From the videotaped appearance of Queer As Folk cast members Hal Sparks (Michael), Thea Gill (Lindsay) and Michelle Clunie (Melanie) at American University in Washington, DC. March 22, 2001. "Note that there are a few minor spoilers contained in the text. Because Thea Gill was very soft-spoken, I couldn't hear most of what she had to say. Hal Sparks did the most talking, and he was very entertaining and had the room laughing a lot. It looked like there were about 50 to 75 people in the small room and the 3 QAF actors were behind a folding table at the front of the group."
The moderator first asked each of them to describe the characters they play on the show.

Hal: Michael is a mild-mannered Q mart manager by day, Supergay at night. He's all heart - naive - oriented toward long term love. He's stupid sometimes, frankly.

Question: How does it feel to be celebrities now?

Michelle: We live in a Toronto bubble, working 14-15 hours a day. We were just trying to figure out where the grocery store is and how to get there. Last week was our first trip to the states as a group and we felt the impact. How did it feel? Amazing. People come up to me and say "I came out to my mother because of your show." Sometimes we (in the cast) look at each other and go "Good life, eh?!"

Hal: People already knew me from Talk Soup. It's a little different now knowing that when someone comes up and says "I've seen your show" they've seen my bare butt - they've seen me naked. That's the peculiar part of it. But they're respectful.

Thea: In Toronto we started to receive a lot of letters and that was our first eye opener that we were involving people.

Question: Do you as actors have input into story lines and development of your character?

Hal: Absolutely. A lot of scripts for the first 12 or 13 shows before we were cast - scenes were crafted without us participating. After that, story lines started shifting and growing. A good example is that my character, Michael, was all set to come out of the closet in episode 12 and I said I can't let that happen because too much of our audience wouldn't be represented on the show if Michael is out. It would lose drama. The whole point of the show is drama so thankfully they listened and Michael is still in the closet and we can explore that element of his life.

Someone comments about Tracy, his co-worker at the big Q.

Hal: We got negative mail from the audience because Michael said in the script that he was having a good time with Tracy, and it wasn't p.c.

Someone comments that characters on the show have unattractive aspects to their personalities.

Michelle: I think that's important. That's a legacy of this show. These are flawed people, not whitewashed. They're warts and all...these people are trying.

Moderator: On your show we see that gays don't have to be cardboard, idealized people. They can be real people with real flaws.

Hal: It's part of the fearlessness of the show and that's really (Executive Producers) Ron and Dan and (creator) Russell T. Davies. The American version of the show has a real hopeful nature to it that the British series didn't have. The characters themselves remain likable even though they may have negative traits. I got a lot of mail after episode 8 when Brian and Michael were doing drugs together. The letters said "But Michael is the nice boy, he can't be doing drugs." We made the point that doesn't make him a bad person. A lot of behaviors don't make you a bad person.

Question: Have you had much negative feedback from conservative groups?

Michelle: Not much. One group in Utah took out a full page ad saying "don't watch this show." Our ratings there went BOOM.

Hal: We get more criticism from within the gay community because it's a representational show, there's an element of whether or not it should be an agenda show. Some people are scared that we don't show gay people in a perfect light.

Michelle: When I got this gig I was reading the script with my friend Art and he said "Honey, they are telling my life, telling our secrets. My mom can NOT see this show. It's fine for me to live this but not be televised."

Question: How do you feel about being on pay cable versus broadcast on network?

Hal: We can go further. It's a show for late at night. It is for older viewers. But it's funny, when they aired the pilot episode they had this odd demographic spike in the 7 to 12 year old age categories - FOR THE PILOT! - remember what happened in the first 8 minutes of the pilot? Which is good. I'm sure there was a lot of good breakfast conversation the next day with mom and dad. (laughs)

Question: How much feedback do you get on the inaccurate parts of the show?

Hal: Our executive producers are a gay couple who have been together for 30 years. Two cast members are gay. When we have questions, we ask them. The only inaccuracies would come I think from individuals who are not representative. You might say "somebody wouldn't act like that," but Michael WOULD. I play it that way.

Question: Are you going to introduce people of color on the show?

Michelle: Yeah, we have just gone through talks about what should go on next year. It looks like Emmett will have a boyfriend of color next year. It's in the works. In fact, the character of Emmett was written to be a black man I think.

Hal: No, they were toying with the idea of casting it with a person of color, but their primary goal was to find the best actor. Peter Paige came in and blew everyone else away. But in casting Peter was the only white actor who had been called back. The reality is there is segregation in the gay community. The idea of having token people of color is always a touchy issue. You want people to be included but in an honest way - in showing this segment of gay life, people do prefer to stick to their own.

