ABC Is Either the Most Homo-Hypocritical Network, or Among the Most Gay-Friendly 37292

Quite often, we’re in agreement with Nikki Finke, such as when she’s poking fun at the Los Angeles Times or wondering what Jeff Zucker is doing with a job, still, at NBC. And then there was the LA Weekly columnist’s Friday piece on ABC’s supposed hypocrisy about the gays.

On the one hand, ABC has fired Isaiah Washington for calling T.R. Knight a faggot. On the other hand, ABC’s programming, such as its daytime soaps, often carry anti-gay storylines. Is ABC having its sugar-free cake and eating it too?

Yes, says Finke.

I’ll go ahead and make the accusation: ABC Entertainment regularly airs programming that is anti-gay. I am specifically referring to the network’s recent plots portraying non-heterosexual men as serial killers or accused multimurderers or suspected deviants on its three daytime soap operas. There is no way that this can be called a positive or even neutral depiction of gay or transgender male characters. I’ve held back reporting this because I first wanted to see what long-term consequences Washington’s use of an anti-guy slur, and then attempt to cover it up, would have on his future with the show. (Grey’s Anatomy is owned by ABC Television Studios which is a division of ABC which is a division of Walt Disney.)

Regarding homosexuality, Erica Kane’s daughter Bianca on ABC’s All My Children in 2000 declared herself a lesbian and from then on became the moral compass of the show. And, indeed, lesbians on soap opera do seem to get more positive portrayals. Nor is it unusual on soaps to see gay characters anguish because of their sexuality.

But, in 2005, ABC’s One Life To Live began airing a long and central storyline in which Daniel Colson, who’s the local District Attorney and a married man, becomes a vicious serial killer to keep his homosexuality secret from his family and colleagues.

No, says us.

ABC is also home to Ugly Betty, which threw a transgender character (Rebecca Romijn’s Alexis Mead) into the center of the plot without even a whisper of controversy. And while she began as a villainous character, everyone on that show except Betty has an agenda. Meanwhile, the “gay nephew” character’s gayness was only part of the plot when it came to his relationship with his father (which, over a multi-episode story arc, eventually smoothed over). And the gay assistant? Okay, fine: he’s a minstrel show a little bit.

As for gays playing villains on ABC daytime? Why not? It’s about the time homos got a shot a role that didn’t involve them styling hair or saying “fabulous.”