Not only did Modern Family‘s Eric Stonestreet, the straight actor who plays gay Cam, totally deserve to win an Emmy, he totally deserves to be lauded for the way in which he received it. This, friends, is how to be a hetero playing a homo and not have The Gays angry that you took a role from one of us.
people we like
Eric Stonestreet, Emmy Class Act
Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...
We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?
Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated
Jon Desario
Love him so much!
He deserved that!
Was just reading about that at facebook.com/GWLBWLB
RomanHans
Okay. You’re applauding a straight guy who fems it up to play gay.
And so what — I don’t care if the fem guy is a sports fan. I’m thinking that came about because one of the creators said, “Well, we’ve got to make SOMETHING butch about him, because the gays will complain if he’s just a flat-out pansy.”
Mr. Stonestreet seems like a nice guy, and he accepted the award with class, but he’s still part of the problem. On Modern Family the gay couple are effeminate, they can’t kiss, and they can’t be shown in bed. And then they turn up on the Emmys having a three-way. I’ll take Progress for zero, Alex.
hephaestion
I don’t think Stonestreet “fems it up” to play his gay character. He just said his mom is his inspiration for the character because she’s got the temperament of his character. So what? I have my mom’s temperament, too; that doesn’t mean I am “femming it up.” Stonestreet is a great guy and definitely is a kind, level-headed fellow.
RomanHans
Sigh. I know I’m going to get like eighty thumbs’ down for this, but I reserve the right to speak the truth no matter how unpopular it is.
>I don’t think Stonestreet “fems it up” to play his gay character.
There’s a great new saying: you can have your own opinion, but you can’t have you own FACTS. Mr. Stonestreet was substantially butcher and had a lower voice when he gave his Emmy acceptance speech. And as I said previously, I’m sure he’s a great guy, and kind, and level-headed: it’s Modern Family that’s the problem, and he’s a tool. (Actually, though, I’m not crazy about a straight man who’ll fem it up — yes, I said it again! — to play gay, no matter how harmless he thought it was, and despite the “balance” he’s trying for by making Cam a sports fan.)
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Can we for once not drag a good Gay moment into a Queerty bitchfest? We gots a show on the TVs that has a Gay couple in a major role, not relagated to 120 seconds every third episode. Even minus the kissin’ they are clearly in love and are shown to be great parents to their daughter. Jay the stereotypical masculine Dad while not entirely comfortable with the whole Gay thing clearly loves both Mitchell and Cam. All the other charachters are fully supportive and accepting of the couple. The show along with Glee, another kinda sorta Gay friendly show were the two breakout shows of the TV season. I have watched both with friends and family, Gay and straight and everyone likes what is on the screen. Both shows were nominated for major awards, both won awards and one one the biggie!
This is a good moment for the Gheys, soak it in for at least a couple of days, Pretty pleeeze?????
PS: The Emmeeees clearly laid to rest any question as to the sexuality of Eric Stonestreet. No self respecting homosexual with the faintest signs of a pulse would be caught at a major awards event dressed in an off the rack suit with open collar and no tie……….. :p
Matt
@RomanHans
It’s clear you haven’t watched the show, and certainly don’t understand the characters. Cam has feminine qualities, but he’s definitely not a stereotype. Campy is probably a better word to describe his sense of humor.
And I think the writers were going for acute irony when they wrote in that he’s not only a former college football player and frat brother (something true to life for Stonestreet) but also a drama/broadway lover who could probably beat the shit out of you. (Also true to life.)
If Cameron was a stereotype and a single joke character, I’d be complaining along with you. But he’s not, and Eric Stonestreet’s award and future recognition can be credited to his performance, and as importantly, to the writers who created a character who has surprised the viewers repeatedly, and questioned our own prejudices.
M
wannabegay2
@RomanHans: how about taking into consideration the fact that BOTH are effeminate? isn’t that an attempt to change the old stereotypes about the fact that someone is the “man” and someone the “woman”?
