1. Pride, patriotism, and Queer Eye.
- Author
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Vary, Adam B. and Fuchs, Rafael
- Subjects
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GAY rights - Abstract
This article presents an interview with Fab 5 members about their role in the gay rights revolution and how the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has affected their love lives. The show and its seemingly ubiquitous stars have come to represent an extraordinary nexus of countless pop-culture portrayals and landmark social advances gays and lesbians have enjoyed. Just as Ellen DeGeneres has reinvigorated her fan base by simply being Ellen, the Fab 5 do not need to address cultural flash points such as San Francisco's defiant jump-start of same-sex marriages or gays in the military. Simply by being themselves they are shedding light on the subject of gayness for the nation to see. The Fab 5 emphatically state that they never set out to be the poster boys for gay equality. To a man, Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley, and Jai Rodriguez as well as the show's out creator, David Collins, all insist that the show does not have any agenda, nor has it ever, beyond entertaining its viewers every Tuesday at 10 P.M. Rodriguez stresses no one talked to them about the political stuff that was going to come out of the show. When asked how the show has changed his life, Kressley immediately responds that the obvious answer is that instead of me writing letters to prison inmates, they write letters to him, which is wonderful. INSET: Jai's makeover.
- Published
- 2004