Lengthy LA Times article about Ugly Betty’s effeminate nephew who has been embraced by those who don’t ‘fit in’:

As the 12-year-old nephew of Betty Suarez on “Ugly Betty,” Justin Suarez is not your average television series foil.

For starters, he’s Latino. He also knows exactly how a belt can accessorize a Valentino gown; he can sing and tap à la Gene Kelly in “On the Town,” and when a cheating boyfriend breaks his aunt’s heart, Justin’s antidote is to offer her chamomile tea.

Is there a subtext there?...

Whether the effeminate and fashion-obsessed Justin is gay, his presence on the No. 1 new comedy of the season is certainly breaking ground, and nobody is more aware of it than the 12-year-old who plays him.

“My fan mail is mostly kids, especially kids that don’t really fit in and people don’t really understand them,” Mark Indelicato said. “They go, ‘Thank you, because you’re helping me to be understood by my peers,’ and anybody else who doesn’t understand them. That touches me. I’m glad that I’m reaching such a large amount of people.”...

Make no mistake: There’s no soapbox on the one-hour romp that is “Ugly Betty,” but the show weaves in a message.

In an episode in which Justin spent the day at Mode magazine, he met Marc (Michael Urie), a flamboyant assistant, who offered this advice when Justin reveals that kids at school don’t “get” his blue sweater vest: “Be who you are, wear what you want. Just learn how to run really fast.”

“What the show does is normalize what should be a normal thing,” said Michael Jensen, the editor of AfterElton.com, a gay media website. “Justin wouldn’t have had a big coming out moment at this moment in life, but it still seems very clear. And the same thing with Marc. I don’t remember him at any point saying, ‘Yes, I’m gay, I’ve got a boyfriend’ or something like that. It’s just completely woven into the fabric of the show in a completely natural way. And I think that’s how you get to people. You slip in the side door without making a big deal out of it.”

In fact, the success of the series largely lies in the writers’ use of common stereotypes to lead viewers down a road and then take unexpected turns. Characters — even those who don’t work in fashion — are portrayed larger than life, leaving room for their humanity to be uncovered when layers are peeled away.

“The characters on ‘Ugly Betty,’ stereotyped that they may be, are written about lovingly by somebody who is obviously not judging them. And that’s what’s important,” said Ross von Metzke, senior editor of here! Interactive Media, website for the gay and lesbian channel.

Jensen agreed: “I do know that some people have reacted to the exaggeration of the characters, but that’s the sensibility of the show. And I think that the only time that would be offensive is if everyone else was understated and then you have the gay character flounce on and be all dramatic and really stand out.”...

Of course, said Horta, the backdrop of his show is the fashion world in Manhattan, so it followed there would be gay characters at Mode. But in Queens, where Betty lives, the idea for a boy who lives for musical theater and fashion was born more out of a need to counter Betty in a humorous and touching way than out of the desire to make headlines with TV’s first mainstream gay child character.

“I wanted someone to come from Betty’s world and inform her journey and be a sort of a young sage,” Horta said. “The dynamic of that relationship is just so appealing to me. And he’s such a fun character we never see. He’s not old enough for us to explore his sexual identity. We will have to deal with it, absolutely, as the show evolves and his character evolves.”


Now if they really wanted to push the envelope, how about making him straight? Because there are male femmes ya know, and not all of them are gay.