Homosexuality in Mad Men

Like my last post, I will be doing a close reading on the AMC original series Mad Men but I will be examining the show's feelings towards homosexuality in the workplace. In the show there is a male employee named Sal Romano for the agency Sterling Cooper who conforms to the culture of the agency's ways when it comes to actions in and out of the agency. From smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes to flirting with women at local bars after work.

Sal is married to a woman named Kitty Romano who like him, is from Baltimore, Maryland but even his own wife has no idea of his true sexuality. Romano makes a great effort to conceal this side of him but slips up along the way and this eventually costs him his job at Sterling Cooper. Romano eventually would take interests in other men in the show and some even in the workplace. In between seasons one and two the conclusion is drawn that Romano has a crush on a coworker named Ken Cosgrove. 

Later on in the show Romano is caught by Don Draper on a business trip with a hotel bellhop on the cusp of a sexual encounter. Draper and Romano agree to keep this incident between them but Draper does not hesitate to use this event as inspiration for and advertisement for the cigarette company Lucky Strike. Lastly, Romano involves himself with Lucky Strike's representatives and this causes him to lose his job because he does not partake in sexual activity with the man, angering him and causing him to take his business elsewhere. Draper goes on to fire Romano. 

Romano's situation is very interesting and plays a big role in understanding what the show Mad Men is trying to highlight about the era in which the show takes place. It shows that in this particular society there are certain characteristics that are allowed in this "fraternity-like" setting of Madison Avenue. It's as if homosexuality is breaking a code within the group provoking one's discipline. Romano likely feels that he must conceal his true self in order to stay within the group and so that he can stay employed. Romano even goes as far as having a wife to show his peers that he is just as they are and fits in without a doubt. The conflict for Romano in this show is likely parallel to some "closeted" gay men in today's society. They likely feel that they cannot move up or even stay afloat in the corporate world they must conform to the non verbal code that comes along with being a man in our current american society.