DeKalb | I hope adding two new cast members to Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood, reality TV’s guilty pleasure, isn’t just a plan to boost ratings.

The Love and Hip Hop franchise has grown in popularity since its debut in 2011 in New York; a chronicle of famous rappers and their love interests appear to be television gold. The show has had two successful spin-offs in Atlanta and now Hollywood since its premiere.

This year’s cast seems to be turning up the heat with the drama. Milan Christopher and Miles, also known as “Sir Brock,” newcomers to the show, have made history as the first gay couple in the reality series. However this might be Executive Producer Mona Scott-Young’s attempt to capitalize on the media coverage of the gay marriage movement by using Christopher and Miles to boost ratings.

I, myself, am extremely happy there are gay males on the show to give a deeper look into the lives of LGBT individuals. All gay males don’t wear heels or makeup and not all of them try to seduce straight men, as stereotypes often imply.

I think Christopher and Miles have been great at showing opposing qualities of gay men — but, of course — it seems like it’s just to to keep things juicy.

In the premiere episode, Miles starts out in a relationship with female cast member Amber Laura, but later reveals he’s also in a relationship with rapper Milan Christopher.

That horrified me because here it is: Main stream media is moving one step forward by accepting gay individuals on a platform such as this, but the show had to attach the the stigma of being “on the down-low” — leading a double life and having both a male and a female partner — to make things worse. It’s damaging because the gay black community is already haunted by negative stereotypes, and this just adds to them.

Christopher, a Chicago native, said in recent interviews that the current cast members shun him and Miles and even go on to act as if the two don’t exist.

I’m still not sure how to feel about Scott-Young’s decisions, but I do hope they were made in good faith. I’ll be watching to see what drama unfolds and if my opinion changes in the end.