Thanks for all the responses. I was kind of surprised that nobody else had said anything, which was why I started wondering whether I was out of line and sought reassurance. bergamini and alanw, perhaps you are right: madamoiselle does kinda seem to protest too much!

It's surprising how unaware people can be about these things though - a good female friend of ours (a bit of a fag hag actually) cheerfully referred to something that she considered to be really naff/stupid as being "so gay" and really didn't understand that was offensive! She'd heard the word used so many times that she just thought it was a completely separate meaning of the word gay! Really, sometimes one just despairs.

As for Queer Eye, it has apparently been confirmed that there is to be an Australian series. I really can't decide whether this is likely to be better or worse than the original - at the very least I think the cast will include a bit more eye candy, as that seems to be the main criterion for getting onto Aussie TV, with the exception of the 'old boys club' of wrinkly old (male) newsreaders / presenters who have all been doing the same job for the last 30 years.