It seems that every few years someone throws around the label "The Year of the Queer." This label was given to 1993 due in part to the flood of plays with queer characters or content on and off Broadway, including Angels in America and The Kiss of the Spider Woman (Wallach). Along with this, several films were released, including Jeffrey, And Baby Makes Seven and The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me (Wallach). There was also a boost in the fight for gay and lesbians rights; this is the same year that Bill Clinton implemented his new military policy, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," meant to decrease homophobia in the military. On the contrary, it did little to create a more equal workplace, but was indeed a big thing at the time (Walters All the Rage 36). Vanity Fair, Newsweek and New York magazines all labeled 1993 the year of the lesbian because of the rise of lesbian chic that year (Strongheart). This was due mostly to the popularity of several out musicians and athletes as well as lesbian comics such as Kate Clinton and Lea Delaria. The term lipstick lesbian was also coined this year. Unfortunately though, there were few queer characters on television. And if there were any lesbians on tv, they were only on an episode here or there to create drama or comedy for the regular characters.

In 1997, we once again saw this label in use. The previous year we saw an increase in visibility with the rise in popularity of Ellen DeGeneres's show, Ellen, a recurring lesbian character on Roseanne, and the first kiss between two lesbian characters on television with Relativity (the first kiss between two women was in 1991 on L.A. Law, but it was not between two lesbians, and the events on Ellen far out-shadowed this) ("Timeline of Lesbian and Bisexual TV Characters"). These shows helped to lead to the events of 1997, with Roseanne further pushing boundaries and of course Ellen DeGeneres's coming out on- and off-screen. Though my friends and I sat and watched Ellen for years, laughing at the inside gay jokes that only us queers really understood, the show really became gay in 1997, and DeGeneres won an Emmy and became Entertainment Weekly's "Entertainer of the Year" (Eadie). This year also brought us Xena: The Warrior Princess, a show which became popular among lesbian communitites because of the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, in its second season. The gay rights movements' first shot at a chance for marriage equality happened this year. In July of 1997, Hawaii enacted the "Reciprocal Beneficiaries" law, which would allow for any two people, regardless of sex, to receive partial state benefits and spousal rights (Demian). But how much did any of this really do for gay rights? Yes, these were all huge steps for visibility, but look at the effects of each event. The Hawaii domestic partner policy was not really a step forward; Hawaii had already previously passed a law banning same-sex marriage, as had 41 other states. This new law gave queer couples only a few state benefits (no federal benefits) that do little for equality with federally sanctioned marriage for heterosexuals. Though Ellen created a huge backlash, it was really no more then "a show about a lesbian that was designed to make heterosexual people feel comfortable" (Eadie). While Ellen Morgan's heterosexual friends were allowed to be intimate, she was not. DeGeneres's stance that "we" are just like everyone else demeans the diversity of our community and rather then allowing for a spectrum of sexualities and gender identities, it promoted homogeny.

Once again, 2002 was labeled the year of the queer. Perhaps this was a catalyst for the years following. We see the emergence of the first show that can be truly labeled queer, both in title and content. Showtime stepped out of bounds and Americanized the popular Brit series, Queer as Folk (QAF). This show was no different then other shows on HBO and Showtime, i.e. Sex in the City, except that all its main characters were queer. "It wouldn't be groundbreaking if you replaced the gay characters with straight ones" (McLeod). It is Friends with a R rating. But does one show really justify this title? Two years later, all L truly broke loose. Lesbians and gay men were all over the news. Showtime brought its second queer series to air with The L Word (which was actually pitched before QAF came on the air). Mainstream shows like Six Feet Under (HBO), the short-lived Wonderfalls (Fox), The O.C. (Fox), The North Shore (Fox), Smallville (WB) and One Tree Hill (WB) all had queer female (and some male) characters ("Timeline of Lesbian and Bisexual TV Characters"). Reality tv became increasingly more gay with multiple gay characters showing up on not only MTV's shows, but also The Amazing Race and Survivor. New reality programs such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy became extremely popular and we even began to see queer dating shows. Then of course, there was the huge marriage debate. Same-sex couples were getting married all over the country and new celebrities were outing themselves (such as Rosie O'Donnell). For now, perhaps this really was the biggest year in queer, and especially lesbian, visibility.

In the 90s (or the Gay 90s, as it has been often times labeled) we went from the one night or one episode appearance of a queer character to actual leading characters. "In other words, gays are no longer relegated to the one night ëproblem of the week'" (Walters "Will They Ever Get it Right?"). But Ellen was never a gay show and when it began to move in that direction, it was removed from the lineup. Will and Grace, which premiered a year or so after Ellen came out, is not necessarily a gay show either, as Will and Grace are idealized as one couple and Karen and Jack as another. The gay men are heterosexualized into relationships with women. Neither of the gay characters is ever given a real relationship and they are never shown to be intimate with their partners, while the straight characters are allowed to marry and, gasp, have sex. This all changed in the new millennium. Instead of "the problem of the week" or straight shows with gay characters, such as The L Word, we were given gay shows, complete with love, sex and actual intimacy, i.e. real relationships. In fact, for a brief moment, we were even given marriage. So, perhaps 1993 was the year of the queer, with its increased visibility throughout pop-culture. Or maybe 1997 was, with the introduction of a queer leading character and an Emmy to boot. Or did 2002 deserve this title with the first all gay show? I'm sure 2004 will be outdone, but this rise in queer visibility far exceeded any other year of the queer. It was not only in the form of pop-culture for a change. It was in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our schools. It was making over our husbands and relationships. And it even threatened to change our constitution. It was not just in our fictional sitcoms and movie theatres or our reality TV shows; it was reality, it was our everyday lives.