When You're Good to Chandra

When Brooke Smith was written out of Grey's in the beginning of season 5, many assumed that network execs were uncomfortable with the lesbian romance between her character and Sara Ramirez's Dr. Callie Torres. But near the season's end we saw Callie and her new love interest, Arizona, naked and eating pizza in bed. Do you think they'll push the gayness on Grey's even further in season 6?Whoever made that decision about Brooke, I know they kept saying that it wasn't about the story line; it was all about finding the right chemistry, whatever that means. You have limitless possibilities with series television, and it's always changing, so there's really no telling what direction we could go in with Callie and Arizona.

Ever since the infamous Isaiah Washington altercation, there always seems to be some sort of controversy swirling behind the scenes of Grey's. How do you deal with the negative media attention and also manage to stay out of it?We learned a long time ago to stop asking each other about things based on what we've read, because it's generally not what's really going on. We've learned to trust what we know: the truths that are right there at work within the cast and crew. So we do a lot of ignoring; otherwise, we'd go crazy trying to justify and dispute what's usually just inflamed stories. But everyone has his or her turn dealing with it, so I'm sure someone's going to dig up something on me sooner or later.

Finally, what are your thoughts on California's recent decision to uphold Prop. 8?I find it so hard to believe that it passed because it's California, supposedly one of the most progressive states we have. It seems to go against everything California stands for, but I guess you can't get caught up thinking about big cities like Los Angeles and forget about the rest of the state. It's confusing to me on all levels, and for about five minutes it makes you want to be a politician so you can do something about it. I have quite a few gay couples and gay couples with children in my life. It's such an interesting issue for me because as a Christian you're told to believe certain things, but I can't get past my gut and my eyes, and I can't get past my gay friends that have more love than some heterosexual couples that I know.