How Gay Is Too Gay for GMA

COMMENTARY: For years now my friends and I have joked that GMA stands for Gay Morning America rather than Good Morning America. I'm not sure if that's because it's not uncommon to see at least two of the show's hosts on the ferry out to Fire Island or because GMA has notoriously been good on "our issues." Just last week, for example, the show featured a terrific interview with Chaz Bono, who explained to Chris Cuomo -- and all of America -- that gender is "between your ears, not between your legs."

But now GMA has jumped headfirst into the debate that has consumed pop culture-loving Americans this past week: Is Adam Lambert too gay (or, if you ask some, not gay enough)? And the show's producers have come down definitively on the side of "too gay," canceling the singer's concert, which was scheduled to air live on the show Wednesday morning. According to TVNewser, GMA's decision was based on Lambert's Sunday night appearance at the American Music Awards, where he made out and simulated oral sex with another man on stage. "Given his controversial live performance on the AMAs, we were concerned about airing a similar concert so early in the morning," an ABC spokesman told TVNewser.

Just as ABC's decision to protect its morning audiences from Lambert's homosexual high jinks reeks of hypocrisy, so too does the network's decision to edit out portions of his Sunday night performance for its West Coast feed. If it weren't for provocative performances like his, awards shows like the American Music Awards would be snoozefests. Lambert, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Madonna are lifeblood for these shows -- and producers probably peed themselves when Glambert pushed the envelope. By editing the West Coast version of the show, they got the best of both worlds -- publicity from the live show and supposed moral standing for the edited one.

I don't disagree with GMA producers in one respect -- simulated oral sex probably isn't the best thing to have on TV when you're getting the kids ready for school. But then neither are lesbian three-ways or breast-exposing wardrobe malfunctions, and GMA has featured performances by Spears, Aguilera, and Janet Jackson and shown interviews with Madonna. I can only assume producers understood that these women are adults and know the difference between an evening awards show and morning TV. At the very least, they trusted that if they, say, asked, "Miss Jackson, can you keep your top on this morning?" she'd have enough control to not be nasty. But GMA's not giving Lambert the same respect. They don't trust that this guy, who performed live twice a week for months on end without upsetting censors while he was on American Idol, could give a concert appropriate for the morning audience.

It's too bad. You were my go-to morning show, Good Morning America; I switched years ago when it seemed Katie Couric was getting too big for her britches on Today (Diane Sawyer was so down-to-earth in comparison -- at least in my eyes). I'm sure my friends will still joke -- especially on that Fire Island ferry -- that GMA stands for Gay Morning America. But if the decision to cancel Lambert's performance is any indication, this is one show that isn't gay enough.