# TV & Movie Characters Who HAD to Have Been Gay, but Weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436 "2003-12-17T01:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/81 "2003-12-18T18:05:37Z")
Colonel Klink Pottsie Arnold Horshack Leather Tuskadero The butch girl from Facts of Life ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/82 "2003-12-18T18:15:51Z")
Chris on the Partridge Family Wednesday Addams (for awhile anyway, then the “coolness” wore off and she went back to being straight) Mr. French Racer X Lamont Sandford (he was on the DL) Alfred, the butler at stately Wayne Manor ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/83 "2003-12-18T19:18:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Xena and Gabrielle were most likely bi. It’s now canon that Xena and Gabrielle were lovers. I’m looking for a cite from Lucy Lawless’ “outing” of the characters. Thank you, **dav01**. I was losing my faith in humanity. A second for Jo and Blair from the **Facts of Life**. Sam Carter and Dr. Frasier from **Stargate SG1**. “Sam”? Please. And they’re raising a child together. The Trio from **Buffy**. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/84 "2003-12-18T19:28:18Z")
Cite for the ancient Greek [babes](http://www.lesbiannews.com/archives/03_01.html). ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/85 "2003-12-18T19:35:55Z")
Clayton Endicott from **Benson.** It’s that moustache that just screams “gay porn”. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/86 "2003-12-18T19:37:00Z")
There was an actual funny sketch on _Mad TV_ once (really!) spoofing _Caroline In The City_ being profiled by an entertainment news show.“Lea Thompson” was gushing endlessly to the interviewer about the show and the romantic subplot of Caroline and Richard. All the while “Malcolm Gets” was camping it up and could barely contain his disgust at kissing a woman when it came time to film their kissing scenes. After the episode of _The Andy Griffith Show_ where the men all get upset when Barbara Eden sets up a manicure table in the barbershop, I’ve always said there was a lot more going on in that barbershop than just haircuts and shooting the breeze. On _M_A_S_H\*, there were also the episodes where Winchester spurned the French Red Cross worker because of her bohemian ways that his family wouldn’t understand, but it was established that they had slept together. There was also the episode where he returns from a conference in Tokyo hungover and aghast that he may have gotten married while drunk. Then again, I figured BJ was in the closet and fighting against it when he grew that gay porn mustache. Snagglepuss Buddy Lembeck from _Charles In Charge_. The slavish devotion to Charles who belittles and pokes fun of him at every turn. The overcompensating by chasing every girl on in town, yet not trying to get some action from the Powell sisters. The episodes where he and Adam disappear on some hairbrained scheme. It’s all there. Paul Reiser’s character on _My Two Dads_. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/87 "2003-12-18T19:37:50Z")
Tinky-Winky Marvin the Martian (easy) Bob and Doug McKenzie Private Pyle ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/88 "2003-12-18T19:56:26Z")
I used to watch “Caroline in the City” and I couldn’t believe that they made Richard (Malcom Getz) her love interest. I just wanted to take Caroline aside and say “Don’t you know he’s gay?” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/89 "2003-12-18T20:02:17Z")
Back in reality… Matthew on NewsRadio (or any character Andy Dick plays for that matter) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/90 "2003-12-18T20:02:37Z")
I can’t believe none of you said C-3P0, even as a joke! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/91 "2003-12-18T20:16:16Z")
The photographer from _Suddenly Susan_ I mean come on, a show set at a magazine in San Francisco and no one’s gay? What is this, science fiction? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/92 "2003-12-18T20:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Um, I thought the point of **Love, Sydney** was that he WAS gay! \*\* Weird progression. In the movie he was **definitely** gay. Sydney was a commercial artist with no living relatives whose long-time lover (Martin) had just left him (or died? don’t remember which) and he was completely alone and took in the struggling actress as a roommate. When she became pregnant (unwed) by a brief fling she decides to have an abortion but Sydney convinced her not to, even offering to marry her (she kept the baby but declined the marriage). She had the baby, for five years Sydney was essentially the little girl’s father figure, and then the mother (Lorna Patterson in the movie, Swoosie Kurtz in the series) married and moved to the West Coast, causing Sydney to sue for custody of the child (in part because “she wouldn’t have even been born if it weren’t for me” and, more selfishly, “I love her as much as you do- you can have more, I won’t”). He lost the case but the mother agreed to split custody with him. The TV series opened with Laurie (now played by Swoosie) bringing Patti for a visit to NYC. While there, she learns that both her TV show and her marriage are over and she ends up moving back in with Sydney. Initially there are some remarks made about his being gay (though, like Will Truman, he never