AKA William

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That GLAAD report ranking and rating all of the networks, cable and otherwise, for their depictions of LGBT people really stirred things up. Conan O’Brien responded to his network’s “F” grade. And now Syfy (formerly the Sci-Fi Channel) has responded to their own “F” rating:

While CBS, NBC, A&E and TBS declined to comment on their showing, Syfy’s executive vice president of original content, Mark Stern, accepted TVGuide.com’s invitation to react as well as discuss his network’s plans for a more diverse future.

“We are disappointed, obviously,” Stern said of the NRI grade. “The ‘F’ is hard because we are trying, it is something that is in our vocabulary. But we need to work harder.”

A GLAAD rep told TVGuide.com that Syfy’s grade was based on the fact that there were only two gay characters appearing on the network’s programming during the timetable of the study — Eureka’s Vincent and Battlestar Galactica’s Gaeta — and the latter’s sexual orientation was never directly addressed on the show. Instead, it was only referred to in a webisode.

Similarly the Galactica prequel spin-off Caprica has at least two main characters depicted as being in gay relationships. “[One] is a ‘goodfella’-type, and we discover in a nonchalant way that he is gay, with a husband,” Stern says. “It was very interesting to me to take what is traditionally a very heterosexual role in an organization that we think of as being extremely homophobic, and put a gay character in that world in a very normalized way.”

Uh, no. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi geek, and there ain’t nothing on Sci-Fi or Syfy that is anything like trying to put gay characters naturally (or supernaturally) into any show on there.

That was one of the biggest disappointments with “Battlestar Galactica” — the Sci-Fi Channel’s signature show couldn’t bring itself to portray gay characters in any kind of positive way. The one they did show — Admiral Helena Cain — was an evil lesbian. And the one they showed on the webisode? Yeah, that was Gaeta. And the network made sure to make him bi. And he was a showtune singing sycophant who was executed for being a traitor.

I second that “F!”

And, yes, I’m still pissed about the finale of “Battlestar.”