Jason Meyers
LOS ANGELES (TNA) – They always give off a vibe that they’ve been best friends forever. But before Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez became the “Fab Five” of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” they were all strangers to one another.
With one exception: “I had heard of Ted Allen before we were cast,” Douglas jokes. “I’d actually read a little bit about him on a bathroom wall!”
“Yeah,” Allen adds, playing along, “in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport!”
Not true, of course – at least we don’t think so.
But there’s one thing that is absolutely true about “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” TV’s gay-helps-straight makeover series, which airs its farewell episode Tuesday, Oct. 30 on Bravo: It has without question has had an impact, perhaps a lasting one, on our popular culture.
Here’s how: “It used to be that buying jeans was only difficult for women,” Allen says. “Now it’s just as agonizing for men.”
Actually, all joking aside, while teaching straight guys who were clueless about clothing, grooming, interior design, and etc., the Fab Five made an even bigger impression on their gay brethren.
As Allen puts it, “We were able to indirectly help people who are gay open up the conversation about who they are.”
It wasn’t so very long ago, after all, that the “Q” word had a pejorative connotation. It was a word that the language police had deemed off limits.
“When we first started making ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’” Rodriguez points out, “there were a lot of companies and stores and brands that didn’t want to work with us because of the title ‘Queer Eye.’”
Hard to believe, but that was just four years ago. Today, companies aren’t so paralyzingly afraid because “queer” is back in the lexicon and routinely used in a positive way.
“Queer Eye” can’t take sole credit for reclaiming the word from bigots, of course, but just seeing the word casually used in the mainstream media once the show became a hit had to take away much of the stigma.
Beyond that, the “Queer Eye” guys are often thanked by people who, because they watched the show, found the courage to be open about who they really are.
Douglas cites an example: “About a year ago, I received a letter from this kid from Australia who was 17 at the time and coming out and he didn’t have anyone to talk to and he just wanted to talk. So I emailed him back and we traded emails. And since that time, he’s fallen in love for the first time and then he sent me an email saying, ‘Kyan, I finally told my parents I’m gay and they couldn’t have been better about it.’
“Those kinds of stories, those kinds of experiences, for me, are the legacy of the show. And I know that the other guys have all had similar experiences with gay youth. It’s humbling and special.”
That wasn’t the mission statement when “Queer Eye” premiered in July 2003, but making a difference by accident is still making a difference.
“We started out making a show that we just thought was about things that many people think are superficial, like your appearance and your décor and all of that,” Allen says. “We never thought of ourselves as important, certainly not as activists or anything. But the fact is we were ‘out’ on television.
“There still aren’t many people who are ‘out’ on television and that alone, just being ourselves, is the most important political act that any of us could have done. The hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of letters that we got from gay kids – I agree with Kyan – that is the thing that I’m proudest of.”
It’s also worth noting that, while helping straight guys improve themselves, the Fab Five picked up a few things from the straights.
“Kyan can throw a ball now,” Allen reveals. “Carson has a mean golf swing. Thom likes football now. It’s unbelievable.”
“I think the biggest way that I’ve been made over by the straight guys being on the show,” Douglas adds, “is just being more comfortable with straight men and not feeling like they’re as scary as I thought they once were.”
All of these insights that help us bridge the cultural gap between gays and straights are fine and good. But lest we forget the most important “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” lesson of them all: “If I could speak for Carson,” Rodriguez volunteers, “I think his eternal mantra would be, ‘No pleated pants. Ever.’”