Gay culture is surviving and thriving. Some activists believe the recent rise in homophobic violence might be a gauge of the success of positive gay images.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.
Gay culture is in a coming-out process of its own. From out of the closets in the '60s, the culture moved onto the disco floors of the '70s and through the hospital wards of the '80s and onwards to the streets.
I think that there's no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues.
The gay community has taken care of their issues and problems in terms of HIV/AIDS. They have done an incredible job. We as heterosexuals need to learn from the gay community because they have rallied together. They have sent a lot of information out there. They go get tested.
Though gay lifestyles have certainly moved into the open, there's little evidence that society has become more open in its basic attitudes or that entertainers should feel cozy in emerging from the velvet underground.
A lot of what used to be known as gay culture - broadly speaking, homoeroticism and being camp - has been brought into mainstream culture. I think we should be moving to an era where it's just sex.
Homosexuals are riding high in the media.
I have watched as a people and as a country and a culture over the course of my teenage-into-adulthood life, and I do still think there is a tremendous amount of homophobia that exists.
The gay community is very fickle. And I know because I'm part of it and I see it every day.
Really, when it comes to gay rights, there's two wars going on. The first war is political. But the culture war is over.