The Emmy Awards :: Jane Lynch and the new gay normal

Award shows used to be the one event that gay audiences could tune in to for the fantastic fashions and the competitive excitement, despite the fact gay actors and projects were either not recognized or the nominees and winners private lives were kept in the closet.

That was then. Today all you need to do is look at the list of nominees for the 63rd Emmy Awards to see how times have changed. You might even say the gays rule the Emmys. (The show airs live on Fox this Sunday at 8pm et/5pm pt.)

Okay, that might be a bit over the top. But just look at whom the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences asked to host the show: Jane Lynch, who just five years ago was a well-regarded character actress little-known by mainstream America despite a considerable resume of indie film work ("Best in Show") and television.

"Glee" changed all that. Lynch was the break-out performer on Fox's hugely successful series where she played the scheming high school gym teacher Sue Sylvester. She took home the Emmy last year for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. She is nominated again this year, as is the show for Outstanding Comedy Series; but whether she'll win again (or the show for the first time) won't be known until late Sunday night.

A big splash

"Glee" changed all that. Lynch was the break-out performer on Fox's hugely successful series where she played the scheming high school gym teacher Sue Sylvester. She took home the Emmy last year for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. She is nominated again this year, as is the show for Outstanding Comedy Series; but whether she'll win again (or the show for the first time) won't be known until late Sunday night.

Writing an acceptance speech, though, appears to be the least of Lynch's worries. She admits to feeling the pressure as Sunday approaches.

"I think you want to make a splash. I'd be lying if I said if I didn't say we wanted to make the best awards show ever," Lynch said in a press call last week. "We want it to be special. It's such a coveted spot, it's the biggest night in television, as they call it. You want to do it justice, or at least I do. I'm humbled by it.. and I think if you look at the big picture and you shoot past the doing of it and you look at the results and say I'm going to do fabulous, you're not going to do very well. So I'm just trying to stay in the moment, knocking out what I need to knock out. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make a big splash."

Gay-centric elements?

One thing Lynch didn't seem too concerned about was making sure there was some gay-centric elements included in the show. In fact, when I asked her pointedly about it on the same press call, she seemed annoyed by the question.

EDGE: Hi, Jane. Thanks for your time today. Do you feel responsibility at all to make sure there's some gay-centric element to the show at all?

Jane Lynch: No.

EDGE: Do you think there should be something in the show, whether it's just some gay humor or something just to kind of make it...?

Jane Lynch: What are you talking... I'm a person, not just a gay person, so I don't focus on gay things like that. I just focus on good shows and being funny.

EDGE: Okay, gotcha. Do you have input on any jokes or dancing or any kind of... numbers that you might be a part of?

Jane Lynch: Oh yes, absolutely. Yes, I've been a part of every aspect of it, and though I'm not putting pen to paper, I'm very much collaborating with everybody. We're having a great time. It's a great group of people. We work very well together.

Was Lynch caught off-guard by the question? That seems unlikely since she's been freely talking about being out, as well as her marriage to Dr. Lara Embry, since she came out in 2010. Perhaps it was just a case of the pressure she is feeling. Preliminary reports of her upcoming Advocate interview show her much more open on gay topics. We'll have to wait until Sunday to see if Lynch will be joined onstage by Ross Mathews or Perez Hilton to sing their version of "Born This Way." But even if that doesn't happen, this year sees an upswing in recognition of gay characters and actors by the Academy.

Chris Colfer’s year?

The Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy is the gayest category with such a gay presence that you might mistake it for a Sunday tea dance. First, Chris Colfer, who was nominated last year for the Emmy (and won the Golden Globe) for his role as gay teen Kurt Hummel, could take the prize this year. In this past season of "Glee," Kurt started out the show's second season being bullied by a closeted thug and departed the high school for the Dalton School For Boys where he found a gay role model (dreamy Darren Criss), who would eventually become his boyfriend. On a show with a habit for wayward storytelling, Kurt's story was one told with commitment and a focus that made us all relate to him. "Glee" is also nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series.

ABC's "Modern Family" boasts three supporting actors in this category including out actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his on-screen better half Eric Stonestreet (the third is Ed O'Neill who plays Ferguson's crusty father on the popular sitcom). The fact that Ferguson and Stonestreet are regular characters on the show and are in a same-sex committed relationship is one reason why this show is groundbreaking. The fact that both actors are brilliant in their portrayals of Mitchell (Ferguson) and Cameron (Stonestreet) make it a no-brainer that they garner nominations. Last year, the straight Stonestreet won the Emmy in this category. Will he take it home again this year or will one of his co-stars get their turn? "Modern Family" is also nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, which it won last year.

