“We snuck in. We were in your living room every week and, ‘Isn’t that one so funny?’ and ‘I like him.’ Old women that had never met a gay man in their life were like, ‘I hope Will finds a nice boy.’
It permeated American culture slowly but surely, and all the more reason that we have to come back and remind people that that’s why we got where we got — that’s why we got to a place where gay marriage was passed, that marriage equality was passed as a right in 50 states.”— Eric McCormack, speaking about the cultural impact of Will &
Grace, which returns to NBC on September 28.
Kieran
Yes, we owe it all to an imbecilic, idiot TV sitcom designed as a vehicle for gay jokes.
Condor221
Kudos to Will and Grace, Jack and Karen. They were a very visible sign at the time that we existed. I as a Gay man found the show incredibly funny and I loved Jack. My favorite episode was with Jack and Cher. Loved it, and welcome back gang, and I hope for more than one season.
Josh447
Oh stop it. You fell way off your tricycle cupcake.
Yay to Will and Grace, they did exactly that. Without them softening hearts and minds of many, we could still be in the gay marriage trenches.
Kieru
In the 90s we saw a lot of series like Roseanne and The Golden Girls and Designing Women (etc, etc) have gay characters. They were usually funny and a little bitchy and otherwise this sort of stereotyped caricature of LGBTQ+ persons.
Will & Grace certainly took that further in that two of the main characters were homosexual men; it pushed the story from a side-story to the forefront.
But to claim that this show was what got us to where we are? I think that ignores a lot of activism from the community and a lot of ground-breaking television and film that worked to portray the LGBTQ+ community as more than flamboyant men, and women in birkenstocks and plaid shirts.
Jack Meoff
Agreed. I think it is a rather arrogant claim. He could have said that the show contributed to introducing gay life to mainstream America but not that they are the reason gay marriage passed.
geb1966
Where in his statement did he say the show was the ONLY reason we got where we are? I see no place where he presumes to take full credit for it. He is simply pointing out the contribution the show made to the movement.
oz1967
Actually disagree with one point the Golden Girls, Blanches gay brother was not camp or stereotypical and neither was his partner I think those episodes were handled brilliantly. And on a sour note we in Australia our going through a nasty non binding postal vote for marriage equality at the moment and I have not seen the cast or producers of Will and Grace reach out in any way to lend a voice to our struggle, seems their busy telling everyone what ground breaking legends they are, yet doing very little to prove it just like back in late 90’s IMO.
JaredMacBride
I don’t recall any mention of a dumb TV show in the Supreme Court’s opinion affirming a constitutional right to marriage equality.
1898
in many states it’s still legal to fire someone for being gay, evict someone for being gay, deny education/credit/accommodations to someone for being gay
if his statement were valid, gays would have equal rights in those states. and they don’t.
Juanjo
The fact is that Will & Grace, as annoying as it was, did help quite a bit. It presented gay men as the main plot characters week after week. People just like the straight characters, doing the same sorts of things as everyone else except they were gay. They did a significant amount of adjustment of American attitudes about gay people. This is one reason why the fundamentalists ranted and raved about the show and others that had gay characters on them because they were just regular folks other than the gay thing.
broadshoulder
So nothing to do with the gay activists who pushed it through the supreme court?? Its all down to some two bit heterosexual actors pushing it through??
Does this man have a brain??
geb1966
Where in his statement did he say the show was the ONLY reason we got where we are? I see no place where he presumes to take full credit for it. He is simply pointing out the contribution the show made to the movement.
broadshoulder
How about the line Old women that had never met a gay man in their life were like, ‘I hope Will finds a nice boy.’
Lots of mention of activists there
JessPH
Dear Negative Nancys, Eric did NOT say that the show was directly responsible for the legalization of same sex marriage. However, it cannot be denied that the popularity of the show did help make the public become more tolerant and accepting of homosexuality which eventually led to same sex marriage becoming legal.
ziomek
wow
Frank
SCREW YOU MEGYN KELLY…she should NOT even HAVE A SHOW…what a JOKE…also Will and Grace is so OVER…sorry OVER…
Fox News anchor and lawyer Megyn Kelley is wrong on the law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) she used to defend anti-gay Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HvKjNecstQ
Fox’s Megyn Kelly Coddles Anti-Gay Christian Child Molester Josh Duggar’s Family
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e6C98nd7aA
Xzamilloh
The title of this is awful… Eric McCormick was talking about the impact Will and Grace had on TV and in society (which is undeniable), not talking about gay marriage was passed because of the show. Way to completely change the meaning of the quote and make him sound like an out of touch a-hole. And apparently, some of the reactionaries in the comments section just read the title and went straight down here to bitch instead of getting context. Shocking (it’s not).
Crystix
Yes! Let’s all praise the GREAT STRAIGHT WHITE SAVIOR, Eric Mccormack.
Who knows where we would be without him.
OzJosh
I appreciate that he’s trying to promote the re-boot, so he’s in the land of hyperbole, but that comment borders on being offensive. The truth is that marriage equality was achieved by thousands of hard-working people lobbying and campaigning, and thousands of ordinary gay folk being out and proud about their relationships and thereby changing the views of others. It was not achieved by a so-so sitcom with extremely timid sexual politics and featuring two gay men who were, to all intents and purposes, neutered so as not to offend middle America. Maybe if Will & Grace had ever shown Will having some kind of relationship worthy of marriage, McCormack might have some grounds for his claim. But it didn’t, and he doesn’t.
dean089
Yeah, ‘Will & Grace’ portrayed gay men as amusing but otherwise harmless eunuchs and that made Iowa church ladies comfortable with gays. Right. It’s wonderful how Liberal straighties think we owe everything to them. The arrogance of it all is astounding.
He BGB
It’s true letting a tv personality into your home,….your private castle where nobody is allowed and you have these fun crazy characters right there in front of you. I don’t think it was 100 percent them that changed people’s minds but it sure helped. Peoria needed to see that we weren’t mental or pedophiles or evil but good people. Human.