TVSquad

When that kid was on 7th Heaven as Ruthie's boyfriend a year or two ago I thought they put waaaay too much eyeliner on for him to be straight. Fast forward to Heroes and I thought "great, someone's finally making good on the promise of all that eyeliner." For shame, NBC, for shame. Why can't they just have a happy gay kid on a program geared towards adults and older teens? Surely we can handle it, no?

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Perhaps Zach was gay...up until the most recent episode. Maybe when Haitian dude wiped his memory, he went back further and erased something that had triggered Zach to realize he was gay. The memory wipe could have changed part of Zach's personality if anything improtant happened to Zach during the erased time period. He mentions to Claire that he hasn't spoken to her since 6th grade, though we are unsure just how much memory got erased, but probably just far back enough to before Claire came to him to video tape her invulnerability. Maybe Haitian went back further, who knows.

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In none of those articles does it link to any evidence of them making Zach straight, so are we sure about this? I'd like some proof that something actually happened before throwing around conspiracy theories as to who caused it.

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My own best guess would be Dekker's management wanting things changed before he goes off and is in a terminator-related project. I'm guessing the terminator people probably don't feel that "gay" goes along well with their vibe.

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Perhaps when Zach's memory of Claire's power was erased, they erased his orientation....He was such a safe 'space' for Claire, in part because of his homosexuality (unlike that guy that tried to rape her), but that disappeared with his memory. !

Ugh. I know that's wrong and makes little sense. Just sad to see the back and forth on it, especially when at this point in time, being gay shouldn't be a big deal at all.

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BillS

The opening of the Logo article points out that both NBC and Dekker's management have explicitly stated that Zach is straight, contradicting months of (admittedly implicit) signals that he was gay.

I think it's funny (and fitting) that fans will (try to) tie it to the plot of the storyline. If that's the case, I think it might be the first major misstep by the writers (trying to shoehorn real-world office politics into the storyline).

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Steve:

I realize they say that, but they don't link to anything, and given that the website has an agenda (even though it's one I agree with), I have to be a little skeptical.

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I guess my confusion comes from the fact that I didn't ever really get a "gay vibe" from Zach on the show. I have been watching since the beginning, and when other viewers started in with the whole "he is gay" thing. I mean, he could have been, but I thought he just as easily could have not been, you know? If anyone has examples, feel free to share. Maybe I missed it. There is a lot going on in that show!

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I think it's pretty ridiculous to contradict all of the very obvious GAY hints they've dropped on this show.

I guess in a way it won't matter in the future, considering that the actor will be moving on to another show and enough has happened with his character on this one so that he can be written off easily. But it's still ridiculous to make him start loving the pussy after all of that buildup.

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I'm not sure why they would change his orientation but there could be lots of reasons. Regardless of whether or not Zach is gay or straight the show is one of the best new shows this season. I don't think his orientation will affect the show at all unless their is something behind it that they will uncover in future episodes. "Heroes" has been nominated for a People's Choice Award this year for Favorite New Drama so be sure to vote for it at http://www.pcavote.com Tune in on Jan 9 on CBS at 9pm to see if "Heroes" won! I already voted the day nominees came out because I work with the people's choice community. =0)

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Michelle you must be what SNL bases there terrible sketchs "The Girl with no Gaydar". I have watched about two full episodes of the show and thought he was gay after about 5 minutes. I think it's funny they made him "straight" after the news he will be on the T-Show. That show will last about 3 episodes and I will be laughing because he threw a great career away for no reason.

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I think he's gay -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

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The only "obvious gay hints" were totally implied, from the talk of "coming out" (which was related to Claire, not Zach) & the ribbing from the cheerleaders (who were bitches who would probably call anyone who isn't a jock gay)

His myspace says "not sure" because he's like every other highschool alternative type, who doesn't want to label himself (it's cool to be ambiguous)

Not once did he actually say he was, nor would it be too much of a problem either was.

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I always thought he was straight, but probably because I identified with the awkward geeky a/v guy who seems dedicated to the hot girl who treats him like crap. (aka my high school life)

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lp what high school did you go to? if you don't answer the question you are a fag, that's how high school goes.

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"
His myspace says "not sure" because he's like every other highschool alternative type, who doesn't want to label himself (it's cool to be ambiguous)"

Have you ever really known any straight boys in high school who claim to be anything other than straight? I never did. In an era when "that's so gay" is the catchphrase of choice and gay teens are beaten and harrassed just as much or more than ever, being gay is still seen as a huge stigma. Especially for boys.

The show did plan to make this character gay. They have caved due to cowardice.

http://afterelton.logo-blogs.com/2006/12/11/heroes-creator-tim-kring-speaks-out-about-gay-controversy/

What a wonderful message - that gays can go straight in the blink of an eye if other people disapprove. I was a fan of this show, but since the producers clearly don't have any use for gay character or gay fans (and the most that the above article can say is golly gosh maybe someday they might be different), then that means they don't want me as a fan.

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The myspace page is just a page. It's fake and probably made by some random person, the blogs aren't even written the same way he speaks. It's too upbeat and many other things.
Besides that, I never thought he was gay. None of the articles, even the ones with Kring say out right that the gay character is Zach, and though he never said he wasn't he seems to like Claire too much.
TOODLES

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Either way, he is undeniably hot :-)

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Personally I want Zach to be "outed" we need more positive gay men and women in the television world, I'm certainly not seeing the 1 in 10 ratio you see in the general population.

But if they wimp out, I can certainly see how that positive time he spent with Claire that had made him more comfortable with who he is, if that was wiped, yes it could set his personal acceptance back a few steps.

One of the key factors in him as a character getting comfortable with himself was via Claire's own acceptance of her differences, take that away, and you take his journey away too.

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This is revolting behavior on the network's part. Too bad Kring couldn't show a little guts, as the creator of NBC's brightest hit this year, and come out and say that the network pressured him into putting Zach into the deep closet. To everyone who didn't get a "gay vibe" from the character: YES, not ALL gay people act like Jack (or even Will) on "Will and Grace". There were clearly enough hints that he was gay, and it's deeply disappointing to me that for some reason the network, or the actor's handlers, couldn't tolerate the thought of a CHARACTER on a TV SHOW who was under 18 being gay but not flaming, and actually one of the best-adjusted people on the show. If it is the actor's management's fault, then I can't believe that they think playing a gay character will hurt the actor's chances of success on another show. The list of actors whose careers haven't been hurt begins with Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, not to mention a straight cross-dresser in "Bosom Buddies").
This is a black eye for a show I really liked.

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