As one of the few LGBT characters on prime time television secure with his sexuality, Andrew's storylines have been well received by gay groups.

He was caught stealing porcelain by his mother from the front yard of 4352 Wisteria Lane and was forced to apologize to the owner, Mary Alice Young, with a slightly shocked Susan Mayer as a witness.

[9] Andrew repeatedly breaks the rules during Season 1, infuriating Bree, who eventually humiliates him by turning up at the strip club he is visiting with his friends while grounded.

[10] Bree does later apologize to Andrew (who also admits how much he misses his father) for lying to him, but removes the door to his room in punishment for him smoking marijuana.

[13] He continues to misbehave and Bree gets him dropped from the school swim team for smoking marijuana in an attempt to make him regret his actions.

[14] Further angered by her refusal to allow Rex to convalesce from heart surgery at home, Andrew threatens, "You wanna see how long I can hold a grudge?

[19] However, after everyone else has gone home, Susan Mayer catches them naked in the swimming pool kissing; Andrew anxiously shouts, "I'm not, I'm not gay!"

Andrew asks to see his father alone; Bree thinks this is because he blames her for sending him to the camp and storms into the meeting room to tell him she did the right thing.

[26] In his final scene of the season, after swearing the reverend to secrecy, Andrew states that, not only that he does not believe in God and lied to his parents about being gay to get out of the camp.

[29] Set just weeks after Rex's death, Andrew's first opening shot in Season 2 is to claim Bree is incapable of having murdered his father because "it takes guts to kill somebody".

[36] Later, Bree confesses to Andrew that George didn't commit suicide; he overdosed and asked her to call an ambulance, but she sat and watched him die.

[39] Bree threatens to call the police and have Justin forcibly removed, but Andrew replies that he will tell them about what happened to George.

He discovers that Peter McMillian, Bree's boyfriend, is a sex addict, and tries to persuade his sister Danielle Van de Kamp to seduce him.

[51] Bree finally gives up and leaves him with a bag of clothes and some money by an abandoned gas station because she can no longer love him unconditionally.

Eight months after the end of Season 2, Bree is about to leave for her honeymoon with Orson when she sees a news report on television about homeless teenagers, in which Andrew is interviewed.

[54] Horrified at what has happened to him, she cancels her honeymoon and sets out to retrieve Andrew, eventually finding him in a soup kitchen; she asks him to come back but he refuses.

[56] During their conversation, Andrew admits he worked the streets as a rent boy whenever he was desperate for money, and asks Orson not to tell his mother, before realizing what he's said and correcting himself.

[57] Orson does not try to force Andrew to come home but instead points out that the reason he is living on the streets is to punish his mother, and ultimately he will only destroy himself.

Five years later, Andrew is now the personal assistant of his mother, Bree, who, with her new cookbook, is a rising public figure similar to Martha Stewart.

In "Moments in the Woods", Andrew is seeking to make amends, and decides to tell Carlos about running over his mother, over Bree's objections.

Finding Carlos with a bloody towel and a dirty shovel, Bree jumps to conclusions and blurts out what Andrew did, just as her son enters the cabin.

Andrew is partially based on writer Marc Cherry himself, who copied much of Bree's dialogue from his own mother's reaction when he came out to her.

[70] Andrew can be selfish and manipulative, and regularly uses other people to get what he wants, for example, persuading his boyfriend Justin to hit him so he can claim Bree is abusing him.

While fans have heatedly debated his sexual orientation, Shawn Pyfrom has denied that Andrew is totally homosexual, implying he is bisexual.

[76] Marc Cherry has commented, "Andrew Van de Kamp is perhaps the most empowered gay teen in the history of television.

Later on in Season 2, Karl, another strong male figure, has some similar success in forcing Andrew to stop harassing Bree temporarily.

[79] Shawn Pyfrom has stated that he has received many letters from gay teens who have been encouraged by Andrew's ease with his sexuality as one of the few secure and confident LGBT teenage characters on television.

"[73] However, Pyfrom commented that he saw this as a good thing: I think what's great about Andrew is that they developed him as this bastard teenager who is terrible to his mother, hits old ladies with his car, and also happens to be gay.

[80] The Parent's Television Council named "I Know Things Now" as their "Worst Episode of the Week", in part due to Andrew's seduction of Bree's boyfriend.

[81] However, his improved behavior and deep love for his mother in Season 3 has also disappointed some critics, with one saying "if he has any lines at all, he's a little angel...as if he's become something of a Stepford son!