Tokenism and the Equal Rights Movement

I really, really hate discrimination. It's easy: everybody is equal, full stop. I don't know why this is so hard.

What's even harder, however, is when a move that should be common sense actually comes in response to criticism. I'm speaking, of course, of CBS's response to the GLAAD report giving them a "failing grade" in supporting gay characters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "entertainment president Nina Tassler said a gay character will be added to the new comedy '$H*! My Dad Says,' returning half-hour 'Rules of Engagement' and legal drama 'The Good Wife.'"

Um...

Okay, let's put it this way. First of all, the GLAAD report was absolutely correct in giving CBS a failing grade. But what makes CBS's response so obnoxious is its apparent tone-deafness. Simply adding characters just to get characters with those traits in is the very definition of tokenism. From where do you think the concept of "token black guy" came?

Look, for a moment, at some of the shows I consider the best on the air. Modern Family has a gay couple whose marriage is as functional (and disfunctional) as the show's two straight couples'. Comedy comes through that, of course, and it's not as if their homosexuality is hidden; it's simply another side to their characters.

So too is the relationship between Glee's Kurt Hummel and his father Burt a source for both comedy and soul-searing drama. The scene in which Burt confronts Finn over the latter's use of the word "fag" would rip your heart out.

And then there's Sam Adama, who's quietly redefining bad-ass little brother over on Caprica. The fact that he's not only gay but is married to a man named Larry; and that it all fits in beautifully with his undying devotion to his religion is all the more a foreign concept on American soil (even though it's really not, middle-class sensibilities don't like to be upset).

While there are some very positive gay male characters on my favorite TV shows, but there is a noticeable dearth of lesbians. I'd like to see more positive depictions of gay women on TV, particularly in the scripted arena (since I care precious little about reality television). But that doesn't mean I think shows should just start tossing on token lesbians just because there aren't any right now. These characters have to evolve naturally. There is nothing that feels forced about Kurt, or Sam, or, say, Lafayette from True Blood. They're easy to accept not because they're gay but because they're not just gay, and their presence is integral to their programs' respective plots.

I don't really care much for or about the CBS shows affected by this new directive from on-high, but I still think it matters. I fear that we're about to get a few tokens: an absurdly camp gay-faced minstrel in the vein of Jack from Will & Grace; a careerist female lawyer who looks smokin' hot in a short skirt but also dates women; and an "average" gay guy on whom William Shatner can work his best Archie Bunker impression. Dread..............

First Post

"Here's what I hope will happen on this trip," he says. "What I hope will happen, because it's already starting to happen. All of us are beginning to do our thing, and we're going to keep doing it, right out front, and none of us are going to deny what other people are doing." 

~ Ken Kesey, as quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (New York: Picador, 1968).

This is one of my favorite quotations from my favorite book of all time. It seemed rightly appropriate for a first blog post.

So what is this blog to be, then? Responsive, first of all. I don't expect to be breaking any news here. But it won't be personal, either. It will rather aggregate other news stories and my responses to them. And it'll certainly have its share of fun to it, too. Just doin' my own thing...