16 Reasons Why 'Grey's Anatomy' Needs a Romance Between Two Men – Wetpaint

Youd be hard-pressed to find a show more inclusive of Greys Anatomy did you see those docs wearing hijabs last week? but it still comes up short in one regard.

There are no major male characters who are into other men.

Its time that changed, and we have 16 reasons why.

Greys Anatomy Season 13 airs on Thursdays at 8 p.m ET on ABC.

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None of the shows 13 seasons so far has featured a major gay male character, so this inclusion seems long overdue.

Characters like Callie, Arizona, Eliza, Penny, Erica, and Sadie have paved the way and countless Calzona shippers prove how well these same-sex storylines can work.

Just this season, for example, two male fiancs arrived at the hospital after a turkey fryer accident. (Culinary foolishness knows no sexual orientation, apparently.)

As Marketplace reports, the show has cashed in on the Netflix effect. That is to say, young viewers who were too young to be aware of Greys when it premiered in 2005 have discovered the shows past seasons on Netflix and have caught up to its live airings.

When a fan asked the Greys Anatomy creator Why all the gay and lesbian storylines? in 2012, she wrote a lengthy response.

I believe everyone should get to see themselves reflected on TV, she said.

As long as someone feels like it is okay to ask the question Why all the gay people on your shows, then there is still a huge problem that needs to be solved.

Gay and bisexual men play prominently in Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, and The Catch.

In her capstone project, American University student Annie Kanter quoted a 23-year-old Greys fan singing its praises:

With Greys Anatomy, when there were lesbians, it was always like, Oh my god, there are lesbians on this show! People were threatening to stop watching it.

Now it has totally passed that. Now it is more of This is the gay couple on the show and eventually it will hopefully move to This is just another couple.

Gay men have been conspicuous by their absence, at least among the doctors, wrote one viewer.

Oh sure, theyll often have a gay male patient, whose partner will be allowed to give him an affectionate peck now and again. But gay male doctors ripping their clothes off and jumping on each other in the medical supply room? Nary a sign.

Just look at the reaction from right-wing site Newsbusters to the lesbian teen romance in Greys Anatomys Season 12 premiere:

Apparently the episode was titled Sledgehammer to indicate that they are going to beat us over the head with the same liberal themes all season long, the site wrote.

In its most recent Network Responsibility Index, GLAAD gave ABC a good rating, especially because the network had the highest volume of LGBT-inclusive content that year. That said...

Former Greys star Sara Ramirez has called out two regressive moments on ABC this year a joke targeting bisexual individuals in The Real ONeals and the exclusion of overtly-bisexual figures in When We Rise.

Remember when Callies love interest Erica Hahn walked into the hospital parking lot in Season 5 and was never seen again? Thats because actress Brooke Smith had been fired amid reports ABC execs wanted to de-gay the show.

Speaking of Greys Anatomy scandals, Isaiah Washington lost his role as Preston Burke in 2007 after referring to co-star T.R. Knight as a ft, which in turn forced T.R. to publicly come out as gay.

Even a decade later, none of us have forgotten about that on-set homophobic slur, but a male-male romance would help make the painful chapter a distant memory.

According to GLAADs 2016 Where We Are on TV report, 4.8 percent of the series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast scripted primetime programming in the coming year were identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer.

However, that statistic is low when you consider that 7 percent of millennials identify as LGBT, according to a recent study.

Recurring guest star Moe Irvin, for example, has appeared in 29 episodes, more than some of the shows full-time cast members.

Why cant Nurse Tyler have a bigger role and a male beau? (After all, he is the one who came up with the nickname McSteamy even before Mark Sloan arrived.)

But for that matter...

Characters with fluid sexuality are all the rage on TV, so dont take a major characters romantic history as proof of their sexual orientation.

Any of the shows single male docs DeLuca, for example, or even Nathan could explore his
placement on the Kinsey scale.

Youd be hard-pressed to find a show more inclusive of Greys Anatomy did you see those docs wearing hijabs last week? but it still comes up short in one regard.

There are no major male characters who are into other men.

Its time that changed, and we have 16 reasons why.

Greys Anatomy Season 13 airs on Thursdays at 8 p.m ET on ABC.

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16 Reasons Why 'Grey's Anatomy' Needs a Romance Between Two Men - Wetpaint