Apr 22, 2005  |  By: YUSEF NAJAFI  | COMMENTS     

VIEWERS MIGHT BE sad bidding farewell to Karamo and Willie, the two gay characters on the latest season of MTV’s “The Real World.” But turn on the music channel today and you’re bound to see other gay men and a few lesbians on the channel’s reality shows, dating shows and music videos.

During the past 23 years, MTV has not shied from airing gay content. The music channel has presented the good, the bad and the downright silly.

Among gay audiences, the story of Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive AIDS activist who died shortly after appearing on the third season of “The Real World” in the early ’90s, stands out for many MTV fans. Add to that the controversy surrounding MTV’s coverage of rapper Eminem, whose lyrics have offended and insulted gays. And who can forget that infamous pseudo-lesbian kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears during a live musical performance at the 20th annual Video Music Awards in 2003.

Next week, Equality Forum, a national weeklong gay rights extravaganza in Philadelphia, is scheduled to honor MTV and 37 gay and lesbian rights advocates for their work. Equality Forum, which takes place April 25 to May 1, is part of an annual effort to share information about the impact of homophobia. The event includes 70 programs, parties and related special events in various venues throughout the city.

“There has not been a media company that has had a longer-standing commitment to portraying our community openly, honestly and inclusively than MTV,” says Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum.

Ian Rowe, vice-president of MTV, says the music channel has spent a lot of time looking for ways to incorporate gay content into its programming without making it seem like a bold strategy.

“There have been [gay] breakthrough moments,” he says, “but I think the key in why we are so successful in this area is because we don’t always make a big deal out of it.

“We integrate gay characters as regular people in our shows,” Rowe says, “whether that be in ‘The Real World,’ ‘Made,’ or ‘True Life.’”

THIS IS NOT the first time a gay organization has honored MTV for its work. Three years ago, Equality Forum awarded its International Role Model Award to MTV. And in 1999, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation bestowed its Fairness Award on the music channel.

GLAAD’s executive director, Joan M. Garry, is a former business development director at MTV. She co-created the music channel’s Video Music Awards.

Damon Romine, entertainment media director at GLAAD, says MTV effectively incorporates gay content on the channel on two levels. “They show straight kids in this country that [we are] everywhere,” he says, “and gay kids can watch the network and find someone to identify with.”

Larry Gross, director of communications at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, says when it comes to gay content on television, MTV’s reality shows have played an important role.

“[MTV’s] invention of a new reality TV genre [began] with ‘The Real World,’ [and] was ahead of its time in making the inclusion of gay and lesbian characters a taken-for-granted and expected part of the real world,” he says.

Gross also is the author of “Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America.”

“The other side of the coin is that MTV succeeds by attracting and holding an audience that is largely engaged with popular youth culture,” he says, noting that this can be good or bad, depending on the music channel’s content. “And often with performers or themes that are misogynistic, anti-gay and problematic, that’s sort of the nature of the beast.

“One could imagine that if MTV were to try to maintain a politically correct line in all of their programming they probably would lose much of their audience and their commercial validity,” Gross adds. “It would be nice to think of them as consistently progressive; it’s probably not realistic.”

Five years ago, gay rights advocates and their supporters, including GLAAD staff members, expressed outrage at MTV’s decision to continue airing videos by Eminem. Lyrics to one of his songs stated: “My words are ...