Watching "The Opposite of Sex" recently, it occurred to me that the gay protagonists in the current crop of light-hearted comedies have all been teachers: "The Object of My Affection" and "In and Out" also feature gay teachers. ("My Best Friend's Wedding" bucks this trend, but neither the gay character nor his job are as central to the plot as is the case in the other movies mentioned.) While it's heartening to see more frequent positive characterizations of gay people in films these days, what might be going on with this "teacher" angle? On one level it seems designed to confront homophobic stereotypes about gay teachers. The teachers are accused of abuse, and then proven innocent. This makes for some plot development, of course (as in "The Opposite of Sex"). On another level, though, it seems to conform with liberal assumptions in society about what gay men do best. Alongside the fear of pedagogical pederasts, there seem to be another belief in society that gay men are very good teachers, i.e. nurturing, supportive, instilling confidence and self-worth = the very role models and emotional inspirations gay people have had to find for themselves in our era. Any other thoughts? Ivan ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite