I've decided to start collecting gay cliches. One of my personal favorites is the dead, evil lesbian cliche. You know the one: if a lesbian is portrayed on TV or in the movies, odds are that she'll either be dead or evil by the end. In recent years, it's been possible to find depictions of lesbian characters that don't follow the cliche (thank you Ellen DeGeneres), but it still rears its ugly head fairly frequently (Law & Order, anyone?)

My gay cliche for the day: gays are pedophiles. Of course, this one is almost too easy, given the Mark Foley follies, but the fact that a gay REPUBLICAN Congressman preyed on adolescents hasn't stopped some Republicans and conservative commentators from using the cliche in an attempt to discredit Democrats. Two weeks ago on Scarborough Country, Pat Buchanan (too easy) I know, tried to link Representative Nancy Pelosi to NAMBLA (the North American Man Boy Love Association which, by the way, is basically defunct). And earlier this week, the republican candidate for Ohio Governor alleged that his opponent Ted Strickland (who has a wide lead in the polls) was supported by NAMBLA. Four times. In the same debate. Quick: someone alert these folks to the wealth of studies finding no link between sexual orientation and child molestation. Oh wait. I forgot. These folks have no interest in science unless it agrees with their biases. Nevermind.