The Non-troversy Over Representing "Us" The Right Way

by Terisa Thurman
@SFTerisa

Earlier this week at Comic-Con I sat down with Jane Espenson (a kick-ass television writer for shows such as Buffy and Once Upon A Time)  and Brad Bell ( a kick-ass Producer, Writer, Actor) who co-created the critically acclaimed series Husbands which has been recruited to be part of the CW's new digital platform www.CWseed.com.

Husbands tells the story of two young men who woke up legally wed after a drunken Vegas weekend. But undoing their “I Dos” with a quickie divorce would only undermine the hard-fought battle for equality, so they decide to give this marriage thing a go.

Right off the bat, I've lost a few of you -- Bye-bye, see you.

However, if you were intrigued by the phrasings of the article title; you may find this series entertaining. 

Anyhow, Husbands is the first of a kind that I've ever heard of with gay spouses.  Knowing my own struggles to express myself within the black community such as the pressure to "act black" (please see my article on the Black Borg); I wondered if Brad a.k.a. Cheeks had encountered the same type of pressures to represent the collective "us" within his own community.  Here is what he had to say: 

"Oh yeah, absolutely.  Sometimes I want to use other minorities but I always feel like I'm talking out of school so it's good to hear you say that. Because I do feel like we face the same thing.  And I think that there are positive and negative stereotypes; and we want to have the conversation about femininity.  People act like that is a negative stereotype when there's nothing negative about that.  What's negative is... "Oh you're gay, you must have sex with everyone you meet, or you must be on drugs all the time cause gay people party and use drugs all the time."  What's not negative is femininity or loving Broadway... shopping.  I do love to shop and that's okay.  I am witty and sassy and that's okay.  And I feel like that's actually one area in particular where Black women and Gay men have some overlap is because you so often get sassy black friend and there are sassy black friends and that's great and there are plenty of non-witty, non-sassy black people too. So I think it's about showing all kinds."

I think Brad is spot on about showing all kinds; and if you are unhappy about how your ethnic, cultural or special interest group is being portrayed in the media...write your own screenplay, produce it, promote and speak your truth.

The hit series Husbands has just completed filming its first new content under its exciting new relationship with the CW, and has already had a big year with the release of the hardcover Husbands comic book.  Find out more by visiting HusbandsTheSeries.com and stay tuned in August for it's premiere on the CWseed.com.