ONE
OF
THE
joys
of
CBS’s
forensic
drama
“CSI:
Crime
Scene
Investigation”
is
that
the
messiness
on
the
show
always
has
to
do
with
dead
bodies
rather
than
the
characters’
personal
lives.
Like
the
long-running
“Law
&
Order”
on
NBC,
“CSI”
is
almost
completely
plot-driven.
Viewers
can
watch
any
episode
of
either
show
and
not
feel
like
they’re
out
of
step
with
a
character’s
personal
dramas.
So
imagine
the
shock
when
gay
actor
Gerald
McCullouch
recently
announced
that
his
recurring
character
on
“CSI,”
ballistics
expert
Bobby
Dawson,
was
going
to
come
out
on
the
show
and
acknowledge
he
is
in
a
committed
relationship
with
another
man
and
that
the
couple
has
an
adopted
daughter.
A
press
release
from
his
public
relations
team
said
that
the
big
moment
would
happen
on
the
episode
that
aired
Dec.
11and
McCullouch
himself
confirmed
the
story
in
an
interview
on
Sirius
Satellite
Radio’s
gay
news
channel,
Out
Q.
McCullouch,
36,
has
been
on
the
show
for
four
seasons,
portraying
one
of
the
experts
in
the
lab,
and
they
don’t
usually
get
lives.
They’re
only
there
to
inform
the
investigators
about
various
crimes.
After
watching
last
week’s
episode,
Bobby
Dawson
does
appear
in
one
scene
but
he
didn’t
talk
about
his
personal
life
at
all.
“WE
SHOT
[THE
scene
where
Bobby
comes
out],
and
it
was
very
true
to
life,”
McCullouch
told
the
Blade
from
his
home
in
Los
Angeles.
“It
wasn’t
until
I
got
phone
calls
when
the
show
aired
on
the
East
Coast
that
it
wasn’t
on
the
show.
I
thought,
‘What?
I’ve
been
doing
two
days
of
press
on
this.’”
A
rep
from
CBS
confirmed
that
the
scene
was
shot,
but
that
producers
always
film
more
material
than
it
takes
to
create
an
episode.
The
cut
could
have
been
made
for
either
time
consideration
or
content.
The
network
rep
said
there
are
still
plans
for
the
character
to
come
out
on
the
show,
but
that
decision
could
change
at
any
time.
“Our
personal
lives
never
come
into
the
story,
so
it
stuck
out
like
a
sore
thumb.
Because
of
that
they
decided
to
nix
it,”
McCullouch
said,
adding
that
producers
of
the
show
called
to
apologize
that
his
big
scene
got
cut.
Regardless,
McCullouch
said
it
wasn’t
a
part
that
he’d
lobbied
for.
“My
job
as
an
actor
is
to
pretend
to
be
other
people,
for
me
to
guide
where
it’s
going
isn’t
as
much
fun,”
he
said.
He
also
said
the
producers
decided
to
give
the
character
a
daughter,
and
that
he
supported
this
decision.
And
when
they
told
him
that
the
character
is
raising
the
child
with
a
gay
partner
he
supported
that
decision,
too.
“It
was
very
natural
and
very
healthy,
I
thought,”
he
says.
DOES
IT
MATTER
why
CBS
cut
the
storyline?
Not
really.
The
network
is
no
stranger
to
positive
portrayals
of
gay
characters,
and
probably
wasn’t
concerned
with
possible
backlash
against
a
gay
character
on
television’s
highest-rated
drama.
While
this
is
the
network
responsible
for
gay
actor
Nathan
Lane’s
ill-fated
sitcom,
“Charlie
Lawrence,”
a
show
about
a
gay
senator,
CBS
also
has
allowed
gay
characters
to
appear
on
“The
Guardian,”
“Two
and
a
Half
Men,”
“Without
a
Trace,”
“The
Amazing
Race,”
and
“Survivor.”
Does
it
matter
that
McCullouch
jumped
the
gun
with
his
announcement?
Not
really.
While
it
did
get
a
lot
of
gay
viewers’
hopes
up,
TV
is
gay
enough
these
days
without
a
recurring
character
on
“CSI.”
Next
time,
however,
he
should
confirm
the
event
is
going
to
take
place
before
his
team
whips
up
a
press
release.
Sure,
it
would
have
been
nice
to
have
a
gay
presence
on
“CSI.”
After
all,
it
reaches
a
larger
audience
than
almost
every
show
on
the
air,
and
an
accurate
portrayal
of
a
gay
professional
(a
gun
expert,
no
less)
certainly
wouldn’t
hurt.
