After Elton gives us the tops in steamy gayness on the idiot box
Contributing Writer
May 6, 2007
If this article were being written about important gay male sex scenes on television prior to 2000, it would be extremely short. In fact, it would cover exactly one sex scene. And that wasn't even an actual sex scene, but more a postcoital cuddle between thirtysomething's Russell and Peter, because, well, that's all there was.
And then in 2000, Showtime decided to adopt a new slogan for its struggling cable network: "No Limits." And to test those non-limits, they let a soapy drama called Queer as Folk premiere with what it called " the longest lick down the backside of a boy of any TV broadcast in history." Queer as Folk was a show that clearly didn't know the meaning of the phrase "fade to black."
Since then on the broadcast TV channels, however, there hasn't exactly been an explosion of hot man-on-man action. Still, there are a handful of shows over the years that showed men either about to have sex or having just had sex, all slowly changing the landscape for gay male visibility. Those scenes have been among the most groundbreaking moments in television history. ER, thirtysomething and Brothers & Sisters all made it onto our list because they each represent another step on the long road toward televised sexual parity for gay men.
Still, cable's where it's at for gay male sex, even if it's been toned down since Queer as Folk ended its five-year run. Queer as Folk , Noah's Arc (which aired on Logo, AfterElton.com's parent company), and Dante's Cove (here!) all unabashedly showed their gay male protagonists as fully sexualized, frequently naked characters. Meanwhile, shows like HBO's Six Feet Under, The Wire and Oz went with groundbreaking story lines, but played coy with the explicit sex.
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