Rather than being angry or jealous, Emmett recognizes that Drew, being so newly out, needs time to explore his new-found gay world.
Benjamin "Ben" Novotny-Bruckner[1] (né Bruckner) (portrayed by Robert Gant) became a main character during season two, when he is the first customer in Michael Novotny's comic book store.
In the third season, Ben learns that the man who gave him HIV has died which greatly upsets him and drives him to begin using steroids and exercise obsessively.
Ben later tirelessly parades to stop "Proposition 14" which would take away gay civil rights and is present during the bombing of Babylon which severely injures Michael.
During the vigil for the Babylon victims, Ben displays uncharacteristic rage when he brutally beats up a counter-protester who began mocking Michael's near death.
She is seen briefly in the fifth season talking to Justin while they are babysitting Michael's daughter, Jenny Rebecca, and in the final episode is mentioned as helping him find a place to stay in New York.
Before the start of the series, Vic, who is HIV-positive, emerged from a lengthy hospital stay and joined Debbie on a trip to Italy, expecting to die before having to pay any credit card bills from their vacation.
He has a wide variety of jobs throughout the series: working in a clothing store, becoming a porn star for Ted's website, running his own catering business, and delivering television news segments as the "Queer Guy."
They fall in love despite their significant age difference, but George suffers a heart attack and dies on the eve of a six-month tour of the world with Emmett.
Carl first appears in season two as an investigating police officer when Debbie finds the body of a young gay hustler in a dumpster behind the Liberty Diner.
He makes a homophobic comment to another officer ("Looks like we got a Jane Doe") which Debbie overhears, and she immediately berates Carl for his disrespect.
With Vic and Jennifer's help, Debbie finds out the young man's name was Jason Kemp, and she gives this information to Carl.
Throughout the relationship Brian Kinney has been a source of stress and discord for the couple, but Melanie allows him to remain an active presence in their lives because of his longtime friendship with Lindsay.
While Melanie is pregnant with Jenny Rebecca, she discovers that Lindsay has had an affair with a male artist, Sam Auerbach, whose work is being featured at her gallery.
While Michael and Ben have just begun living together, Chief Jim Stockwell's recent "cleanup" of Liberty Avenue forces gay prostitutes to solicit in front of their building.
The mother (at 17) of main character Michael Novotny, Debbie plays a major role in her son's life, is a strong supporter of gay rights, and an active member of PFLAG.
Michael Charles Novotny-Bruckner (né Novotny), portrayed by Hal Sparks, has a mother with whom he is very close, Debbie, played by Sharon Gless, and an uncle, Vic (Jack Wetherall), who is also gay.
An episode's plot was dedicated to Michael discovering his roots, and how his mother changed her name to have him believe that his father was a soldier and hero who died in the Vietnam war.
He recovers (amongst great difficulty, as he was close to the bomb, which killed secondary lesbian character, Dusty, who was only a few feet away from him), and the series ends with him and Brian dancing in the burned out infrastructure of the building.
Later on, Lindsay is the first to realize that the three-way custody battle between herself, Mel, and Michael is ruining Jenny Rebecca's life, and recuses herself from it for the sake of her daughter.
Lindsay and Melanie's last appearance on the show reveals that they have decided to move to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to avoid further government and personal persecution for being a homosexual couple.
Although Michael gives them his blessing, Lindsay must spend her final days in Pittsburgh convincing Brian that letting Gus go is the right thing to do.
Theodore "Ted" Schmidt begins the series as a bright accountant with an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
The position for Mayor has become available, and Jim Stockwell is the Republican candidate (a red R next to his name on a TV screen during election night in the season finale is the only clear evidence to his actual party allegiance).
Stockwell is homophobic, and many characters, namely Debbie Novotny, are very vocal in their opposition to him, and this leads to many conflicts with Brian supporting his candidacy.
Stockwell fires Brian when he finds out that he is gay (one of his officers recognized him during a bust at the bar Woody's), but later re-hires him when he begins slipping in the polls once more.
Brian and his partner Justin Taylor are secretly working together on a smear campaign against Stockwell by posting negative flyers around Pittsburgh.
Thanks to Hunter sleeping with him and snatching the condom Rykert wore during sex, Brian was able to confront him at a sleazy gay bar with the evidence and threaten to expose him and Stockwell.
Before Rykert could be brought in for questioning for his connection to the murder of Jason Kemp by Carl Horvath, he was found in his home's garage with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
By the middle of the season, she is a real-estate agent and has come to accept Brian more and turns to him for extra support when trying to get something through to her son, like finding friends his own age.