It's time for the lavender diapers to
come out on ABC. In not one but two shows this season the network
will present positive portrayals of what it means to be a parent and
gay.
ABC's Modern Family includes a
gay male couple raising a Vietnamese baby they have just adopted.
The couple, played by average-Joe Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Class)
and teddy-bearish Eric Stonestreet (CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation), are far from the fabulousness of the gay
characters found on ABC's Ugly Betty.
In an August 25 interview with Theater
Mania, Broadway-veteran Ferguson startled us with the news
that he is openly gay. When asked, “Do you think it's
sociologically important for you, as a gay man, to play a gay dad?”
Ferguson clipped right by, answering, “I want the show to breathe
and be what it is without putting too much social responsibility on
it or myself right off the bat.”
Ferguson plays Mitchell, who is very
nervous about becoming a father. “He is probably exactly how I
would be as a new dad,” he said.
The comedy, filmed in a documentary
style, revolves around the lives of three families living in Chicago.
Modern Family premieres Wednesday, September 23.
Whether Kevin and Scotty will get a
bundle of joy this season or next on Brothers and Sisters is
still being debated among writers on the show, but how the men become
parents will be explored this season, producers have confirmed.
Supervising Producer Monica Owusu-Breen
told AfterElton.com
that there is a possibility that the men become fathers during the
upcoming fourth season, which premieres on Sunday, September 17.
“Things change quickly in television,
so I don't want to say definitively that there won't be a child,”
she said. “But we're not planning for it this season. Right now
the plan is next season.”
Gay Entertainment Report is a feature
of On Top Magazine and can be reached at
ontopmag@ontopmag.com.