Television: TV's Coming-Out Party

Gay characters have quietly become hot. Can their love lives?

The first Tuesday of his second season on the air was a big day for Will Truman. Will, the male half of NBC's Will & Grace, went on a date, after spending last year setting an endurance record for getting over a painful breakup. The date was with a hunky bookstore clerk we saw for all of five teasing seconds, but it was a date nonetheless. His other accomplishment: the Top-20 W&G; beat its straight-couple neighbor, ABC's Dharma & Greg, in the first round of a pitched battle for ratings.

And there you have the state of gayness on television in...

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