Jim Parsons to repeat

Over in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Neil Patrick Harris may not have garnered a nomination for his hetero-role of Barney on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" this time around, but another CBS star, actor Jim Parsons, seen this summer on Broadway in Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart," is nominated again for his role of science nerd Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory." Parsons took home the Emmy in this category last year and coming off another strong year on the sitcom where he saw his character grow into a non-sexual relationship with a colleague (played by Mayim Bialik) that showed how truly talented Parsons is. With his fear of sexual relations, one might wonder could the seemingly asexual Sheldon be gay? That remains to be seen, but there's little doubt that Parsons has the comedic chops to keep taking home the Emmy for many more years to come.

As for speculation about Parsons being out, the website Fanshare.com, wrote this past week that Parsons and his partner Todd Allan Spiewak are buying a condo. Parsons proposed to Spiewak last December, but "the wedding was called off, after it was believed that they had a difference of opinion regarding children. A source explained at the time, "Jim recently made a joke about how he couldn't handle being around children, and when Todd asked him about having kids together, Jim said 'no way.' Todd was heartbroken."

Alan Cumming’s big night

The nominated field in dramas is a bit more sparse when it comes to gay nominations. But one drama series, CBS's "The Good Wife," (up for Outstanding Drama Series), regularly features gay or bisexual characters, including series regular Kalinda Sharma, who doesn't label herself, but on the show has had relationships with both men and women. In fact, this past season, Archie Panjabi's portrayal of Kalinda has been one of the bigger draws of the series whether she's smashing a (male) rival's car with a baseball bat or smooching with guest star Kelli Giddish. Last year, relative newcomer Panjabi snagged the award out from under more established actors like Sharon Gless, Christina Hendricks and Christine Baranski. She definitely has some fans in the Academy and could repeat the win for a second time!

Also upped to a series regular spot last season on "The Good Wife" is out actor Alan Cumming, who plays political strategist Eli Gold. While Eli is straight (he fell for recurring guest star America Ferrara last season), Cumming shows range by playing a shrewd character who will do anything to see his candidate (played by Chris Noth) get to the top; but he also nudged his way into the life of Noth's estranged on-screen wife, Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series nominee Julianna Margulies. Cumming and his character have proven to be so vital to the show that he was signed to a multi-year contract last season so we'll be sure to see Eli more and more in the coming years. Hopefully an Emmy will come his way, too.

All about Mildred

Finally, in the Outstanding Movie or Miniseries category, two notable entries (both coming from HBO) are the remake of the classic film "Mildred Pierce" and the dramatization of the Loud Family's experience making television history as reality television's first family in "Cinema Verite." If you were like me, you weren't a huge fan of Kate Winslet trying to step into Joan Crawford's shoes as the iconic Mildred Pierce, who scraped her way to success only to have to deal with a spoiled monster of a daughter.

But to its credit, the HBO movie was a faithful adaptation of the James M. Cain novel so it wasn't trying to copy the beloved 1945 Crawford film (which added film noir elements not seen in the novel). For me, an incredibly slow pace and lackluster story stretched out over six hours by out director Todd Haynes made this film less than memorable. However, Academy members ate it up and awarded it the most nominations of any show this year (21) with acting noms going to Winslet and co-stars Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, Melissa Leo and Mare Winningham. Haynes also received a Directing and Writing nomination (along with co-writer Jon Raymond) for the film.

Should ’Cinema Verite’ win?

While many recognize the 1973 PBS documentary "An American Family" as the true beginning of reality TV (cameras followed the California-based Loud family capturing everything from a marriage breaking down the outing of Lance Loud), the film also featured a breathtaking performance by actor Thomas Dekker (currently seen on the new CW series "The Secret Circle") as Lance. While Dekker or his co-stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini did not garner nominations, the film itself is up for an Outstanding Movie or Miniseries award and (for my money) should win over "Mildred Pierce."

LGBT television fans can also take solace in the fact that the "Becoming Chaz," the documentary by out documentary filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato received three nominations, including one for Outstanding Nonfiction Special. The film, made for Oprah's OH network, did not win when some early awards were announced last Saturday; but the fact it was nominated while the highly-marketed Sarah Palin reality series on the History Channel was not offers proof of the new gay normal in Hollywood.

The 63rd annual Emmy Awards airs live this Sunday at 8pm et/5pm pt on Fox.