Brian's best friend since adolescence, Michael secretly harbors feelings for Brian. He enjoys reading comic books, particularly Captain Astro adventures. He starts the series as a manager at a K-Mart-like department store, the Big Q, but eventually follows his dream to open a comic book store.Michael has a mother he is very close with, Debbie, played by Sharon Gless, and her gay brother Vic (Jack Wetherall).Michael is best friends with Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) whom he has been friends with since they were 14 years old. Since the show's debut, their lives have gone in extremely different directions. Michael settles down with his partner, Ben Bruckner, a university professor, and the two eventually adopt teenage son Hunter. Michael is also (as of the end of season 4) the father of baby daughter, JR (short for Jenny Rebecca), whose primary parents are lesbian couple Melanie Marcus and Lindsay Peterson (Michael donated the sperm for Melanie's pregnancy, but nevertheless remains an active father figure to the baby girl). Brian on the other hand has led a very promiscuous life, filled with drugs and sex.He is often very defensive of his best friend, Brian, and admits to having some feelings for him. For example, when Justin and Brian split up, Michael tells Justin to get out of their lives. After Lindsay and Melanie break up at the beginning of the fifth season, Michael becomes upset that his and Melanie's daughter is being raised in a broken home and an ugly custody battle ensues. Eventually, the three parents resolve their issues.Brian has accused Michael of being a conformist homosexual and bases this on Michael having a partner, a house, and an adopted son. While Michael feels that this was always what he wanted, Brian accuses him of being a traitor. This issue is an ongoing one in the gay community: some gay-rights activists complain that other gays are conforming to a heterosexual lifestyle (Such as adopting children and moving away from the gay friendly cities and into the more benal and conservative suburbs.), there by ignoring and rendering useless their plight against Conservativism. Show less «