Gay Thursdays: Life & Death

This week’s Gay Thursday takes us to Gay-TV inspired by Michael Jensen at AferElton. The following is his tease over there with CoL comments in brackets:

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Brothers & Sisters set where I chatted with Matthew Rhys who plays Kevin Walker, Ron Rifkin who plays Uncle Saul, and the show's executive producer Jon Robin Baitz. Friday's BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER! will have all the details, but right now I thought I'd share some news Baitz revealed during the set visit. We'd already heard that Kevin's first love interest on the show -- Scotty Wandell played by Luke MacFarlane [There is a new unofficial site for the actor--visit here--from our own BGR Design] -- would be back for an episode. But for all you Scotty lovers I have good great news -- Scotty will be back for seven episodes and Baitz told me a little more about the character. Here is everything I learned about Luke, plus a few other details.




• The show returns Sundays at 10 PM starting September 30. [There had been some speculation that it was moving to another night]
• Eric Winters is only back for one episode, but that could change. He was actually on the set during the visit though I didn't have time to chat with him. I'm happy to report he is just as handsome in person as on TV. (And Matthew Rhys is better looking in real life. TV just doesn't do him justice!) [Speculation in these parts is that Hugh Jackman’s show will not last—as loved as Jackman may be.]
• When asked if Kevin and Scotty would get back together, Baitz said: "We're really interested in exploring what it could mean for these two characters to get to know each other even more than they have. Not just romantically, but truly as friends; as people who can talk to each other. So you're going to see that storyline evolve surprisingly. I don't want to tell too much. I think having him back is such a delight. Where we find him when we come back is a man trying to pull his life together and I take really special care with those characters -- Kevin and Scotty."
• When asked about whether Luke was back because of fan reaction and his chemistry with Matthew: "I always knew that it was extraordinary and they freedom they had is why it is working so well and they're such great strong actors. Everyone agreed. The studio. The network. The people who loved the show -- so it was a given."




This is a great spoiler for all the gay fans—actually all fans—of this great soap opera and while this would be filler in the television section for most mainstream newspapers, the concept that Baitz and company have given us a male homosexual character who makes very similar motions to his heterosexual siblings is noteworthy, and noteworthy that it is being supported by the network.




What gives it more import are the real life speculations regarding Luke MacFarlane and his alleged consort, Wentworth Miller, compliments of one Perez Hilton.

Of course, the good people who populate Datalounge have about nine discussion threads with reference to the story and the ensuing issue about whether an actor should come out publicly. Here’s a good sampling:

Regarding Miller: He did not go out of his way to lie. He has never said he was straight, just that he wasn't gay, and followed that up by telling people they were free to imagine him with a man (he said "man" first), a woman, or one of each. I would say that is less than a sturdy and resolute declaration of heterosexuality.




The response: You know, you can go out of your way to defend him, and that's admirable but at the end of the day if he's gay (or even bi in a relationship with a man) and he's hedging round a direct response because he's scared of offending someone, suddenly being seen out with girls and having his people rerun old quotes then I'm sorry, whatever way you want to dress it up, it's a lie.
Now I don't necessarily blame him, he's not the one that created a homophobic atmosphere and he just wants to work and be successful, I can understand that. But the fact is, when you enter the cult of celebrity at any level, people are curious about you and you choose to enter a lion's den of sorts. If the truth comes out about you it has ways of coming out. I do feel sorry for him, he seems a nice guy and I don't think anyone wants to see anyone get hurt but sooner or later someone's gonna have to march up to the plate and admit they are gay and fuck what the world thinks. How many more generations of people are going to have to hide away because of the notion everybody else "can't cope" with who they really are?

No, it shouldn't be up to Wentworth to carry everybody, but he is equally being dismissive, and evasive, none of which exactly helps. There are ways and means and maybe the best is to say nothing and let people think what they want until you are ready, whenever that is.

George Clooney has made a career out of saying ambiguous things and his appeal is still intact. I don't know whether Wentworth is just all at sea or is badly repped but they certainly seem to jump into PR mode when any hint of gay appears. No matter how you try to gloss over it, if it's not him, if it's not the real Wentworth, then it's not the truth = it's a lie.




The importance behind something like this is brought home especially with the current news story of a 26 year old murderer in Texas, Terry Mangum, who feels no remorse for brutally murdering a gay man to send him to hell, because he was chosen by God to do so. Whether or not this a ploy on his part to avoid Texan capital punishment—who knows there may very well be some God-fearing folk who would take his side—fact remains that that very attitude is nurtured by much dogmatic religious thinking from Ayatollahs to the country parson.

Living a lie, i.e. supporting the concept that homosexuals are not good people who should not be allowed the light of day, is death. AIDS activism taught the world that silence is death. Kevin’s recent romance with the Soap Opera actor was based, it has been said, on a real life experience of Jon Baitz.

What Baitz, Berlanti, Olin et al are doing with the gay fictional characters on a show like Brothers & Sisters is quite significant. Michael K. Williams as Omar Little on The Wire also quite important, as is much of the gay persona on Cable shows. However, network shows have a wider audience. Network television, remember, is the most accessible art in the world.

If life were to imitate art, perhaps there might be some life before death.