Arts: Gay Marriage on TV

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Brow Beat Gay Marriage on TV: Keep It Real  By June Thomas Posted Thursday, Dec 01, 2011, at 10:09 PM ET I was all set to be hurt, outraged, and offended when I heard that two of the female characters in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland had "accidentally" gotten married in the show's Season 2 finale this summer. How typical, I huffed: treating same-sex marriage like a second-rate union, suitable only for an antic punch line. After all, this wasn't the sitcom world's first fake gay marriage. In Season 6 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie (Charlie Day) and Frank (Danny DeVito), who already share a bed platonically, got married for the benefits (not that either of them had health insurance to confer). The apparently widespread belief that extending marriage rights to same-sex couples guarantees an uptick in sham unions (see also I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) is tiresome, but we're talking about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia here. (It's too dark for me, and I'm from Manchester.) In Season 4 of The New Adventures of Old Christine, Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) married her friend Barb (Wanda Sykes) to prevent the latter's deportation. It took a few episodes before the dim-bulb characters realized that, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, marrying another woman would do nothing to help Barb stay in the States. This rankled. Even though Old Christine was a resolutely pro-gay show, and even though Sykes is an out lesbian herself, the treatment of the marriage felt problematic. It's the newspaper "error on the front page ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Gingrich Is the Only Candidate Who Talks About How He'd Govern the Country. Good for Him. The Artist Is Slight but Enormously Likable and Destined To Win Awards Siri Gives Terrible Answers When You Ask About Abortion or Birth Control	Advertisement
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