Each year ANTM has a certain type, a certain theme that it seems to follow to get a certain person added as a model.  You know, a Plus Sized girl, a super tall girl, a very ethnic-looking girl, that girl that looks sort of like she’s from outer space but fits perfectly in the camera’s eye.  I have always liked those concepts.  There has even been a pre-op transgendered person (omg were there problems with swimsuits and I was not comfortable with it)  and more than one Gay female.  They have pushed that Gay female envelope more than once.  I will admit a couple of them were quite obnoxious so it was not their sexuality that held them back, it was their personality. 

This Cycle is a girl named Kayla.  She was blond and they did her hair up red.  She is a very pretty girl and quite a talent in modeling.  Her personality is sweet.  I like her and she is down with a group of five now.  She just may pull it off.  And by the way, she is Gay.  She speaks openly about her lover and has easily said that her lover didn’t want her coming home with cut or red hair, or something to that effect.  She has also stated how she moved from home to home because of her sexuality and when young she slept in a sleeping bag.  Her mother was a single woman who had a boyfriend.  For many reasons, Kayla is someone that you can identify with.  Many of us have been poor and moved around.  As she articulates, the thought of her sexuality never comes to mind because she seems totally comfortable with her life and honestly, I am pulling for her and one other who is not gay.  Why?  Because they are talented and seem deserving.  Each year by this time I have two in mind anyway.

This week Kayla had to do a commercial where she had to be up close and seemingly personal with a guy.  This is not the first time she expressed her aversion to being too close with men on the set.  She did not take to this well at all.  The act was on skates and she flowed through the mock commercial quite nicely.  Also, she looked so pretty.  She had this ponytail, the large earrings, the type of look that the world and an Urban girl could identify with.  But her aversion to this male was pretty disturbing.  The fact that she had to be so close didn’t feel right to her.  It seemed strange to me that it would be strange to her… and probably to a lot of people.  And we try to understand some things anyway.  The burning question is  this: what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot, if a man didn’t want to be that close to a Gay person or a girl?  Look, we have to think of those things.  Being accepted for your sexuality is a good thing and it shouldn’t be a big deal to treat such an individual on fair ground.  After all, we all know Gay people, in our families, in our circle of friends.  We do not cancel people out because of that.  That’s crazy.   At the same time, the Gay person may be miffed if someone went against them.  We cannot have it both ways.  Being a model and being Gay does seem odd to some but then again, how many Gay models of all sexes have gone before us?  Probably too many to count.  But people state this fact and then to their surprise probably, they react to something unexpectedly.  It is a fact that modeling is acting.  So I say, suck it up, act and be like all the other professionals who made it big, both Gay and Straight – do the job.  Little Lady, you are going to be paired with a man again.  You cannot take it personal.