Television has historically been largely ineffective at representing queerness in its various forms. In the 21st century, however, as a broader range of queer characters has appeared in the media, it seems natural to assume TV portrayals of queerness have become more enlightened. But have they? This collection of fresh essays analyses queerness as depicted on TV from 2000 to the present.

Table of Contents Introduction: Media Representation and Sensitive Subjects (Kylo-Patrick R. Hart) Gay It Forward: How Will & Grace Made Gay Male Couples Okay on Television (Zachary Snider) Skeletons in the Closet: The Contradictory Views of the Queer in the Works of Joss Whedon (Don Tresca) Beyond Golden Gardenias: Versions of ­Same-Sex Marriage in Queer as Folk (Gael Sweeney) We’re Here, We’re Queer—and We’re Better Than You: The Representational Superiority of Gay Men to Heterosexuals on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Kylo-Patrick R. Hart) From Good to Bad Stories: Examining the Narrative of Pregnancy in The L Word as a Means to Teach and Destabilize Queerness (Anna Ciamparella) The Stylized Image of the White Lesbian: A Model Minority (Renee DeLong) Digital Drag: Queer Potentiality in the Age of Digital Television (Looi van Kessel) Gay Fathers in Modern Family and The New Normal: Class, Consumption, Sexuality and Parenting (Julia Erhart) Brothers in Arms: Spartacus, Historical Television and the Celebration of Queer Masculinity (Thomas J. West III) Leonardo’s Paradoxical Queerness: Da Vinci’s Demons and the Politics of Straightwashing (Dragos Manea) Racial Homophily and Homogeneity as ­Post-Racial Commodification in BrokeStraightBoys.tv (Michael Johnson, Jr.) Sexploitation on YouTube: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Gay Network (Bridget Kies) About the Contributors Index