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Nomination for Favorite Gay/Lesbian Portrayal on TV:
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My favorite TV show with a gay/lesbian theme was an old episode of 
Cheers.  On that episode, an old friend of Sam's (who happens to have 
been a teammate on his professional baseball team) comes out as a gay 
man during a publicity show for his new book.  This part of the show
happens in the first five to ten minutes and the rest of the show
illustrates how people react to the news once the gay character is
off-stage. 

Sam is hurt and confused by the confession ("Yunno, why can't guys be 
guys?"); Dianne is cool and calm; and, Norm starts to get nervous that 
Cheers is going to become a gay bar once all the gay men find out how 
open Sam is to gay people.  

When a good-looking, well dressed couple of young men go up to the bar 
and order a light beer, Norm is convinced that the gay invasion has 
started.  The couple admits that they read in the paper about Sam's 
reaction to his buddy's comming out, and that they admire him for his 
stance.

Dianne adds fuel to the fire by stating to Norm that she knows for a 
fact that there are two gay men in the bar "right at this very moment." 
Norm organizes everyone else in the bar, and then procedes to go to
ridiculous lengths to drive the two young men out of the bar. 

After he finally succeeds, Norm gloats about his success.  
Unfortunately for him, Dianne tells him that the two gay men are 
still in the bar.  At which point, the two men on either side of Norm 
(older, graying, balding, casually dressed) lean toward him and kiss 
him on the cheek. [the curtain falls]

That's my favorite gay-themed TV show because it doesn't preach about 
being gay or having AIDS, but it delivers the message in a powerful 
way that we are everywhere and we're not all that different from you 
and yours.

Any thoughts?

			Gerry Fisher
                        ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-dssdev!fisher
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"In the bookstore I see lined up
 'Virgins Die Horny,'
 Sitting next to the 'Hite Report,'
 Sitting next to 'Love Story;'
 And I ask,
 What does sex mean to me
 And what does sex mean to society"         --Human Sexual Response