Men Sound Off On TLC's 'My Husband's Not Gay'
There’s seemingly no happily ever after for the men of TLC’s ‘My Husband’s Not Gay.’ Photo: Getty Images
The world is a curious place and the cable channel TLC (who can lay claim to Say Yes to the Dress, Sister Wives, and 19 Kids and Counting) seems intent on overturning every stone. Their latest exposé features a sect of Utah’s hardcore Mormon congregants who love when gay men get hitched…as long as it’s to straight women who can help “convert” them. To use a term foreign to most of Salt Lake City, oy vey.
Enter My Husband’s Not Gay, a new show that follows a group of self-confessed homosexuals determined to stay on the—excuse me—straight and narrow. The cast includes three married couples, and one single guy whose first date behavior includes flowers, hand-holding, and confessing “I’m attracted to men” before leaning in for a kiss. (Spoiler alert: She’s not interested.)
We asked a few good men what they think of this plot.
“This is a joke, right?” asked my (straight) friend Max, 28, an artist in Los Angeles. “Like, it’s a Geiko commercial, not a real show.” Other straight men polled for this story were similarly mystified-slash-disgusted. DC political consultant James, 35, declared the show “sad,” NYC ad executive Nick, 29, said, “I feel bad for everyone involved—the wives as much as the husbands!” My 66-year-old father asked, in all seriousness, “Wasn’t that already the plot of Three’s Company?” My brother Seth, 31, a Buddhist monk (yes, really—we can talk about that another time…) was similarly confused. “I don’t get why being gay is still a problem, for anyone,” he says. “Even Disney is making gay princes now!”
My gay friends were more damning, and less considerate. Most polled on the issue responded with flippant but outraged texts: WTF, STFU, and IRD (I’d Rather Die) blipped through my iPhone screen more than once. “SO sad,” wrote Andrew, 34, a Chicago native and lawyer. “I hope these guys learn that the only sin is lying to yourself and your family.”
And Drew, 28, an actor and writer, took a sterner stance. “These men seem to be in a pressurized bind between their cultural and religious practices, and their natural instincts. I do not desire or choose to live my own life in such a disconnected manner, so I lack empathy for their plight… I will not watch this show.”
Perhaps Jonathan, 29, a graphic designer, put it best: “Maybe it should be called My Husband’s Not Gay… But His Boyfriend Is.”
We now return to Dance Moms, our regularly scheduled program…
