Eric Stonestreet And Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are one of the reasons why Modern Family became such a popular show a few years ago. Despite the fact that Eric isn’t gay in real-life, the two manage to make their marriage look believable on-screen. Following the first season of the show, fans noticed that Eric and Jesse were married on the show but had never actually kissed on-screen. It was said to have been because Eric was straight in real-life and he wasn’t prepared to kiss a man on-screen for the first season. It seems that Eric was finally able to get over this and the couple later went on to share a number of on-screen kisses.