Dennis here, covering the column for the first time ever this

week, which means I’ve been sifting through mounds of queer pop culture news

to come up with the very best bits to share. It was an all-consuming

project, and I feel compelled to quote Justin Walker (Dave Annable) from last

Sunday’s Brothers & Sisters:

“My

God, this is like the gayest week of my life!”

No seriously, preparing B.G.W.E is a much bigger task

than I thought. My hat is off to bossman Michael Jensen for having done it week

in and week out for the last two years.

First up: Sudden outbreak of gay sightings on Grey’s Anatomy

Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters. Sure, Grey's has that "barely there" Bartender Joe (Steven W. Bailey) lurking in the background — but these days you’re about as likely to see

him as you are Sasquatch.

But something queer seems to be afoot over in Shonda Rhimes'

sandbox, because over the past few weeks the gay quotient at Seattle Grace has definitely been

ratcheted up.

Let's start with two weeks ago, when guest star Jason O’Mara played a patient with a brain tumor pressing on his cerebral cortex which was

causing him to act out in inappropriate ways. In the scene pictured below he was supposed to be pimping out his frumpy wife (Clea Duvall), and yet it seemed very much like he was making a pass at George O’Malley (T.R. Knight)

"So, are you single or what?"

Photo credit: Scott Garfield/ABC

In fact, the scene neatly echoed a season 3 episode in which out actor Peter Paige guested as a gay man with a tumor pressing on his cerebral cortex which (you guessed it) caused him to say and do inappropriate things. Anyway, in that episode, the patient (Paige) makes a pass at Patrick Dempsey's character.

Then last week there was the “gay soldiers” storyline, which had yet another tumor victim — this one a closeted gay Iraqi vet —

caught between his grumpy, conservative father and his soldier lover, both of whom want to be by his side.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is lurking in the soldier's room at one point, and when she sees the two men kissing passionately she gets a wistful look and turns away to give them some privacy. As many people commented this week, it’s a

beautiful scene, and Meredith’s response to the passionate lovers' kiss was not so much surprise

as it was envy. She wanted to be kissed like that.

"McDreamy ain't got nothin' on us!"

Unfortunately, the tumor guy doesn’t survive surgery. In the last scene his tearful lover sneaks over to his gurney and kisses the corpse. If both guys had been, you know, alive it would have been really hot.

But seriously, it was a very touching storyline. If you are one

of the many gay viewers who somehow never connected with Grey’s Anatomy, it might make you reassess the show…

And while we’re on the subject of Grey’s and the gays, it looks like

the show is even developing a lesbian storyline with Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Dr. Hahn (Brooke Smith).

I love both those characters and think this is a wonderful development, but if we discover later that one or both of them has a brain tumor I'm going to be perturbed.

Too gay-friendly and you just look desperate.

Planet Out and the consumer marketing group Prime Access just announced

the results of their 2008 Gay and Lesbian Consumer Study this past Tuesday. They found that 68% of queer consumers

said they would be more likely to buy from companies they perceived as gay-friendly. If you're curious, the top-rated brands

among gays & lesbians in this study were Apple, Levis,

Bravo, Showtime, HBO & Absolut.

The lowest rated consumer brands were: WalMart, Dunkin Donuts, Cracker Barrel, Exxon Mobil, and Samsung.

(Okay, I understand Exxon and certainly Cracker Barrel, but what did Dunkin Donuts ever

do to the GLBT community? Someone please tell me, I want to know. And it better be pretty damn serious to make me give up my boston creams.)

According to the press release, "the study reveals that gays and lesbians are fiercely

loyal customers to brands they perceive as reaching out to them."

The clear purpose of this study is to encourage companies to market aggresively to the GLBT community — not so much because it's the right thing to do, but because we're a more valuable market than any other consumer group. Not only do we have a lot of discretionary income to spend, but we also tend influence the buying decisions of others.

All this may be true, but I'm worried that too many clueless, white bread companies will take it to heart, and we'll end up with some really craven and wrongheaded gay marketing pitches.

Do we really need or want any of the following?

That last one is already in the works.

It's not just tired consumer brands that are competing for the gay dollar, it's entertainers as well. For instance, just this week comes word that 80’s pop chanteuse

Sheena Easton has been reaching out to the gay community

to fuel a comeback and score a new recording contract. This means performing at PRIDE festivals around the US and signing on as the musical act for gay cruises. But it sounds like gays in her native Scotland are having none of it. The producer of the largest gay festival in Scotland (Glasgay!) is accusing Easton of trying too hard (and too late) to curry the favor of GLBT audiences.

