Facebook Fans Want a Gay Modern Family Kiss

Facebook fans are campaigning again for a television coup — this time it’s not for a Golden Girl appearance but for a big wet smoocharoo between Modern Family characters Mitchell and Cam. Modern Family, despite its pretty great depiction of the gay duo, has still de-sexed the couple. Mitchell and Cam rarely discuss intimacy or show any outward signs of affection, hovering in the “roommate” zone that straights and parents seem to be okay with. But you know what? It’s fine. The other couples on the show don’t walk around dry humping each other, so the absence of gay affection isn’t actually noticeable.

That is until the May 5 episode Airport 2010, when the kooky Lucille Ball-esque shenanigans of the crew ended in … weirdness. Claire and Phil along with Mitchell and Cam get separated before a trip to Hawaii. Phil and Mitchell embark on a wild goose chase to retrieve Mitchell's license for the flight, while Claire and Cam discuss their relationships with their respective spouses. The separation brings to light the couples’ dependence on each other and makes all four appreciate their briefly absent better halves. Thus, toward the end of the show, the writers arrange a meet up in which the couples reunite and embrace. Kind of.

In what can only be described as the most awkward scene since George Costanza got caught with his pants down, Phil and Claire share a tender kiss, while Mitchell and Cam hug like distant cousins at a funeral. To make it worse, this disparity happened side-by-side, highlighting the very obvious decision by ABC suits not to create a stir. This play seems odd. Chances are that if the Modern Family audience is not thrown off by a gay couple with a Chinese baby, an interracial pair with an older man and a trophy wife or the role-playing odd couple with weird kids, a gay kiss probably wouldn’t have been a deal-breaker. If it’s possible, they made being gay even weirder for straight viewers.

ABC has defended the episode, saying "It happens that we have an episode in the works that addresses Mitchell's slight discomfort with public displays of affection." This defense seems plausible, but terribly convenient, considering that Mitchell's apparent PDA fears also mean that ABC can defend any lack of gay PDA. ABC's statement also directs us to "chillax" and perhaps they have a point. They've already given us a healthy and loving gay couple on network television.

However, this situation is about more than a simple kiss. Modern Family is a “safe” place for unsure but possible allies. Those conservatives watching in the Midwest can peer into a gay relationship from the comfort of their own barcaloungers. Like Will and Grace or The Ellen Show, Modern Family is the equivalent of dipping your toe in the pool before getting in. If ABC had allowed Mitchell and Cam to kiss, chances are some groups would get bees in their bonnets, and maybe there would be some controversy. But, the controversy would go away and that kiss could pave the way for plenty boob-tube kisses between gay characters.

But finally, a Mitch/Cam kiss would accomplish “straight shock.” Straight shock occurs when someone, completely unaffiliated and uninitiated with gay life and love sees a gay couple holding hands, kissing or any kind of PDA. More often than not, those straights are shocked — but not because of the act. They’re shocked because they see a gay couple kiss and it seems natural and normal. They’re shocked because they find out that underneath it all, being gay isn’t weird or perverted at all. It’s shockingly normal. And that’s a surprise that Modern Family could have served up. Ah, well. Maybe next time, with the help of Facebook.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons