Seth Green: Werewolf, Gay Party Boy, or Homophobic Robot?

Although Seth Green had been appearing on tv and in movies since 1984, when he was 10 years old, I didn't notice him until Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2000): he played Oz, the laconic high school werewolf who dated Willow before she "turned" lesbian.

Ok, I thought: nice guy, and Buffy is a pro-gay program.  Seth must be pro-gay himself.

Next I saw him as Scott Evil, son of Austin Powers' nemesis Dr. Evil in Goldfinger (2002).

Ok, I thought: Goldfinger isn't exactly gay-inclusive, but it's not homophobic, either. Seth is probably pro gay.

Besides, he played in the gay-themed Nunzio's Second Cousin (2004) and Boys Life 2. 

But then the homophobia started.

Party Monster (2003): A swishy New York partyboy is almost "saved" from is "destructive lifestyle" through the love of a good woman.

Without a Paddle (2004): three guys are stranded in the wilderness, and must do sick, disgusting, horrifying things in order to survive.  Like cuddle.

Sex Drive (2008): A guy crosses the country to hook up with the Girl of His Dreams after stealing a car from his homophobic brother (who turns out to be a swish).

Old Dogs (2009): Haven't seen it, but anything starring Robin Williams and John Travolta has to be terrible, and it was listed in Yahoo! as one of the "most homophobic movies you've seen."

Then there's the ongoing homophobia of his tv series, Robot Chicken (2005-2013), Family Guy (1999-), and most recently costarring with Giovanni Ribisi on  Dads (2013), reviled by critics as the most homophobic (and racist, and sexist) program on tv.  After Family Guy, that's saying a lot.

So is Seth Green pro-gay or homophobic?  Or a pro-gay homophobe?  Or is he just oblivious to the cultural impact of the roles he takes?

Chris Gorham: Sometimes Gay, Sometimes Blind, Always an Ally

Back in 1999, the WB tried to get on the teencom bandwagon with Popular (1999-2001), about two high schoolers, the popular Brooke and the outcast Sam, who become unwilling siblings when their parents marry. It was actually more of a dramedy, with suicides and life-threatening illnesses, and some storylines of gay interest: a boy wants to become a cheerleader; their shop teacher has a "sex change"; a gay student gets harassed.  It ended on a cliffhanger, with Brooke apparently killed by her rival Nicole.

It was not very popular, but that may be because the target audience of adolescents was not home on Friday nights, but it did give us the hunky Christopher Gorham as the dying Harrison John.




Chris had already played a gay character, the "sexually confused" Elliott on Party of Five, went on to star in other gay-positive tv series: Felicity (2001-2002), Out of Practice (2005-2006), and Ugly Betty (2006-2010).

It was while playing Henry the nerdish accountant on Ugly Betty that Chris first took his shirt off on camera.  Many viewers were shocked by his buffed physique, and assumed that there was some special-effects trick going one.

This angered Chris's wife, Anel Lopez Gorham: "You've looked like this forever," she complained.  Why is it so hard to believe that he has a great physique?

Don't worry, his clothes have come off a lot since.

The Ledge (2011) is about the fundamentalist Christian Joe (Patrick Wilson), who doesn't like his wife's lover (Charlie Hunnam, left), especially the fact that he's an atheist, so he forces him onto the ledge of a high rise to see if he is still an atheist when facing death.  Chris (right) plays Gavin's roommate, whom Joe doesn't like because he's gay.

Chris is currently starring in Covert Affairs (2010-), as a blind CIA agent who takes off his shirt a lot.

He and his wife are strong supporters of marriage equality.  He explains: "We’re an inter-racial couple. It wasn’t that long ago that it was illegal for us to marry. So we’re huge supporters of the right to marry.

Shannon Kook-Chun: The Gay Footballer from Degrassi

Do you think the muscular Asian guy on the left is gay?

Nope, heterosexual.

No, really.  I can prove it.  You wouldn't believe what I erased from this photo of him and a few friends doing tequila shots.

He's Shannon Kook-Chun, a Canadian actor of Chinese and South African ancestry.  Millions of teens know him as Zane Park, one of the gay students on Degrassi: The Next Generation (2010-2011) a footballer in a relationship with Riley Stavros (Argirris Karras).

Before Degrassi, he had recurring roles on the Canadian tv series Baxter and Durham County.

And in the short film Verona (2010), a gay Romeo-and-Juliet story set in a contemporary college.  Two members of rival fraternities (Shannon, John Bregar) fall in love.

Look for Shanon in Hunting Season (2013), about five friends who "must fight for survival, salvation, and sanity" while being hunted in the Canadian northwoods. I haven't seen it, but there's bound to be some gay subtexts, if not a "real" gay character.

He's playing a heterosexual character in Home Again (2013), and most likely in Dirty Singles (2013), but he had a good run.

Sergi Lopez: Gay Characters and Frontal Nudity in Three Languages

You probably remember Sergi Lopez as the evil Captain Vidal in Pan's Labyrinth (2006).  The polyglot actor (fluent in Spanish and French as well as his native Catalan) has appeared in over 60 movies, specializing in psychotic killers, amoral conmen, and other evil types.

But he also plays gay-subtext characters.  In With a Friend Like Harry (2000), his Harry reunites with high school friend Michel (Laurent Lucas), seduces him, and takes over his life.

In Parc (2008), a chance meeting between two married heterosexual men in the park (Sergi, Jean-Marc Barr) turns into a cat-and-mouse game of manipulation and desire.

And gay characters.  In Les derniers jours du monde ("Happy End," 2009), as the end of the world approaches, Theo (Sergi) confesses his love for his straight friend Robinson (Mathieu Almaric), and then commits suicide. I know, the gay gay always dies, but to be fair, Robinson and everybody else on Earth also dies.  And there's a frontal-nude shot of Sergi that's more than worth sitting through the angst.

Sergi doesn't play a gay character in Pa negre ("Black Bread," 2010), but he does play the mayor of a town where a gay boy uncovers a dark secret.