Said the producer, "Gay audiences do love their ageing divas, but I think Sheena Easton is pushing things too far. We have a very young funky audience who, to be frank, are into much cooler acts than Sheena Easton."

Ouch!

Easton circa 1983

Photo credit: Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ms. Easton could be just the tip of the iceberg. Prepare yourseves for an avalanche of diminished white bread celebrities trying to reinvigorate their careers by repositioning themselves as "gay faves."

Up next? Kirk Cameron hosting an Atlantis cruise. Or maybe Kathy Lee Gifford performing her cabaret act at a gay bathhouse. And don't think it couldn't happen. She's already expressed an interest.

Cheyenne, you was

robbed!

Xanadu (or as Brian

Juergens likes to call it: Gayness on

Skates!) has been been nominated for best musical this year, and deservedly so. But it seems unfair that the show's biggest highlight, that guy wearing rollerskates — the handsome, talented, and

all-around nice guy Cheyenne Jackson — didn't also score a Tony nod.

Photo credit: Will Ragozzino/Getty Images

Seems like rollerskaters don’t get much respect on

Broadway. You can blame it on Andrew Lloyd Webber's mid-eighties treaclefest, Starlight Express. Anyone

remember that stinker? Turns out Starlight Express is the most popular musical ever in Germany. But then, they're crazy for David Hasselhoff so it sort of makes sense.

Jackson might have been snubbed by the Tonys, but he can take heart — something tells me he's going to place highly on AfterElton.com's Hot 100 list this year.

But back to the Tony nominations. We do have a few other gay guys to root for:

Out brit actor Ben Daniels is up for Best Actor in a Play. He co-stars with Laura Linney in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Ben Daniels

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Also, Robin De Jesus was nominated for Featured Actor in a

Musical for his performance in In the

Heights.

Robin De Jesus

Photo credit: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images

Finally, Stephen Sondheim will be given a lifetime

achievement award. That guy has been around forever, so it seems an oversight that he hasn't already gotten one of those.

You can find the full list of nominees here.

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!

ON DVD

Raul Esparza in a performance from Company

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

The revival of Stephen

Sondheim’s Company makes it to DVD next week and features an amazing performance by Cuban-American stage actor Raul Esparza. After twenty years of marriage (to a woman) Esparza recently came out as bisexual. In a New York Times interview he spoke of his struggles with sexual identity, and how his personal experience helped him to connect with the role of "Bobby" in Company:

“I think the real thing that Bobby is going through

is that he’s trying to grow up, and that means accepting things you can’t

change, and it also means that in spite of all the messiness and failure you

make a choice to love someone and live your life in the way that’s right for

you. It’s messier than the pretty picture you painted for yourself. I had a

romantic idea of what it means to be an adult: all husbands and wives who love

each other get to stay together forever, love is enough."

“There’s a song in the show, ‘Sorry/Grateful’: ‘You

holding her thinking you’re not alone/And you’re still alone.’ I remember with

Michele [Esparza's wife] one day holding her in bed and being very, very sad because we were

talking about things that were so difficult for us to deal with. I remember

feeling like this was a chasm between us. That the person I most loved in my

life was as far away as another country, and there was nothing I could do or

say to change.”

Raul Esparza

AT THE MOVIES

The Chronicles of

Narnia: Prince Caspian

If you’re like me, you pretty much slept through the The Lion

the Witch and the Wardrobe. About the

only two things that perked me up in that film were James McAvoy tricked out as a

satyr and Tilda Swinton’s stick-and-twig-braided dreadlocks. (As Christian Siriano

would say, "fierce!") Other than that I thought the movie was a major snooze.

So here's hoping this second installment of the C.S. Lewis

franchise (directed by Andrew Adamson and produced by out author / film producer Perry Moore) will be

more riveting. The big question mark is the lead. They cast little known British actor Ben Barnes in the

title role of Prince Caspian. Before this, Barnes was probably best known from the

London stage version of The History Boys, where he played "Dakin." Interesting factoid: Barnes seriously peeved the

producers of that play by breaking his contract and departing midway through the show's West End run in

order to take on the Narnia role.

Ben Barnes as "Prince Caspian"

ON TELEVISION

Ugly Betty Season

Finale

Next Thursday ABC airs

the last episode of Ugly Betty's truly inspired second season. Even though the show has taken a beating in

the ratings lately, from my perspective it really only found its stride this year.