WalkderDC
@Matt:
Oh Please, I’ve watched the show. The scene where they had a bat in their house was so over the top ridiculous I thought that Nathan Lane character from The Bird Cage was in the room. His first reaction of the controversy over the gay kiss was to tell all us queers to get over it. Frankly, the last think I give a crap about is another straight guy getting kudos for playing a stereotye. This isn’t a great moment in gay history, this is a great moment for a straight actor who plays a campy character. Is the show funny? Sure, sometimes, but at this point in time, it’s still just another Will and Grace.
emb
Oh look at us: He’s too gay/he’s not gay enough; he’s too femme/he’s too camp; they don’t show him kissing and fucking so the show’s no good; the actor’s straight and shouldn’t be playing gay (although we all certainly insist all the time that gay actors can be out and play straight roles); he’s a bad person and Emmy voters are evil. Sure it’d be nice if the characters kissed at the airport like everyone else, but they’re so clearly in a committed and nurturing and loving relationship that flies in the face of the Family Values idiots that whether or not they peck each other on the cheek is really not the point. Honestly, it’s a primetime network TV comedy that has two gay parents presented in a positive way and who are no odder than the rest of their family: that’s pretty huge, and we can celebrate it or nitpick and bitchfest it to death like we do practically everything else.
ron
@WalkderDC: First off, it was a pidgeon in the house. Secondly, if you get a wild bird flying in the house and have a mortal fear of flying creatures, you go a little nuts. The scene was funny as hell.
Matt
@WalkderDC:
I get what you’re saying but, I’m curious when it’s “OK” for gays to be femme on TV. And when does it subvert stereotypes? I know femme gays. None of them are Jack from Will and Grace but are they not allowed on TV?
We’re experiencing a shift in gay representation on TV. Eric Stonestreet’s comments in his press conference thing encapsulate that. He has no qualms or hesitations about playing a gay role, and the questions he was asked seem to reflect a different understanding of what a gay role means on TV nowadays. I haven’t lived through the history of gay roles in cinema or television but I sense a hugely different media response to his role and award than what would have or could have happened 10 or 15 years ago, etc. I digress.
I’m happy to see the press surrounding this, and I think it’s anything but regressive. I’m looking forward to Season 2.
thedarkchariot
@emb: I see what you are saying, but I am in the opposite camp of criticizing Modern Family a little bit.
We have moved (or will need to move) beyond simple exposure in media. I still think there is a double standard that is present on the show. I have watched the show every week, ever since the first episode, and it does treat the gay couple differently versus the straight couple.
In the first episode -the opening lines of the Modern Family story, nonetheless! – were about Phil and Claire trying to find baby oil, with the implication that the baby oil was in their bedroom because they were making love. And yet, we have yet to see Mitchell and Cameron make any sort of romantic contact with each other. That is a double standard, and I hope those of you that defend Modern Family realize that the double standard exists. We are being treated unequally, but is it justifiable?
What separates us into two camps, therefore, is justifying the double standard. Are we the criticizers just being “bitchy”? Should we just tolerate it for practical reasons – the idea that the show needs to be palatable to mainstream America? It’s essentially a question of tameness of the gay couple, and I really do think the gay couple should be just as romantic as the other couples. This isn’t the era of Will and Grace, and I don’t think we should be complacent about just having “exposure”. Some say my criticism is “bitchy”, I would say it’s “constructive”.
Modern Family is one of my favorite shows, and I really do wish it well. It’s on our side, no one is arguing that, but I just think it can do better.
Ted C.
@WalkderDC: The one who over-reacted to the pigeon was Mitchell, who’s played by a gay man. You’ve got your TV gays confused.
james_from_the_great_city_of_cambridge
What’s all this worry about effeminate gays from the closet queens like Roman? I’m masculine and yet I see plenty of them when I’m out & it sure as fuck doesn’t bother me; they exist in large quantities in the gay community and it ain’t a stereotype if it’s true. And who cares anyway? Mr. Hans doesn’t have a problem with Modern Family & Eric Stonestreet; he has a problem with his fellow fey gays.
alan brickman
A great actor ..the clown episode won this…trust me…
greenmanTN
I don’t have a complaint about Stonestreet’s portrayal in and of itself but the fact that gay men, with very rare exceptions, are always portrayed as feminine. I’m not saying that effeminate men don’t exist or are unworthy of being portrayed but a little variety would be nice.
And I do think it has consequences, both in the way gay men are perceived by society and how gay youth perceive themselves. How many times have you read someone’s ‘coming out’ story and they said something like, “I knew I liked guys but I wasn’t like the gay people I saw on TV or in movies so I decided it must just be a phase so I didn’t come out until much later”? I suppose we should be glad that at least now “sissy” characters are portrayed as having full lives complete with partners and family instead of just being the fashion-advising, perfect-cocktail-making BFF to the female star but it’s still a very narrow view of the gay male community.