Washington Blade - August 11, 2006
Brian Moylan

And at the same time, many parents feared the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, androgyny and overt sexuality depicted in some of those early videos would corrupt their children forever and shouted, "Not in my house!" It's amazing they thought that Madonna writhing around in a wedding dress to "Like a Virgin" or Boy George, with his makeup and ambiguous sexual orientation, would really have any impact on kids. After all, I watched MTV, and look how I turned out.

Even in its early stages - with bands like Queen and Frankie Goes to Hollywood - MTV was always home to gay images yet never seemed to make a big deal about them.

THE CHANNEL DIDN'T make a big deal about the gay cast mate Norm Korpi, on the first season of "Real World" in 1992, nor did it make a big deal about showing him going out on a date with future talk show host Charles Perez.

In the '90s, MTV got out of the groove of music videos and more in touch with youth culture programming of both the reality and scripted variety. The biggest impact this trend had was the 1994 season of "Real World: San Francisco."

Not only did this series feature "Puck," the standard bearer for the annoying housemates to come, but also gay AIDS educator Pedro Zamora, who succumbed to the illness while the episodes were still airing. On the show, the audience saw Cuban-born Zamora fall in love and marry his partner, Sean, as well as get progressively more ill.

Zamora's death was a major event in pop culture and helped spread information about HIV/AIDS and tolerance for gays and others who live with the disease.

In the wake of Zamora, "Real World: New Orleans" featured Danny Roberts, a dreamy gay man who was in a relationship with a man in the military, who only went by the first name Paul, and whose face was blurred out when he was on the show so that he wouldn't be kicked out of the military. Even today, Roberts travels around the country promoting the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at packed speaking engagements.

In 2001, as part of the premiere of its made-for-TV movie "Anatomy of a Hate Crime: The Matthew Shepard Murder," the channel went dark for 17 hours, running only the names of hate crime victims on a black screen. The loss of advertising revenue during the memorial cost the network about $2 million.

But MTV still knows how to create controversy. Many conservatives were not pleased with the same-sex kisses Madonna bestowed on Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 Video Music Awards. Gay activists were up in arms in 2000 about the homophobic lyrics of rapper Eminem, and met with the channel to ask them to stop playing his music. They refused.

BUT MOSTLY, MTV is apolitical. It's all about fun, drama and beautiful people doing silly things (see "Real World/Road Rules Challenge") but it has always done that with a diverse and inclusive cast. Nearly every season of "Real World" has included at least one gay character, and some two.

"Road Rules," "Made" and "True Life" have always featured gay participants. Even dating shows like "Next" and "Dismissed" allow (young, beautiful) gay men and lesbians a rare chance to show their sexuality on screen. And let's not even talk about the homoeroticism of "Jackass."

In 25 years, MTV has made an incalculable contribution to promoting gay acceptance among its young viewers. Consistently showing gay men and lesbians as a vibrant and integral part of society will continue to foster the type of acceptance and inclusion that many don't always exhibit.

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