That's partly because Betty is wisely focusing on some of its fantastic supporting characters —

which means lots and lots of screen time for Marc St. James (Michael Urie) and

Amanda (Becki Newton).

All photos this page credit: Karen

Neal/ABC

*** Spoiler Alert ***

In the season finale, Mode employees will compete in a

softball tourney against Elle Magazine. Fashion industry cameos abound, but the highlight for

me is Naomi Campbell's turn at bat. Now that is one scary sight. I hope the catcher is

wearing his headgear.

Also, things begin to heat up between Eddie Cibrian's character and Hilda (Ana Ortiz). It's not clear yet if Cibrian will be back for season three of Betty, but I sure hope so.

Why is this guy not yet a major star?

Another highlight of the season finale is surely the sight of Michael

Urie in orange shorts and sporting a cheerleader's megaphone.

Photo Credit: Karen

Neal/ABC

Oh yeah, and one last tidbit: Lindsay Lohan

makes her first appearance on the show. Say what you will about Lohan,

she's a pretty good little comedic actress. Let's hope she doesn't wind up back

in rehab over the summer and spoil plans for a multi-episode guest

stint.

Photo Credit: Karen

Neal/ABC

So You Think You Can

Dance premieres May 22^nd

I’ve never really understood the Dancing with the Stars

phenomenon. I mean, why watch B-list celebs butcher a waltz when you could be

watching real dancers working with professional choreographers tear up

any number of dance styles (ballroom, latin, hip hop, krumping, you name it)?

So while I've never been able to sit though an episode of Dancing with the Stars, I find

FOX’s summer hit So You Think You Can

Dance must-see viewing.

Season 3 finalists (from left to right):

Danny Tidwell, Lacey Schwimmer, Neil Haskell & Sabra Johnson

The show begins its 4th season on May 22nd and is produced by the same folks responsible for American Idol. But don't let that scare you away — Dance is a much superior show.

For starters, it's a whole lot gayer than Idol. Previous seasons have offered a decent amount of queer visibility amongst the contestants and the choreographers, and that's not surprising considering how well-represented gays are in the dance world. In fact, on a few occasions the contestants have even been paired up for same-sex dances.

The show also has a really likeable host in Cat Deeley. If Ryan Seacrest ever leaves Idol (and I'm guessing they'd have to pry it from his cold, dead hands) they should replace him with Deeley. She is wonderful.

Judge Nigel Lythgoe (left) & host Cat Deeley

Admittedly, the show is not without its flaws. The biggest problem is that the judging panel is headed by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. Lythgoe also produces Idol and one assumes he was jealous of Simon Cowell's role on that show, so he thought he'd jump in here. Too bad, because the man has a Mr. Burnsish creepiness to him. He's also infuriated me in past seasons for criticizing certain male dancers for not being "manly" enough.

Also on the judging panel is Mary Murphy, a ballroom dance expert with a nails-on-chalkboard, hyena-like laugh. When I first started watching she drove me crazy, but somehow she's grown on me.

The third spot on the judging panel rotates among the many renowned choreographers who work on the show, including Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, and Jean Marc Generaux, all of whom seem to be competing amongst themselves to deliver the most exciting choreography each week.

To get a taste of this show, check out the clip

below:

Two new gay plays Off-Broadway

If you're going to be in New York anytime soon, there are two new Off-Broadway plays which might be of interest. The first is based on the 2004 film Saved! and tells the story of a devout girl in a Christian high school who must re-examine her faith after discovering she is pregnant and that her boyfriend might be gay. It was a good-natured and amusing movie and seems like excellent source material for a stage musical.

Van Hughes (right) appears in Saved: The Musical

The second offering is a bit more serious. The Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa play, Good Boys and True, will be at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre through June 3rd.

The show is set at an all-boys prep school and begins with the discovery of a graphic sex tape of an unidentifiable boy assaulting a girl. Brandon, the school's top student and star athlete, is implicated as the attacker. Brandon protests his innocence, but as the mystery unravels what comes to light is Brandon's secret gay relationship with a fellow student.

Brian J. Smith (right) is "Brandon" in Good Boys and True

Also in the cast is Lee Tergesen, who is best known as "Tobias Beecher" from Oz.

