Gay dads on holiday show latest example

Same-sex issues continue to generate controversy and debate. Except on TV, where homosexuality seems downright boring.

This season, new shows such as Jack & Bobby, Huff, North Shore, Father Of The Pride, Kevin Hill and Rescue Me introduced gay characters or themes without fanfare.

Too Cool For Christmas (Citytv, 9 p.m. tonight) is being promoted as "the first-ever gay-themed holiday movie." In the two-hour film, shallow 16-year-old Lindsay (Brooke Nevin) decides to spend Christmas with her friends at a ski resort instead of with her two dads (Adam Harrington and Barclay Hope).

Then she meets Santa Claus (George Hamilton) who, in the timeless tradition of holiday specials, shows her the real meaning of Christmas.

The movie itself borders on the unbearable; it’s plagued with structural and narrative problems, dreadful performances, groan-inducing special effects and interminable pacing.

Getting run over by a reindeer or walloped with a sack of presents would be less painful than watching this film.

However, the more interesting aspect of Too Cool For Christmas concerns the way the dads are presented. There’s no overt reference to the union. No indication the two daughters are confused by having two dads. The family dynamic is treated as normal. So normal, in fact, that it becomes distracting.

It’s tempting to praise the film’s ho-hum egalitarianism. But, as it turns out, the reason the "two dads" don’t factor into the story has little to do with progressive portrayal.

Two versions of the film were produced. The one airing in the U.S. on Lifetime - titled A Very Cool Christmas - is identical except the "two dads" are a mom and dad, a reflection, you could argue, of the skittish climate south of the border.

Having two versions of a mediocre Christmas flick also says something about the rather minstrel nature of today’s "Gay TV." Despite the increase in roles, despite a surge in sheer exposure, despite taking on a deceptively banal quality, we still prefer our gay characters to come bundled with effeminate, ambiguous, non-threatening, and even self-loathing traits.

In the past few years, we’ve seen gay and lesbian characters on "reality" shows (Survivor, The Amazing Race); sitcoms (Will & Grace); dramas (Queer As Folk, The L Word); dating shows (Boy Meets Boy, Fairy Tale); makeovers (Queer Eye For The Straight Guy); and mini-series (Angels In America).

In 2003, there were 11 gay characters on prime-time network TV. "Gay TV" triggers such breathless cultural spasms, Vanity Fair devoted last December’s cover to the "trend."

But do these new characters represent the average gay or lesbian? And when you consider the socio-cultural commentary offered in the past - All In The Family, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, Homicide: Life On The Street, My So-Called Life, Relativity, even Melrose Place - are today’s gay and lesbian characters regressing into a sunshiny, marketing-driven sideshow of inane caricature?

Will & Grace is a pastiche of stereotypes, embodied by Jack (Sean Hayes), who flits about in a perpetual state of high-camp. And for all its critical acclaim, Queer Eye’s "Fab 5" are essentially mid-’80s cartoons, tending to heterosexuals with a disarming sarcasm that belies a broader subservience.

The situation for lesbian characters is not dissimilar. There was a cultural gravity attached to previous TV moments, say, the 1994 kiss between Roseanne Barr and Mariel Hemingway or the 1997 episode in which Ellen DeGeneres famously came out on her eponymous sitcom.

The L Word is supposed to accurately portray the lesbian experience. But it often comes across as straight male fantasy, a more sophisticated and extended exercise in the lesbian chic popularized in the ’90s.

On Six Feet Under last season, Claire (Lauren Ambrose) explored her sexuality with Edie (Mena Suvari). Next month on The O.C., Marissa (Mischa Barton) will enter into a lesbian relationship. The only certainty about these manufactured situations is the characters will return to a straight life.

Ironically, over the past decade, some of the most grown-up portrayals have come from teen dramas, including Jack (Kerr Smith) on Dawson’s Creek and the relationship between Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson) on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Of course, television is ultimately a business. And it would be folly to superimpose agendas or cultural imperatives on the entertainment world. But, to gay and lesbian viewers, the medium must seem a tad confusing. There are so many serious issues dominating the news. You would never know it by watching television.