How Chile Manages to De-Gay Glee

It's actually a pretty American phenomenon that musical theater and belting out ballads is considered "gay." Go anywhere else in the world, even parts of Europe and Southeast Asia, and singing show tunes and pop numbers carries no homo attachment. (Also, see: Bollywood.) So it makes sense that you can take a show like Glee, considered in the U.S. to be among television's gayest, and bring it to Chile without much thought about whether viewers will point at all those fey kids singing to Britney Spears and find a problem with a lack of machismo. That doesn't mean, however, that all parts of Glee are acceptable.

After all, the show features plenty of openly gay characters. What to do about them? Jose, a Queerty reader in Chile, writes us:

"Here the Catholic Church has a open TV network. Lots of money. Higher ratings. Since last year, to revamp de schedule, they've [started airing] Glee. They did a campaign with our local stars doing the "L" thing on their foreheads. They got the Glee fever.
But Rachel doesn't speak about her "dads." She speaks ins Spanish about her "dad." [...] This channel in the news is totally anti-gay rights. So Glee is in part giving this channel lots of ratings and credibility [Ed: and profits]."

(Indeed, Chile's Channel 13/Canal 13, where Glee airs, is known also by its full corporate name, Corporación de Televisión de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and is heavily influenced by the Church. Except then pops up this news report about the Church selling the network.)

And Jose beat us to our next obvious question: "What will happen with Kurt's boyfriend or lesbian cheerleading scenes? What would [show creator] Ryan Murphy say?"

Moreover, what happens when Chile's airings of the show catch up to the U.S., where Murphy is set to unveil Rachel's gay dads? (Perhaps with one played by John Barrowman?) Or, better question: How will they handle the show's recent episode that was all about god?

Creative editing, that's how.

Meanwhile, here's how Kurt's character is profiled in Chile:


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