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By Rodger Streitmatter Media Matters The two most widely discussed portrayals of gay life on television these days are those on Will & Grace, one of the staples in NBC's "must-watch-TV" line-up, and Queer as Folk, the most popular program on the Showtime premium channel.
Cast of Real World's 11th season in Chicago
But my vote for the small-screen show that's doing the most to change the public perception of what it means to be gay in America is another weekly offering: Real World. I'm not going to criticize the first two programs I mentioned-though I can't resist pointing out that Will has yet to so much as hold hands with a guy, while the boys of Babylon don't waste time on romance but head right for the bedroom-but to focus on some of the messages that the current Real World season has been sending about how gay people conduct their lives. Since the premiere of the innovative MTV program in 1992, gay young people have consistently been included in the groups of twenty-something strangers who are brought together to live in the same apartment for a period of months-the cameras rolling virtually every minute. The initial group of roommates included Norman Korpi, an out gay man, and a later season featured Danny Roberts, an out gay man who was dating a guy who was not only in the closet but also in the Navy, putting Real World squarely in the middle of the gays-in-the-military political brouhaha.
The Pedro Zamora storyline may have done more to educate American young people about HIV and AIDS than any other television program before or since. The current season is not breaking ground of such historic proportions, but it's still showing elements of gay life that many TV viewers are unfamiliar with. The seven cast members include Chris, a gay man, and Aneesa, a lesbian. Although both young people have discussed their sexuality on the program, only Chris has publicly revealed his last name and other details about his life. Before Chris Beckman, 24, came to Chicago to join the other cast members, he was an artist living in Boston. It had been as an 18-year-old freshman at Suffolk University that Chris had first tasted the kind of urban gay life that is available to a handsome and athletic young man. After a year of drinking heavily and experimenting with drugs, he lost his scholarship.
During the first segment in January, Chris told his roommates-during a get-acquainted session in the Jacuzzi-that he was a recovering alcoholic. He made no mention, however, of his sexuality. "It's tough to come out up front, within the first two hours of meeting one another," he said during a taped interview that aired during the segment. "I made the decision not to come out because it's not, you know, 'Hi, my name is Chris and I'm gay.' I'm all these other things, too. Gay is just my sexuality." Aneesa, by contrast, told her housemates immediately that she was a lesbian. The attractive young African American woman also immediately informed them-by showing, not telling-that she had no inhibitions about her body. From day one, Aneesa walked around the apartment nude, including in front of the three male cast members.
Chris and Theo have never had a direct confrontation about their dramatically different views of gay men, but Theo, who is African American, again made his position clear for a second time while Chris was dating a handsome gay man named Kurt. After spending a weekend with Chris, Kurt sent his new beau a bouquet of flowers. Theo was appalled. "This is definitely a little bit too gay for me," he announced. "This is a little bit too damned gay." Chris and Kurt's weekend together provided the season with its boldest gay-oriented images. On one occasion, the video camera showed the two men, fully clothed, lying on a bed together kissing. Later that night, the guys were shown, both shirtless, cuddling together on the bed with their bodies curved close against each other. It is unclear if they had sex, but they definitely spent the night in the same bed. And the next morning, they were decidedly frisky, patting each other on the bottom as Kurt left the apartment. NBC's has never even dreamed of allowing Will to have that level of physical contact with another man. Besides showing the viewing public that gay people who like each other-surprise!-show affection for each other, this season's Real World has also been doing its share to break gay stereotypes. Chris, for example, is no limp-wristed wimp. When the three male roommates took a swimming test in an effort to become lifeguards, it was Theo who flunked, not Chris. The show is also showing Chris to be a person of character, integrity, and strength: He was up front about being a recovering alcoholic. He willingly expressed his spiritual side. He was honest in his relationship-when Chris saw that Kurt wanted to take their relationship to the next level, he said, directly and forthrightly, that he needed to work on his own sobriety instead. "Right now," Chris said, "I'm honestly not looking for a partner-a partner is somewhere in the future." But the most important message of all that both Chris and Aneesa are sending to America about gay life is that, well, gay life is not all that different from life.
Early this month, a weekly episode that was taped last September showed how the seven roommates reacted to the terrorist attacks. Chris and Aneesa sat glued to the television while, like their straight counterparts, expressing a variety of emotions that ranged from shock and anger to sadness and vulnerability. At one point, one of the other girls was so upset that she broke into tears, and Aneesa comforted her. At another poignant moment, Theo was so distraught that he pulled all seven of the roommates together for a group hug-Chris included. In short, in the real world of Real World, gay people are portrayed as being, like other people, multi-dimensional human beings. As Chris said in one segment: "I love men. But that's just part of me. That's not all of me." |
Pedro Zamora: Cast member of Real World 3
Chris Beckman 
Chris and Kyle pal around in Chicago 