Question: How like your character are you?

Hal: When Thea turns into Lindsay there is this dramatic shift. Thea is this quiet Earth Mother.

Question: Where do you film the club scenes?

Hal: In the pilot it was at a club called Government in Toronto. Then later we intercut footage shot at that time with new footage we film in Fly, which looks enormous but is smaller than this classroom. (laughs) It is not realistic to Pittsburgh. We hang gay flags on the street we film on in Toronto. It makes Pittsburgh look SO inviting. It almost makes us want to send out flyers to young gay teens coming out saying "This isn't Pittsburgh!"

Question: How have your families reacted?

Hal: My folks live in the SOUTH. (laughter) They're proud, but a funny thing is my dad was WAY proud before he'd even seen an episode. I expected that after he'd seen 5 or 6 of them he'd be pale and grim, but they're o.k. The touchy part is sort of explaining it to their friends. They say "Well, he's ACTING. He's acting."

Thea: Mom won't miss an episode.

Michelle: My mom, who is 68 - she had me late in life - won't miss one, too. Or my brother. I come from Oregon which is very liberal.

Question: What is it about you as a person that made you willing to take on a gay role when so many other actors were afraid to?

Hal: I've had gay friends my entire life. My best friend growing up came out to me at 19 and still hasn't come out to his parents. It doesn't matter if someone's gay. Are they a good person? I've worked with Aids Project Los Angeles, Project Angel Food. I worked with gay people in Second City. I'm very accepting. And that's how Michael is. He's "OK, I like you, unless you're taking something from me."

Michelle: I believe in fate. I believe we're (the actors) all known each other before because when we all met it was very electric. We all bonded.

Hal: We had to. It's like...you're going to see me naked in 7 hours!

Michelle: Also we didn't know what laid ahead of us. We are all adventurous people. We have a pioneering spirit. And we'll all be friends for the rest of our lives, I have no doubt about that.

Hal: And it's not just the cast but the crew. These straight, blue collar guys, none of them worked on anything like this before. It's weird when this big guy named Glenn, the focus puller, is using measuring tape between the lens and my naked butt. We're close to them. We're all close. It could have been otherwise, easily - we could all be so...sphincterized (laughter)...I made that word up...if people were uncomfortable on the set. Because of the subject matter everyone could be so tense and so fearful but they are open and relaxed.

Question: How do you as straight actors feel about playing gay love scenes?

Michelle: I feel great about them. Thea is so lovely, as you can tell. We both come from theater. Before our big love scene in episode 9 we got together at Thea's house and we choreographed it. "How can we make this the best love scene?" It was so relaxed. A gay man directed that episode and I suppose he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do with us. (laughter) We wanted to show two women being intimate with each other, not two women who are trying to get it on for two straight guys. The pilot was an educational tool for me about gay men. I never knew they could do THAT. (laughter)

Hal: Yeah, I had no idea. For me I have two main relationships on the show and several other dating scenes and the practicalities of it are that some actors are comfortable and some are not. We have a sex meeting before the scenes with the director about how they want to shoot it and what they want us to do. Sometimes you get an actor you're working with who is working to make the process work with you, much like Thea and Michelle were talking about. Sometimes you get an actor who for whatever reason isn't easy with it. They have a hard time with it. Whether they're gay and in the closet about it, or are straight and homophobic but think it will be great for their reel - um - there's a spectrum. Ultimately to make it look real you just have to be Michael in that moment, and remember Michael's in love, you know. For me.

Thea: I've been in straight love scenes that were uncomfortable.

Question: I know how Melanie feels about Brian, but how does Michael feel about the lesbians? Reaction to the baby was negative.

Michelle: Conflict is the essence of drama, it makes good TV.

Hal: The baby was a good way to permanently connect the lesbians in the show to the gay men so they couldn't sort of accidentally be superfluous. Also I have to say being Michael playing with some of that story line, there's gonna be some delving into his relationship with the lesbians. Because they've both known Brian and Michael about the same length of time, but they don't talk with Michael. They're never close. And there's a reason. A bunch of reasons. You'll see.

Question: How well has the series done in the overseas market?

Hal: Our makeup guy came back from Cuba and said he saw us in Spanish. That was only 6 weeks into the series, we hadn't even started playing in Canada yet. Gale was in Mexico and a guy came up and said "My family watches the show, my 6 kids love the show, we all sit around and watch it - you're great." (laughter) True story! Gale was like "uh, o.k." The rest of us stay in Canada, which is like a semi-foreign country. (laughter)

Question: What do you know about the demographics of your viewers, straight versus gay?

