HBO has long been at the forefront culturally, addressing progressive and present-day issues quickly and directly. And for many, one of the best examples of verisimilitude was the queeny but fierce out gay black Southerner Lafayette on the Louisiana fantasy series True Blood. And the actor who played that iconic character, Nelsan Ellis, gave scores of proud gay men a role model because of his never-take-shit attitude. So when word came Saturday that Ellis had died of heart failure at just 39, there was a collective gasp of genuine sadness. Ellis appeared in other TV shows and movies, but it was as Lafayette he will long be remembered, especially in this unforgettable scene from Season 1.