Sex and the City star says show helped push LGBT representation on TV
Sex and the City star Willie Garson says gay characters were left “in the shadows” for much of the 1990s.
Willie Garson played openly gay character Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City for its entire run.
He also appears in its two movies – alongside several other LGBT characters, including his eventual husband Anthony (Mario Cantone).
The actor says that he feels the show helped push boundaries for LGBT representation on TV, and altered the portrayal of LGBT characters in mainstream entertainment.
“[Gay characters] were kind of hushed or in the shadows on TV, or talked about in a dark way,” he told Digital Spy.
“I think it was a darkness that the producers wanted to bring out and say ‘hold on, this character is fun, and is just one of their friends, it’s not a ‘thing”.
“I think that’s pretty different to what had been on TV before.”
He went on to reflect how much things have changed in the entertainment industry.
“It’s funny, I work on another show now sometimes, and there’s someone on the crew who is a transsexual, and it’s nothing, it’s just someone on the crew,” he said.
“No-one even thinks about it, it’s just another thing that would not have happened 10 years ago.
“I always wonder if the shows that have come along since, and their different attitude and styles, they may have come along anyway naturally, but maybe we pushed it a little faster.”
Garson also echoed the sentiments of co-stat Cynthia Nixon, who recently confirmed that she would be happy to return for a third SATC movie.
“I would make a hundred of them,” he said.
The media charity GLAAD recently announced it will no longer publish an annual report monitoring the quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBT representation on TV.
As the report enters its ninth year, nearly all US TV networks are ranked ‘adequate’ or above – with the FOX network becoming the first major broadcaster to be ranked ‘excellent