dated), then he becomes more of a fuss-budget bachelor (a latter day Felix) who mother hens the lady and girl living in his house. Finally the show comes full circle in the “heterozation” of Felix II when Sydney has a brief affair with a beautiful young female co-worker, and after that his sex-life is never addressed again. Abortion, homosexuality and single-mothers were all pretty racy in that long ago-not so long ago age of television, so perhaps it was a decision that they needed to drop just one of the themes in order to get ratings in Middle America. Even so, it was one of the first positive portrayals of a gay man in TV while it was positively portraying a gay man and it’s amazing how forgotten it is. (I remember liking the show, but then I was about 15 at the time and I haven’t seen it since; I also remember liking _FACTS OF LIFE_ and thinking it was well written and later watching it and thinking “man, this was crap!”, so I don’t know if I’d like it now.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/93 "2003-12-18T20:40:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dav01 \* > **Jo on _Facts of Life_- please don’t tell me I’m the only one who came to this conclusion…** I even assumed the actress was gay and was surprised when I learned recently she’s married and expecting her first child. (I wonder where [Lisa Whelchel](http://www.lisawhelchel.com/) , who’s now a very conservative Christian homeschool mom, stands on the gay issue, since she has to have grown up around people in show business.) ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/94 "2003-12-18T20:43:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysler \* > \*\*The Trio from **Buffy**. \*\* Andrew, perhaps, but the other two I don’t buy. Warren had an ex-girlfriend mind-controlled sex slave, for God’s sake, and the other two were more than willing to “take a turn” if the opportunity hadn’t gone suddenly all murderous. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/95 "2003-12-18T20:55:54Z")
Pretty much every male character on **Star Trek, The Next Generation** with the exceptions of Worf and Jean Luc Picard. (This is why Worf always seemed vaguely annoyed. All the ogling was getting on his nerves.) ---
**Author:** ![dav01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@dav01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dav01)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/96 "2003-12-18T21:05:46Z")
Okay, okay- as far as the whole **Sydney** thing goes, I admit it- naming that character in this post was wrong, wrong, wrong. Clearly, he was gay, so he doesn’t fit into the category of “characters who HAD to have been gay, but weren’t.” I’m sorry. Won’t happen again. I promise. Truth is, I think I saw the show about 3 times; I was 14 and a show about a possibly gay man, a woman and her young daughter didn’t exactly appeal to my rapidly growing interest in finding as much prurient subject matter on t.v. as possible. _Three’s Company_ was more to my liking- not because it was a good show- it sucked- but because every now and then, the women went braless. Ah, youth. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/97 "2003-12-18T21:29:30Z")
I see I was beat to naming Monroe. Even his reaction to the sexual assualt by a woman was telling. And Malcolm Gets _is_ [gay](http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?id=9067&sd=06/25/03). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/98 "2003-12-18T21:58:17Z")
> [@](#): > > **Abortion, homosexuality and single-mothers were all pretty racy in that long ago-not so long ago age of television, so perhaps it was a decision that they needed to drop just one of the themes in order to get ratings in Middle America.** Just where is “Middle America”? Where I grew up, people had abortions, got divorced, and were single mothers. These were not things only people on the coasts did. :rolleyes: Illinois was the first state to remove its sodomy statute (1961), and Wisconsin was the first state to adopt a gay rights statute (1982). So much for preconceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/99 "2003-12-18T22:09:42Z")
Yeah, but they didn’t talk about it on TV. That’s the thing. I was like, what, three or four when _Sydney_ was on, so I have memories of the show being on and existing, but not actually having seen it. I think my mom watched it, but the only thing I remember is a scene where the little girl won’t give Sydney a kiss goodnight because his breath smells like booze or something. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/100 "2003-12-18T23:00:26Z")
How about Will from “Will & Grace”? He’s a stylish, successful, single guy living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, has a swishy best friend, and is constantly making pop culture references. Those brazenlt stereotypical traits aside, it is quite clear that he’s heterosexual as he always has his hands all over his female room-mate Grace, and has NEVER EVER so much as touched a man other than to shake hands. For full effect, the above ought to be read in a scathingly sarcastic voice to rub in the general antipathy I harbor for this “very progressive portrayal of a gay man.” And of course - Jerry and George from “Seinfeld” had to be a couple. I mean, come on, Jerry is thin, single and neat! (Not that…you know.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436.md?page=6)