Gay is the word

Whatever happened to the love that dare not speak its name? These days, people can speak of little else. It's big news in the States at the moment, since this week's shock American Idol result. In case you haven't been following it, the final saw gay Adam Lambert square off against missionary Kris, only for Kris' red-state, Bible-thumping, down-home fans to roll up their sleeves and defeat the man who was pretty much declared winner on the first live show. The morning-after press conference saw Adam agree that his 'sexuality' (without ever explicitly confirming what 'it' is) probably cost him the vote, but he didn't seem to be harbouring any sour grapes. However, that didn't stop another gay runner-up, Clay Aiken, from rushing in to criticise Adam's performances, only to then apologise a few hours later.

Meanwhile, over on another reality talent show, Nigel Lythgoe (once described by Charlie Brooker as looking like 'Eric Idle watching a dog drown') has been kicking up a brouhaha as well. Following in the well-trodden footsteps of Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell (whose painful 'gay panic' banter is now as much a staple of every show as the performance recaps) Nigel felt the need to make an issue out of the sexuality of two male contestants on So You Think You Can Dance. Having expressed discomfort at the way in which the men danced together, Nigel then took to Twitter to comment further: "The same-sex ballroom guys did remind me of Blades of Glory. However, I'm not a fan of Brokeback ballroom." Thanks Nigel, you transparent-skinned, yellow-toothed ghoul.

And then there's Jonathan Ross, no longer allowed to broadcast his radio show live because the BBC are terrified that one of his inappropriate comments will slip through the net and upset someone in Tunbridge Wells. The latest upset was caused by a comment that parents should put their (male) children up for adoption if they asked for a Hannah Montana MP3 player.

So much controversy and so little time. It’s funny to think that it’s not so long ago that gays were happy to settle for insults and negative portrayals, since visibility was better than nothing. But in a few short years we’ve reached a point where mainstream society has embraced the gay cultural vernacular to such a degree that people feel perfectly comfortable criticizing it, as if from the inside. ’Homophobia’ is an easy accusation to make, but it’s almost impossible to prove. So I’ll just cross my fingers and tell myself that I believe in fairies…