Side note: If you are a fan of Tergesen, worth checking out is his personal website where he answers fan questions, most of which revolve around his role on Oz . I espcially liked his response to what it was like kissing another man:

Chris [Meloni] and I got together before the

first time we kissed, and definitely with something like this there’s

a tendency to shy away from it, to skirt it. But what we decided was to

really be there, make it sexy – well, not really make it sexy, but we

always really treat each other tenderly. So you know, we’re present

when we’re in those scenes. Whatever mental contortions we have to do,

we’re present in the scene. There was the one scene, after Chris got

shot and he came back wearing a bandage and I’m pulling the bandage

off and kissing his chest, you know? And when I’m acting, all this

stuff is running through my head: the dialogue, and I’m watching what’s

happening in front of me and I’m reacting to it, and there’s history

running through your brain, all these images flowing… and that scene,

it was so interesting where my head went. I felt sort of feminine. Like

it was a man and a woman in that scene. And that, those are feelings

that I'm not unfamiliar with. I don’t go, “F*ck, I gotta kiss a guy!”

But doing that, being present in it, kissing another man – it screws

with your head a little bit.

California Gay Marriage: What happens next?

Okay, this isn't exactly gay entertainment news, but it's so big I had to mention it. Starting in 30 days gay people can marry in California. Yay!

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion which

held that the state constitution prohibits California from denying

same-sex unions the status of marriage. What this does is

nullify Proposition 22, which was a voter initiative that restricted California's statutory definition of "marriage" to a union between "one man and one

woman." Prop 22 was passed in March of 2000 with 61.4% of the vote.

Opponents and supporters of gay marriage

protest in front of California's Supreme Court

Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

A

petition for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court has already been filed,

but because the opinion yesterday was decided on state law grounds (and not federal), the U.S. Supreme Court will probably decline to hear this case.

Far

more likely is yet another California voter initiative. Where Prop 22

amended the statute defining marriage, a new initiative would seek to

amend California's Constitution. If it

passes, it would trump yesterday's opinion and once again bar gays from getting married in the state of California. What is more, it would take the issue of gay marriage out of the hands of the California Supreme Court.

California Supreme Court Justice Ronald M. George

Photo credit: Pool/Getty Images

It's very likely that such an initiative will be put to California voters in November.

So the big question

is, would such a voter initiative pass? If 61.4% of the California

population voted for a ban on gay marriage in 2000, how many of those same people would vote

for it now?

Let's hope some of those California voters were watching Brothers & Sisters last Sunday. And may I just say, Thank God we have a show like that on network television to help sway public opinion.

(You see how cleverly I segued from all that boring legal stuff back into gay entertainment commentary? Oh I'm good.)

If only Kevin & Scotty had waited a month!

I had conflicting feelings about the

commitment ceremony on last week’s Brothers

& Sisters. On the one hand I was

thrilled that these two characters finally tied the knot and that it was treated as the climax of the season.

But on the other hand, I couldn’t help feeling that their

wedding was devalued a bit, mostly by Scotty and Kevin themselves. I

mean, what was with the tan and grey polyblend suits, or the forgotten wedding

bands, or Kitty’s searching for appropriate words to describe them: Bride?

Groom?

It was like the boys (and in some ways the show itself) had

to implicitly sabotage their own commitment ceremony so no one could possibly

say: “Those uppity gay guys. Trying to have a better wedding than us

straights!”

Scotty & Kevin behaved as if they weren’t quite entitled to a real wedding. And that’s

why the most powerful moment in the episode, for me, was when Nora (Sally Field) called her

son out on it.

Nora: Damn it,

Kevin, you deserve this night to be beautiful. Yes, I got carried away. I don’t

regret it. Because tonight you don’t get to be guarded, or cynical. You and

Scotty deserve this night to be as romantic and memorable as anyone else.

It’s a beautiful message, and the fact that Nora delivered

it and not Kevin or Scotty means it’s

more likely to connect with your typical, straight, network television viewer — those

folks who might have no problem with gays in the abstract, but may be nevertheless

a little squeamish when it comes to gay marriage. Given what happened yesterday in California and the likelihood of another round of state anti-gay voter initiatives, it’s

critical to win these folks over and assure them that gay marriage is nothing

to feel threatened by.

Well folks, that about wraps it up for this week's edition of B.G.W.E. Just a reminder that today is the last day to vote in the 2008 AfteElton.com Hot 100. So if you haven't already cast your ballots make sure and do so before midnight!

Before I go I'm afraid I have some very bad news to share. If you've noticed the absence of editor Michael Jensen around the site this week it's because he's been off dealing with a family tragedy. His mother passed away from a sudden heart attack on Tuesday. It turns out heart attack symptoms for women can be quite different from symptoms in men and

therefore can go unnoticed until it's too late. Unfortunately, this is what happened to

Michael's Mom. More information about female heart attack symptoms can be found here.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with Michael and his family during this difficult time.