The other day I wrote a little blurby thing for a gay entertainment media website I work for sometimes, about the new QAF S5 DVD release and some other short gay-related media notes. It was humorous in tone, and I said something along the lines that I was one of many lesbians who love Brian Kinney. (I mostly try to pretend to be a normal person when I'm not here, so that was as far as I pursued that particular topic.) So, one of the editors I work with, a gay man, called me up with his knickers in a twist because He. Hates. Brian. Kinney. Said he gives gay men everywhere a bad name.

First I tried taking the rational, calming approach, which works well with madmen most of the time. I took his hands in mine and gazed deeply into his eyes (we were on the phone so this didn't work as well as it can), and said, "Hon, Brian Kinney is a fictional character. You can't hate him. It's like hating Alexis Carrington because she gives women business owners a bad name." OK, I didn't really expect it to work.

So then I tried humor. "Well, he's slutty and fabulous and rich and has a great car. What's not to love, really?" That's when he ranted about how Brian Kinney was narcissistic, shallow, a drug abuser, promiscuous, etc. etc. And then back to the "bad image for gay men everywhere." Oh yeah, and he used the phrase "Peter Pan" a lot.