progress?

I don't know how I feel about Glee. I know that I enjoy the music and the the plots sometimes, but I just don't know if I can get behind a show that writes lines for a token gay character that begin with "As an honorary girl..." I was watching last night, thoroughly enjoying the performances and "gleeking" out with my friend over the sheer decadence of it all, when that line jumped out and smacked me in the face. It was such a shock- I stopped paying attention for a second and had to re-adjust. Why was that necessary? The obvious answer is a cheap laugh. Unacceptable. The writing is usually above that.

This is tricky, though- because as a general rule the show is pretty progressive. I can absolutely get behind a show that brings music into the public consciousness, supports and showcases young and relatively unknown performers, and has reached vast commercial success without being another cop show.

Also, I'm a gay man, so I guess I should be pleased that one of the supporting characters is a gay kid. But is that reason enough to celebrate it? Is the mere presence of a gay character enough to make me love the show unconditionally? Don't get me wrong- I think its great that gay people are being more publicly represented in the media- what I don't like is that the character is trivialized as a ditzy fashion whore with a goofy voice. I didn't like it on Jack McFarland and I don't like it on Kurt Hummel. It's not progress- it's heterosexism disguised as progress. Sometimes you're gay and a ditzy fashion whore with a goofy voice, and that's completely fine. But sometimes you're gay and not a ditzy fashion whore with a goofy voice- which is also fine (but less entertaining, apparently.)

I don't hate anyone for behaving the way Kurt does on Glee, straight, gay, male female, whatever. I support being yourself regardless of your demographic. I just think its important to recognize that as a culture, we're not quite there yet- and by that I mean we're still pre-packaging homosexuality as comedy to make it more palatable for the mass consumer. I'm not going to celebrate yet.