Are you fucking kidding me?

Alright NBC, what the hell is going on? Are you telling me that, in 2006, you can't have a minor, peripheral character on a TV show be openly gay? Are you telling me that this character can be conceived, written and basically taken for granted as gay, confirmed as being gay by the show's creators, and then be ret-conned into a straight boy, after he's essentially come out, after the thematic parallel between his coming out and a major character's hidden secret has already been firmly established? And are you telling me that no one is prepared to offer an explanation as to why this has happened? Are you fucking kidding me?

Let me tell you, I take what I can get. It may be difficult to understand for straight audiences, but gay people have to put up with almost complete invisibility in our pop culture, aside from stereotypical and offensive representation, both positive and negative, and in between. Very often, the only representation we see besides that is when the show decides it wants to tackle either "the gay issue," or "the AIDS issue," and thus seem progressive and inclusive, when really it's being anything but. Even the most famous gay couple in history was reduced in epic docudrama to being little more than affectionate friends. (True, if one reads between the lines it's easy to see their erotic love for each other, but considering their on-camera affection is limited to a few hugs, while there is an extremely explicit and heterosexual sex scene with a woman of far less importance, I can't help but feel a bit cheated.) In the 21st century, it's ridiculous and outrageous that this is the state of affairs, and yet it is.

So that's why I take what I can get. And if what I can get isn't even a mostly unimportant, peripheral character, then I'm more than a little bit disheartened.