Huh. I watch that show and never once got any sort of inkling that Zach was anything other than possible date material for the cheerleader. I clued in that he was geeky, to be sure, but no gay-dar alarms. I think that maybe people are just reading into this...he's barely a character at all. And now he's a character with no memories. Alas!

I totally clued into the gayness, and his talk with Claire in the Homecoming episode practically cemented it for me. I know lots of people thought he was into Claire, but, in a show known for twists, I was definitely looking at more than one possibility. Brian at AfterElton spells it out. I see where you're coming from la gringa, but I don't think that people were reading too much into the Zach character.

Well, he talked about "being different" and it was totally obvious they were hinting at the gay. Superhero story arks almost always include the "gay" allusion, except here, they went safe -- with the friend understanding what it's like to be different, pulling him closer to Claire. It's actually quite a sweet storyline.

I'm positive there was dialogue discussing his possibly being gay. Claire's rival cheerleader called him gay, as I recall. His response was something like "I don't care what she thinks..." In other words, he doesn't deny it. However, he may not be on the show much longer. The actor has been hired to play John Connor in a pilot for a series based on Terminator.

I remember an article where the show creator Tim Kring even mentioned that the character is gay.

Considering the penchant for teen-agers (and those with only teen-aged-level developed minds) to call anything different "gay", I don't think we can truly lament the loss of a gay character who may have never been gay. If he is, he is, if not...it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the "popular" kids who didn't want him around.

I would be truly surprised that the network that gave us "Will and Grace" wouldn't want another show to have a gay character. Though teenage queerness has been an issue. It's the difference between "Once and Again" and "Desperate Housewives."

I thought it was wonderful how everything Zach said to Claire was perpetually wrapped in the language of coming out or sexual otherness. I remember standing on the edge of that cliff myself and everything really did feel like it was about or paralleled my own discovery. I'm a little concerned about this network intervention but it might be a moot point since Zach doesn't even remember his two-month long friendship with Claire which might [coincidentally] overlap with some of his own self-awareness process. Hm?

For a scripted show, it's such a waste to have him bullied for being gay, and then have him not be gay. Although in real life, of course it happens.

But does it really matter anymore, now that Zach's personality has been erased?

I would have welcomed a gay character. Doesn't anyone else see the irony of being "different" and being mistrusted and feared because of it? That would have gone nicely with the entire plot. There's a lot of gay teens out there who would have appreciated the storyline.

For Dekker to ignore the overwhelming homosexual undertones in comic books, where this show is no doubt derived, shows a complete lack of duty to one's profession.

I didn't enjoy the show to begin with and will be happy to see it die a miserable death.