All eyes on the guys.

If there is such a thing as a gay revolution happening on TV, it could not have occurred with more panache than dished out by the guys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ["Queer Eye Confidential," September 2]. Thanks to The Advocate for one of the best covers and articles of the year. There could not be a better example of showing the way gay men can combine their talent and abilities to make things better while at the same time being fun and fabulous. Inspiring, educational, hilarious, and insightful, Queer Eye is must-see TV. No other show has the kind of potential to reshape views of gay people by highlighting the talents of five guys who don't act but are themselves on-camera. Bravo to the Fab 5 for working their magic and showing us that, collectively, fabulous personalities and talent truly can make a difference.

Craig Olson, Des Moines, Iowa 

Next to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer as Folk is downright progressive! It just shows how little things have changed since Emory first muttered the immortal phrase "Oh, Mary, it takes a fairy to make something pretty" in The Boys in the Band back in 1968.

Of course it's popular; you'll never go broke reaffirming stereotypes. Relax, straight America: Gay boys don't really want to get married, they just want to design the wedding. Imagine copycat shows! Goys Will Be Goys--five Jews advise a gentile on money matters. Ladies First--five June Cleaver types brush up a feminazi on domestic duties. Straight Eye for the Queer Guy--five "real men" teach a nelly how to play Sports.

Whether the Fab 5's taste is infallible is moot. And Kyan's point (there are effeminate gay men, get used to it) is well-taken. However, as actress Marla Gibbs pointed out on a television documentary about censorship, apropos of African-Americans, it wasn't that Amos 'n' Andy was necessarily a bad representation of blacks so much as it was the only one. Besides, I've certainly known some gay slobs.

What, now, do I think of Boy Meets Boy? Oh, Mary, don't ask.

Kevin Dawson, Los Angeles, Calif.

I am cautiously optimistic about the recent success of programs like Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The entertainment industry seems to have taken the lead in advancing the visibility and credibility of the gay community for a mass American audience.

Or has it?

I will not deny that the five men featured on the program are talented, even artistic. However, there is a strange "queer mystique" at work here--it's reminiscent of the mainstream postwar "acceptance" that came with women receiving higher education, only to find themselves pigeonholed as secretaries. The teachers, nurses, and housewives. The entertainment industry should be cautious about leading anyone to believe that gay men fit only five molds of excellence, all of which are, frankly, dependent upon superfluous and unnecessary luxuries.

Let's keep our queer eyes focused on securing the rights, privileges, and securities that the straight guy takes for granted.

Joe Gavrilovich, Ferndale, Mich.

So this is it, this is the great achievement for our visibility, this show that America loves. They have set the standard to beat--America needs her homos to dress and clean for them and give straighty a good laugh. We finally made it. This $400 billion market gays are presumed to have--we got Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and throw in Boy Meets Boy, and the straight boy gets the money for deceiving the gay boy. I do believe our best days are behind us for gay visibility; we have gone way back to Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle. My dad used to laugh at the silly fags on his show, all dressed up in drag. If he were alive today, he would still be laughing.

R. Eriksen, Massillon, Ohio