Gay Stereotypes, Helpful or Hurtful?

When talking to the pride panel there was a question asked pertaining to how they felt about the representation of gay couples on TV in particular Mitch and Cam on the show Modern Family. I remember one person had said they were glad that at the very least gays were being shown on TV, but that they were being represented in a very stereotypical way. They show one of the men as a "manly man who works and provides for the family", and the other as acting "girly, and a homemaker who stays home with the family". This is the typical gay couple stereotype that everyone believes to be true. After discussing this I opened up my Entertainment Weekly I had just received and there was an article titled "TV's New Gay Cliches", which was written by a gay columnist. The article which I brought to class basically said the same things that we had just discussed in class. This article and our class discussion made me think, are the stereotypes we have for gay couples helpful or hurtful? And is putting that same stereotype on three different TV shows helpful or hurtful? I think that it is helpful that we are starting to see more gay men on TV and that it is starting to be more normal. But placing this same stereotype on every TV show does not show an accurate portrayal of all gay men and their relationships. We need to start being more accurate in the media so that our society can really begin to understand what it is like to be a gay man or a gay couple in our modern society.