Crabby docs and killer dykes

The May Out magazine notes that the U.S. version of "Queer As Folk" is in its fifth and final year (and my surprise exposes me as a non-watcher -- that thing is still on?). Reporter Christine Champagne writes that "the groundbreaking series filled a gaping void in our popular-culture landscape, becoming the first gay-centric show on television."

More: "It's not like we hadn't seen gays on television prior to 'Queer As Folk's' debut. In fact, in the 1960s gay characters began popping up on prime-time television in guest-starring roles, although we were generally portrayed in a negative light back then. In 1974, 'Police Woman' took flack from gay activists for a story line about murderous lesbians, and that same year 'Marcus Welby, MD' raised the ire of gay protesters when Dr. Welby (Robert Young) scolded a patient struggling with his sexual identity.

"Finally, in 1977, substantial progress was made in gay visibility on television when Jodie Dallas of 'Soap' (played by Billy Crystal) became the first gay male character to be integrated as a regular into a popular weekly show." I loved 'Soap,' by the by, and Jodie was a particularly great character (though I was more taken by the extraterrestrial abduction theme).

Back to Out: "The first gay character to be a series regular was actually that of Peter Panama (Vincent Schiavelli) on 1972's 'The Corner Bar,' but given the show's brief run, the character wasn't able to make much of an impact.

"It wasn't until 20 years later that Ellen DeGeneres made television history, playing the first openly gay lead character on a television series when her alter ego, Ellen Morgan, burst out of the closet on 'Ellen,' paving the way for gay best buddies Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) to make a splash on 'Will & Grace' in 1998.

"As far as we had come in the late 1990s, there was still not one television series featuring gay characters in all of the primary roles. Then in 2000 came the history-making 'Queer As Folk,' which was based on the British television series of the same name.... [It] pioneered the depiction of gays not just as sidekicks to straight people but as the main characters on an American television series." Champagne writes that it exhilarated gay viewers, and gave straights their first understandings of gay culture. And of gay sex, too.