Reality TV gets serious: a new show puts gay and straight people together to work out their differences.Gay men are no strangers to reality programs such as Survivor and The Real World, but their presence has long been a source of irritation irritation /ir·ri·ta·tion/ (ir?i-ta´shun) 1. the act of stimulating. 2. a state of overexcitation and undue sensitivity.ir´ritative ir·ri·ta·tion n. 1. to Fox News Chicago reporter Mark Saxenmeyer. "The gay men on these reality shows are so stereotypical," he says. "The producers always seem to find the most effeminate ef·fem·i·nate adj. 1. Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men. See Synonyms at female. 2. Characterized by weakness and excessive refinement. man possible." Saxenmeyer has an alternative. In The Experiment: Gay and Straight, 10 people were cloistered for seven days to explore their feelings about homosexuality homosexuality, a term created by 19th cent. theorists to describe a sexual and emotional interest in members of one's own sex. Today a person is often said to have a homosexual or a heterosexual orientation, a description intended to defuse some of the long-standing . They included Deo, a lesbian raising a son with her painter, and Kyla, a Christian who believed homosexuality was "barbaric" and "nasty." "We talked about so many things--can [a person] change, is it a sin, hate crimes, bashing bash v. bashed, bash·ing, bash·es v.tr. 1. To strike with a heavy, crushing blow: The thug bashed the hood of the car with a sledgehammer. 2. , marriage, adoption, discrimination," says Greg, another participant. "There was certainly conflict, but I think we really tried hard to be fair and see the other perspective." The degree to which they accomplished that will be revealed when the show airs in late November on Fox affiliates around the country--and possibly on cable's Fox News Channel. Spanning five nights of hour-long episodes (with some affiliates screening a one-hour compilation), The Experiment: Gay and Straight promises to be a milestone in TV's treatment of the issue. Lehoczky writes regularly for the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Daily newspaper published in Chicago. The Tribune is one of the leading U.S. newspapers and long has been the dominant voice of the Midwest. Founded in 1847, it was bought in 1855 by six partners, including Joseph Medill (1823–99), who made the paper . |
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