#10: the evolution of gay T.V. characters

This weekend I visited the website Afterelton.com/tv and realized that I am not very familiar with shows involving gay characters. After scanning the site, I realized that I did not recognize one t.v. show name and the only t.v. show I watch regularly with an openly gay character is South Park (and the main gay character isn't always a man, doesn't always like women, and is sometimes transsexual or even bisexual, or a mix of all of these). I did however, read the article "Survival of the Fab-est: how gay T.V. characters evolve" and learned that the writers for this site are not only wacky, but way over the top. Steven Frank, the writer of this article described the hypothetical situation where scientists discover the evolution of gay television characters as "a pivotal moment in the 22nd century". It is obvious to see that Frank believes that gay men are represented fairly in television and have earned "tolerance, if not outright acceptance" (as he uses almost five pages to prove his point with examples from THE WAR AT HOME, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, MELROSE PLACE, WILL & GRACE and many many other shows), but he goes as far as to credit the evolution of the typical gay television characters to some wacky natural selection mixed with television characters theory rather than simply realize that it is part of gays being accepted more often as the times progress. It is very important for us to realize when magazines or e-zines are writing opinion, such as this one is, because sometimes we forget that people just like you and me are writing them and get lost in believing anything we see that is written down.