But Love You Man is different because it treats gay marriage as a "how low will you go" challenge to straight men, daring them to retain their masculinity in the face of public humiliation.
Despite the fact that gay marriage is legal in New Zealand, this radio competition has channelled a hidden bias that gay marriage is inferior; something cute and unserious, like if you dressed two dogs in tuxedos and married them in front of an audience of cats for LOLs.
This isn't the first time The Edge has treated gay experiences as a joke.
After losing the Edge competition Would You Rather, morning crew co-host Dom Harvey marched in last year's Auckland Pride Parade dressed in a wig, G-string, and holding a sign which read "Queen for a Day".
It's the same logic: gay experiences are something to be endured by straight people as a dare or punishment.
Likewise, the publicity-seeking Auckland Pride Parade team who approved Queen For a Day, should not be excused either.
The limitation of the public's self-professed tolerance of gays is that we're still thought of differently.
It's often revealed in those candid moments of well-meaning but condescending benevolence. Like, when upon learning we're gay, someone offers to set us up with their gay friend, or when it's assumed we'd be a good shopping pal, personal stylist or willing sperm donor.
Nowhere is this darker impulse more notable than film and television, where the rise of acclaimed mainstream gay, lesbian, and transgender-themed films is bittersweet. Milk, Transamerica, The Dallas Buyers Club, The Kids Are Alright all featured leading roles played by straight men and women.
The broader trend of using straight actors for gay roles reinforces a dangerous notion that only people who look and act like the majority can legitimise the experiences of others.
If people need that, it's a sad indictment. The straight actor playing a gay role as a "challenge" is demeaning.
Symbolic of this is James Franco. His approach in seeking or being cast in numerous gay roles is applauded by many - gay and straight - but I view it as indirectly perpetuating the cycle of discrimination against deserving gay actors.
Even his own teasing insinuations that he "might" be gay aren't charming to many of us who are gay.
He is more like some self-identifying bohemian straight guy who makes out with men at gay bars to pick up chicks or simply likes the idea of "being gay" to appropriate all the cultural and visual style that goes with it - without all that gross gay sex stuff.
Heterosexual men like Franco, who dabble in our culture for vanity, or shock jocks that dish out gay experiences as punishment, deny us from being seen as equally legitimate. Instead, it marginalises us to the plaything of others.
Oliver Chan blogs on New Zealand politics and social issues at finetoothcolumn.wordpress.com
