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Bravo's Boy Meets Boy was ahead of its time. The 2003 dating reality show, which had confirmed bachelor James Getzlaff choose between a bevy of available men (some of whom were secretly straight), was one of the first shows specifically geared towards the personal and romantic lives of gay men.

The cast of Boy Meets Boy

Alas, Bmb didn’t exactly burn up the airwaves and its first season was its one and only. Nor did it set off a stampede of similarly themed programming.

Nonetheless, reality TV has always had at least a hint of gay. Even the first reality show, An American Family, also gave us Lance Loud, the first openly gay person on television, . And Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the flagship that led Bravo into a new age of gayness and popularity, not only helped make gay judges and “experts” a staple of competitive reality TV,...

In modern reality television’s 16 years on cable and eight years on network, the genre has given television more (and often better) gay portrayals than scripted programming. Whether part of competitions in artificial contexts or fly-on-the-wall footage of real people's lives, reality TV has offered moments so unexpected that viewers might not have believed them if they occurred on a drama or sitcom.

With the fall television season now underway and reality shows bound to create more such moments – Dancing with the Stars has Lance Bass and Survivor has a gay contestant once again, among others – now's a good time to look back at some of the more memorable moments, ranging from progressive portrayals to cringe-inducing scenes.

11. Lance Loud takes his mother to a drag show on An American Family

If An American Family aired in 2008, it likely wouldn’t register with the same impact it had in 1973 since the...