Yes, I’m a Gleek, but even if you’re not a fan of Glee, you’ll appreciate this vignette from the Hollywood Reporter’s recent piece about the show. Actor Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry, a character with gay dads, stops while filming in New York to speak with a 10-year-old fan who has two dads.
[Michele] is supposed to be on set with her cast, but insists that the little girl with two fathers wait for her outside the auditorium. Once there, Michele wraps her delicate arms around the girl and asks her about the experience. “How do you feel in school? What did you tell them?” she asks, visibly touched by her character’s impact. “You’re cool now; you’re like Rachel Berry,” she says to the nodding fan, adding, “I’m so proud of you.” [Quote from page 6; first page of story is here.]
We’ve never seen Rachel’s dads on the show, although many a fan has clamored for them—but we’ve never seen most of the students’ parents, either. While I’d certainly like to see more LGBT parents in the media, I also can’t criticize Glee for shying away from gay storylines—because they haven’t. (Last I counted, there were five regular LGB characters.) If this one gay point is kept in the background as a simple part of Rachel’s backstory, so be it. It still seems to be having a positive effect.
(Thanks to Dorothy Snarker for pointing out the article!)