Quite often the transformations are so successful that the straight participants do not want the Fab Five to leave. David Collins observes that during the show the straight man bonds with the Fab Five, and this bonding generates a broader awareness of who gay men are and what it means to be straight and cool with themselves.

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The Fab Five's expert knowledge, along with their broadly suggestive humor, makes the gap between straight and gay bridgeable; and, according to Kylo-Patrick R. Hart, the humorous exchanges make it clear to the straight subjects, as well to straight viewers at home, that gay men do not really pose threats to their sexuality or well-being. This is an important point and one that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy exploits at every turn: gay men can help straight men lead better lives. David Collins summarizes the show's premise by explaining that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is ultimately you, only better.

The Future of GLBTQ Reality Television

Even though Queer Eye has been in existence only for a short while, it has already generated immense and overwhelmingly favorable publicity. It has also provided the genesis for another queer "make-better" show, Style Network's The Brini Maxwell Show. Robert Philpot describes the show as Martha Stewart filtered through 1950s icon Donna Reed, but Brini Maxwell supplies an interesting twist within the confines of her retro kitsch home entertaining and decorating ideas. Brini Maxwell is actually Ben Sander, a glam transvestite who, as Lynette Rice relates, spent five years dispensing helpful hints on New York City's public access television before moving to the more upscale digs of the Style Network.

Reality television shows have already demonstrated the marketability and popularity of gay and lesbian participants, and as reality television expands its boundaries even farther, encompassing a wider array of queer personalities, television viewers will increasingly and invariably get the message that queers are simply another variation on the people who might move in next door.

American television has made significant strides in its portrayal of homosexuals in dramatic series and movies, but cable networks have been more daring than the "big three" broadcast networks.

Although glbtq people and issues have been inadequately covered by American television news, there have recently been signs of improvement.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

Treatments of gay relationships on network soap operas have always been limited; recently, however, gays and lesbians have created their own soap operas to tell the convoluted stories of lesbian and gay entanglements.

For glbt people, television talk shows are both promising and problematic; they have brought glbt issues to public awareness, but they have also presented glbt people as stereotypes and freaks.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, in effect since 1993, was a compromise intended to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the U. S. military, but it has failed to halt discharges based solely on sexual orientation.