From what I can tell, gay people have been shown as everything from smart, silly, serious, educated, not so educated, all types of careers, outrageous, ordinary, everything. They have been underrepresented in TV until about 15 years ago I’d say. Now, it’s more and more.
I think it’s fine to have show where the gay character is goofy. If it’s good it will get good ratings. If not it will fail. There are shows about minorities that are hard for me to watch, because I feel like it feeds into negative stereotypes, but them the show gets renewed for another season. I guess someone likes it? I think what is most important is that there is not only one show. That all types of minorities are represented in many different ways. Plus, that goofy character might very well have a smart side.
@elbanditoroso Actually, Soap, which I think was probably the first TV show to have a gay character as part of the main reoccurring cast, portrayed the gay guy as one of the more “normal” people on the show. That show was so funny! I caught a few reruns recently. It was one of the shows my family used to watch together, I think most of my friends at the time weren’t allowed to.