Greek Goes Gay

For me personally, Greek is the second show (after Will & Grace) that I’ve seen feature gay men as more than a guest appearance (Modern Family being the third). Calvin, who dated two other gay characters on the show, Grant and Heath, is the most open about his sexuality but that was not until after he had come out of the closet. During the first few episodes, you would have never suspected Calvin was gay. As he introduces himself to the different frat houses on campus, he is very popular because he used to be an all-state quarterback for his high school and works out all the time. Like Shugart mentions in the article, although gays are on prime time television, most of them are portrayed extremely masculine and heterosexual. Never does Calvin exhibit feminine behavior such as expressing a love for shopping or an interest in fashion or any Jack-like behavior. At the end of the pilot episode where we see Calvin emerge from the room of a guy he slept with, he even gets the guy’s name wrong—he says Keith instead of Heath—which exhibits the insensitivity that is typically portrayed by a heterosexual man. And even at this moment, he refuses to admit he is gay, he just blames the alcohol.



Shugart also mentions the foil character that helps further emphasize the heterosexuality quality of the gay man in media. In Will and Grace it was another gay man but in Greek it is Rusty Cartwright. Rusty, the protagonist of the show is paired with Calvin since the pilot episode. These two rushed together and although they end up at different (even sworn-enemies) houses, they remain best friends. Rusty is the complete opposite of Calvin, whereas Calvin is this charming jock, Rusty is a awkward doesn’t-know-how-to-social geek who is in the honors engineering program. During rush week when Calvin was easily charming all the houses with his impressive jock stories, Rusty was trying to impress them with his knowledge of science. This large contrast just further emphasizes the athletic, straight characteristics of Calvin.