Beautiful People. UK Out-Gays USA Today.

Once upon a time the US was far more openly gay than the UK.

Today?

No way.





Ian Johnson, Out Now
December 12, 2009

Topics: Adam Lambert. Homophobia. Camp. USA gay and lesbian acceptance. Gay-friendly. Gay comfortable. Lesbians and gay men in the media. BBC-TV. Beautiful People. Being gay on TV. USA far less accepting of gays and lesbians in 2010 than the UK.

Thirty years ago the USA was far more comfortable with openly gay people, and the UK was lost in the grasp of Margaret Thatcher moralistic conservatism. Today? The picture could not be more different.

If you want a current example of how far what passes for the cultural mainstream has diverged in the UK and the US markets, look no further than what has been happening on that modern forum for democracy. Television.

Take The Beautiful Dream and Let It Grow

Beautiful People is a hit comedy currently showing every Friday night on BBC-TV all across the UK.

More on that later and what it says about the state of mainstream UK culture.

First, let's take a peek at what passes for 'mainstream' USA.

Last month we witnessed a modern-day US media crucifixion of sorts of (now) openly-gay pop singer Adam Lambert the runner-up in US pop TV show American Idol.

Lambert's unforgiveable sin so far as US media was concerned?

To perform his latest song in the manner many pop-stars do today - an overtly sexual way. At 11pm at night on a rock music program.

No problems, right?

Well, just one - when you happen to be a gay male pop singer that necessarily means being overtly gay on a US awards show.

And modern mainstream America it seems is just not happy with an 'out' or 'camp' entertainment appearing on their screens at that level of information. If it had been Madonna, Britney or Lady Gaga we would likely have heard nothing from the outraged moral gatekeepers of the USA.

As leading journalist Julia Baird points out in her Newsweek article on this, it looks rather sad for the USA in 2010 to be fighting the same decades-old culture wars but not getting anywhere.

The Bad Old Days

It was not always that way 'living in the USA'.

Back in the late 1970s, the US market was the place where mainstream culture was gayer than anywhere else.

The Village People were considered family entertainment - 'Can't Stop The Music' still ranks amongst the gayest ever mainstream Hollywood fare ever produced.

'Victor, Victoria' was a mainstream cross-dressing hit on Broadway and then on film starring none other than that doyenne of Disney family fare, Julie Andrews.

La Cage Aux Folles was playing in the US to packed houses.

But today it is the UK that takes being gay, and puts it front and center for mainstream viewing entertainment, in a way that mainstream USA seems unable to.

And people in the UK love it.

Today it's the UK. Beautiful People. Modern Nation.

The counterpoint to the Adam Lambert experience of being pilloried for being "too" openly gay must surely be the hit TV series now playing its second series every Friday night on BBC-2.

Beautiful People - by Simon Doonan and adapted for TV by Jonathan Harvey - is one of the freshest comedies to appear this decade.

And it is a TV show that heavily features gay themes and characters as an integral part of 'normal' family life.

In past weeks we have seen Israeli transexual Dana International play a camp cameo Eurovision role. Last night Dannii Minogue of X Factor fame poked hysterical camp fun at her 1998 pop star self.

Last week saw lead character Simon perform an imagined duet with musical theater star Elaine Page singing the gay anthem - Enough Is Enough (No More Tears) - made famous by gay icon Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer.

Last month an openly gay music teacher at the boys school brought his boyfriend to the family's house where his boyfriend made an ill-judged - and hilarious - pass for the Dad of the family house.

Ten years ago this would not likely have happened quite the same way in the UK - when the cultural zeitgeist then reacted angrily against the original Queer As Folk TV series by Russell Davies. In that show the youngest gay character was 15.

Want more proof that mainstream UK is gay today in a way that modern Americans can only dream of? Read on.

What is 'Normal'?

In Beautiful People the lead characters are two boys aged 13 at high school who have realized they are gay. The show portrays them as comfortable, confident and well-supported by their family members who understand and accept them for who they are.

As we approach the start of the second decade of the 21st century, take a moment to imagine.

Which version of the future do you prefer?

One like the US where a nation includes politicians and religious leaders willing to appear to support a nation like Uganda currently trying to install laws that would see gay people put to death under their laws.

Or one like today's UK where a show like Beautiful People plays as prime-time and very, very clever entertainment every Friday night?

Where openly gay kids are supported by on-screen parents who mean it when they say - as they do regularly - "I love my son!".

Interestingly in the USA if you want to enjoy this hip UK comedy you have only one option - to subscribe to the MTV Networks exclusively gay channel, Logo.

In the UK - you watch Beautiful People on free-to-air broadcast mainstream TV.

Want to see what the fuss is about?

Check out this online Beautiful People promo clip for the series 1 DVD.

This show is not funny because it is gay. It is just funny.

Being gay is a normal thing in this life. And that is how life in 2010 really is for many, many people.

Come on America - lift your game. Welcome to the 21st century.

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