In honor of tonight's Grey's Anatomy dealing with gay servicemembers, here's a sampling of gay military men on television. In researching this list, I was expecting to find stories to be either be recent (as the issue of gays in the military is a current topic) or to boom around 1993, when "Don't Ask Don't Tell" began, but the topic has popped up off and on throughout the years.

Take a look at some of the gay men we've seen serve their country on the small screen ...

Paul Dill

From: The Real World: New Orleans

By its ninth season, The Real World had its share of trainwreck personalities but still hadn't devolved into the parade of sexual promiscuity and inane arguments the show is today. At that point, it was still a show able to provoke discussion of social issues, as it did when gay housemate Danny Roberts introduced his boyfriend Paul to the nation. Paul was an US Army Ranger Captain at the time and, to protect him from a dishonorable discharge, the show blurred his face when he came to see Danny. After leaving the military, Paul appeared with Danny in an MTV special without hiding his identity. Danny and Paul have gone on to speak out about gay issues, especially the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

Jeffrey Lindley

From: Melrose Place

In 1994, things were looking up for Melrose Place's gay resident Matt Fielding (Doug Savant) as he met Jeff, a guy who managed to stick around beyond the first date (Jeff Beghe). As with many Melrose Place guests, Jeff behaved oddly and eventually revealed that he was hiding a secret: he was a closeted Navy officer. Jeffrey was quickly transferred to the East Coast, breaking up him and Matt. He returned the next season, holding another topical secret ... that he was HIV positive.

Enos Fry

From: Futurama

In one of the irreverent animated comedy's most memorable stories, putting aluminum foil into a microwave sends the Planet Express crew back to Roswell, New Mexico in the 1950s. Fry is sternly warned not to do anything to do anything to change the future. Fry being Fry, that warning doesn't stop him from seeking out his grandfather, Enos Fry, whose life on base turns out to be fraught with dangers. In order to protect his eventual birth, Fry tries to protect him from harm. However, to Fry's horror, Enos confesses that he might be gay and is hesitant to follow through on his engagement to the woman who will be Fry's grandmother. Worried about taking himself out of history, he pushes Enos back in the closet, only to see him die in a freak accident. In true Futurama style, Fry makes up for it by becoming his own grandfather.

Reichen Lehmkuhl

From: The Amazing Race

In The Amazing Race's fourth season saw the show's second same-sex couple, Chip and Reichen, charge through the globe-spanning reality competition, eventually winning the big prize. Reichen was a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and served for five years, eventually reaching the rank of captain and being honorably discharged. While Riechen is best known nowadays for who he is dating or his TV roles (like a recent gig on Dante's Cove), he's also a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and raises money for the advocacy group.

Lots more after the jump!

George Weston

From: M*A*S*H

In 1974, when gay characters were rarely discussed on TV, the Korean War-set comedy took on the issue of gays in the military in the second season episode, "George". Private George Weston (played by Richard Ely) is a decorated soldier who discloses his homosexuality to Hawkeye. Hawkeye then works with Trapper John to hide George's sexual orientation from the likes of Frank "The Bill O'Riley medicine" Burns and prevent him from receiving a dishonorable discharge despite his honorable service.

Mark "Fitz" Fitzgerald

From: Boston Legal

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Earlier this season, Boston Legal tackled "Don't Ask Don't Tell" with Tracey Ullman Show alum Sam McMurray playing a man with a long military career who decides to come out after his grandson does the same. Fitz was an old friend of both Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen), who argued against DADT in court, and Denny Crane (William Shatner), who had trouble dealing with his old friend's coming out.

Brian Downey

From: Carrier

PBs' recent military docu-soap included a brief look at what its like to be queer in the military today. Instead of portraying gay servicemembers as constantly living in hiding, we saw one woman (whose face was blurred to protect her identity) openly wearing a pride ring and discussing her sexual orientation with a her colleagues. The show also took time to focus on Downey, who openly discussed being gay in the military. In an interview with Andy Towle, said that "Don't Ask Don't Tell" wasn't much of an issue for him or many of the people he served with.

Tommy York

From: Quantum Leap

Frustratingly, I wasn't able to find out much about the 1992 episode "Running for Honor", aside from a few brief synopses of this story. The episode sees Sam (Scott Bakula) jumping into the body of Tommy, a Naval cadet who is presumed by his peers to be gay (Ziggy declares him to have an 86% chance of being gay) and has to prevent a fellow gay cadet from being murdered by an anti-gay group. Through the episode, Sam not only has to deal with the homophobia of the other cadets, but also the homophobia of Al (Dean Stockwell).

"Michael" Jason Tiner

From: Boy Meets Boy

When the first gay male reality dating show debuted (on the same night as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) gay viewers felt more than a little mixed. As great as it was to see same-sex romance in the spotlight, the show felt the need to have a "twist" where main guy James didn't realize that some of his prospective matchups weren't really gay. The show managed an unexpected moment of additional relevancy when one of first few guys James rejected, Navy man Jason, was revealed as one of the show's gay participants. Tuner advised his commanding officer about his participation in the program (and national coming out) and was discharged under DADT.

Dress Grey

Sadly, the gay soldier in this 1986 NBC mini-series (starring a then-rising young hunk named Alec Baldwin) didn't have much purpose beyond being a victim for the story to revolve around. Still, this Gore Vidal-scripted story, where Baldwin fights a Navy cover-up of the murder of a gay man, was considered pretty daring at the time for dealing with homosexuality.