Michelle: I know a lot of straight women are turned on.

Hal: 50% of our audience is women. Also, gay men and couples, and also an accidental teen following. I wasn't kidding about the 7 to 12 year olds.

Michelle: A lot of mothers, too.

Hal: All my mom's friends who work with her at the state capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky all tell me "You should be with TED!"

Question from journalist: You may or may not be able to comment on this but I have to ask - Chris Potter, who plays Dr. David, has been quoted in the media as saying every time he kisses a man he wants to wash out his mouth. Comment?

Michelle: Well that's his problem.

Hal: Being the only guy he kisses on the show - um - um - I kind of alluded to this earlier. It's - um - you don't really realize what it's like being a sexual character on TV, even playing a straight role, I think, until you do it. Some people just have a different reaction as to how it affects them emotionally. Some people are just not secure. Now he'll speak for himself in regard to that. Um - I - um - that's a real tough one - because there's ongoing relationship stuff in the show. It's more important for the audience to see David and Michael more than they see Hal Sparks and Chris Potter, and whether he and I get along. You know? I don't, as a viewer, personally care whether - um - Chris Potter likes Hal Sparks. I hope that David is good for Michael. It's touchy subject, and because homophobia is such a rampant pain the neck. Um - um - it's difficult. He'll ultimately speak for himself. It (playing the sex scenes) doesn't necessarily get easier for you because you're doing it more - uh - you know - and since it's about the emotions for me it doesn't bother me but some actors have that reaction. It's odd, and it's visceral, almost a physical reaction.

Question: How do you feel about an underage character having sex with Brian?

Hal: I can't exactly make him bad. I was younger than Justin was when I had my first straight sexual experience. But youth is a really touchy zone. It's hard for people to deal with the fact that young people have genuine sexual impulses and it's not an illusion. I'm going to get in trouble for saying that but I believe it. The big thing at the start was with the Motion Picture Association of America. We were in danger of getting an NC-17 rating because of the nature of the relationship, because Justin was 17, even though the age of consent in Pittsburgh is 16. Showtime had a policy of not airing anything more than an R rating. You can't get any closer to another person than Randy Harrision and Gale Harold got to each other ... without being an M.D. (laughter) Ultimately Showtime made the right choice and went and aired it as it was. If kids see it and it makes them feel more secure at a younger age, great.

Thea: I think it's so important, it's great. When I was growing up I went to an all-girls school and it was very restrained, quiet, fearful - no one to talk about these things.

Question from the person doing sign language for the audience about deaf people (it's not clear exactly what the question was).

Hal: In the sexual adventures of Peter Paige, he used to date a deaf person for a while and they are going to work that into the story line of the show next season hopefully.

Question: How has the show affected your love life?

Hal: I've dated two different girls since I've been doing the show - one got really, really turned on by the show. Let's say that. So I make sure I keep tapes at home now. (laughter) The other doesn't want to see anyone else touching my butt, much less the guy from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. (laughter)

Michelle: I'm in a transitional thing now. I think I had a relationship when I left L.A. a year ago and I'll find out the status of that. Last time I checked he was supportive.

Question: How has your character affected you personally?

Hal: Playing a character is great for working out your own issues. Playing Michael, I've burned off all of my codependency.

Thea: I feel like I want to cry all the time, but don't.

Hal: That's just from living in Canada. (laughter) I'm kidding!

Michelle: It's helped me to have aggression and not apologize, and get in touch with my masculinity. I can get crazy, ballsy.

Question: Will there be any transgendered characters?

Very quiet - no one answers at first.

Hal: (breaking the silence with a joke) Michael makes a change next year. (laughter) That's very up in the air. It would have to settle in the reality of this group of people. Whether this group, in Pittsburgh, a character would arise - cursory, sure. Specific, can't say.

Thea: They want to delve a lot deeper into complex issues next season. Different characters.

Hal: So hopefully yes.

Winding down, another brief question about comparing Queer As Folk to Will and Grace

Michelle: They're different beasts.

Hal: Both have value.

Another brief question about what gay films the actors watched to prepare for their roles

Thea: Desert Hearts, at age 12.

Michelle: Desert Hearts, the night before our big love scene.

Michael: No films, but I did base a bit of my character on my Aunt Karen, who is codependent and had terrible relationships.

The last comment came from a man who said he was gay but found the lesbian sex scenes totally hot, and that was the end of the panel discussion.