up against their homophobic coach and teammates. In addition, Brad’s girlfriend, Kay (Jessica Steen) resents how his friendship with Alex is affecting their social status as the school’s “coolest couple.” Brad’s biggest obstacle is his father, Major Stevens (Michael J. Reynolds), who orders him to stay clear of Brad because it could jeopardize his commission to West Point. Fortunately for Alex, his father (Robin Ward) is sympathetic and supportive. The story concludes with the quarterback and the receiver scoring the touchdown that wins the big game. Brad, who threw the winning pass, defies his father and refuses to end his friendship with Alex.

Although the story contains many familiar elements — the big game finish, the controlling military officer/father —
The Truth About Alex
does offer what was at the time a rare depiction of gay-straight male teen friendship. In an ideal world, every high school students would have a friend as loyal and understanding as Brad.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case in the CBS Schoolbreak Special,
What If I’m Gay?,
which spins a similar story involving a high school soccer player named Todd (Richard Joseph Paul), who tries to come to terms with his homosexuality and loses his best friend in the process.

Todd’s secret is uncovered when his friends Alan (Evan Handler) and Kirk (Manfred Melcher) find a “fag mag” in Todd’s desk. Todd pretends he bought it for a weight lifting article, but they soon figure out the truth when he starts making derogatory remarks about homosexuals in public. The tension between Todd and Kirk causes a rift in their friendship. Alan, who has always felt somewhat different himself, remains loyal, though concerned about Todd. At one point, he mistakenly thinks Todd may even try to kill himself.

Fortunately, Todd is able to have a heart-to-heart with his understanding coach/school counselor (Ed Marinaro), who encourages him to simply be himself. The issue of AIDS is raised during their conversation, though Todd assures him it’s not an issue because he’s a virgin. Although their exchange sounds a little didactic, it still carries a gay affirmative message to its young audience.

In the final scene, Todd confronts Kirk about his homophobia, which is tied into his fear he might be gay too. But Todd sets him straight by assuring him their sexual experimentation as kids was healthy, normal, adolescent behavior. Kirk gets the message and suggests they return to being friends.

Although his change in attitude is a little quick and unconvincing, the fact that they engaged in some childhood hanky panky is indeed significant. Same-sex experimentation and masturbation are taboo subjects, even though it’s an integral part of the sexual development of both heterosexual and homosexual adolescents.

But Alex and Todd would be glad to know they’re not alone. In the 1990s, it seemed every high school on television had their token gay jock. During her summer vacation,
Beverly Hills 90210’s
Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) makes a play for a member of the West Beverly High School track team, Kyle Connors (David Lascher). When they go out on a date (“Summer Storm”), she is disappointed he doesn’t display any sexual interest in her — until he reveals the reason. “I never slept with a girl before,” Kyle admits, “and I don’t know if I want to.” So Kelly feels better about herself, as does the confused Kyle, who has admitted to someone for the first time he’s confused.

Kyle returns in a later episode (“A Competitive Edge”) that concerns steroid use by the track team. When Brandon (Jason Priestly) decides to write an expose for the school paper, he starts sniffing around the weight room to find out where he can score something to get himself bigger faster. Later that night, Kyle meets Brandon in a dark remote spot to share “his” secret — but not the one you think. “I don’t like keeping secrets,” Kyle explains. “That’s why I’m here...I’m good at reading people, especially when they have secrets to hide.” When the story is published, the steroid users gang up on their teammate, Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering), who also recently started to partake himself, because he’s tight with Brandon. Fortunately, Kyle steps forward and “comes out” as Brandon’s source by admitting “I can’t keep living a lie.”

“A Competitive Edge” is essentially Kyle’s “coming out” episode, except homosexuality is displaced onto the dangers of steroid use. To refresh the audience’s memory, there is a flashback to the scene in “Summer Storm” in which Kyle coumes out to Kelly. The pair obviously have remained friends since. Kyle also seems to be less confused about his sexuality and expresses to Kelly how much he enjoys being with her because he can be himself. It’s too bad the producers didn’t seize the opportunity to explore the gay angle more directly, though the series would make up for it later with several story lines devoted to gay and lesbian characters (see pg. 175).

While Kyle is a sensitive, soft-spoken high school jock,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
s Larry Blaisedale (Larry Bagby III) is a loudmouth, sexist bully. Beneath his neanderthal exterior, however, is a gay man screaming to get out. In “Phases,” Xander (Nicholas Brendon) is trying to track down the identity of a killer werewolf preying on Sunnydale High. He’s convinced it’s Larry (“The guy’s practically got wolf-boy stamped on his forehead”), so he decides to force a confession out of him. When Xander confronts Larry about what he’s been doing at night, he does indeed confess, except not to being a werewolf:

Larry is eternally grateful to Xander for helping him come out, but Xander never gets a chance to fully explain. So now Larry thinks Xander is also gay. What makes the situation so comical isn’t simply the whole mistaken identity situation, which has been done so many times before on situation comedies, but rather Xander’s reaction to Larry’s revelation. He becomes homophobic and paranoid, causing him to misinterpret his conversations with Buffy, who he fears knows about his conversation with Larry. So when Xander states he’ll never be able to look at “him” again, Buffy thinks he means their friend Oz (Seth Green), who turns out to be a werewolf. Buffy replies “He’s still a human being most of the time.”

The parallel drawn between Larry (the homosexual) and Oz (the werewolf) offers a positive message about the importance of accepting those who are different. Larry also doesn’t disappear at the end of the episode, but returns the next season to help Oz and Buffy’s watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) battle vampires (“The Wish”). He is also there on the front line when his graduating class leads the charge against the Mayor and a horde of vampires during the infamous Graduation Day showdown (“Graduation Day, Parts 1 & 2”).

College can also be a difficult time for a gay “straight acting guy” who is forced to live a double life or risk losing his friends. On
90210,
the “gay-nervous” Steve Sanders confronts his homophobia when he and Brandon wait in a gay coffee house for a tow truck. Steve is shocked to see the president of his fraternity, Mike Ryan (Jack Armstrong), who mistakenly thinks Steve is gay. Later, back at the Kappa Epsilon Gamma house, some of Steve’s frat brothers coincidentally start making anti-gay jokes aimed at Steve, who defends himself by outing Mike. When most of the brothers, led by Artie Devers (Todd Bryant), try to kick Mike out, Steve comes to his defense.

The episode illustrates why we have a moral obligation to speak up when we see injustice being committed, especially if it means confronting our own fears. The fraternity holds a meeting to oust Mike, who, speaking on his own behalf, explains that he imagines how the first African-American, Hispanic, Jewish, and Asian pledges must have felt. Consequently, he understands that being gay isn’t really the problem, but rather the fear of not understanding people who are different. Artie doesn’t buy the comparison between race and sex, but Steve steps in and convinces the fraternity to keep Mike on as their president by appealing to their sense of brotherhood. In true
90210
fashion, the conflict is resolved a little too quickly. But the change in Steve’s attitude from the first scene in the gay coffee house to his final speech is realistic.

Before its April 1994 airing, screenings of
90210’s
“Blind Spot,” sponsored by GLAAD/LA, were held in Los Angeles for the Youth Services branch of the Gay and Lesbian Services, the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS) and the Eagle Center. A question-and-answer session was held after each screening with one of the show’s executive producers, Chuck Rosin, and Todd Bryant, who plays the homophobic Artie Devers.