My Gayest Look For Jay Leno

On Thursday, March 20, 2008, Jay Leno welcomed as his guest on The Tonight Show the actor Ryan Phillippe, who, early in his career, played a gay character on the daily soap One Life to Live. During the interview, Leno hounded Phillippe, telling him to look into the camera, pretend it was his "gay lover…Billy Bob," who "has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming," and give it his "gayest look." Phillippe's understandably uncomfortable answer: Wow. That is so something I don't want to do.

Watch the video:


In response, Avenue Q playwright Jeff Whitty (who has had previous homophobic run-ins with the unfunny late-night comedian) penned a letter to Leno about his homophobic humor and included a photographic sign-off (left) of his "gayest look." Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister added her own and invited others to join in sending Leno their "gayest look" too.

As Melissa comments, "A 2005 study by GLSEN found that 90% of LGBTQ teens had been harassed or assaulted during the previous year. They were three times as likely as non-LGBTQ students to say that they do not feel safe at school and remain at increased risk for bullying, assault, and suicide. That doesn't happen in a void. Gay jokes are not harmless; they contribute to a culture in which institutionalized homophobia has tragic consequences."

So I've decided to join an impressive and growing list of folks who have had it up to here with this cro-magnon-jawed tool and I'm offering my own gayest look (above) for Leno. Feel free to send him your own.