The pose that David Hyde Pierce ends up in when in the bathtub is a mimic of the title character in the 1793 painting, "The Death of Marat" by Jacques-Louis David.
After Julia and James Beard part ways in San Francisco, Beard asks his taxi driver to take him to 19th and Diamond Street, the location of Collingwood Park in the Castro district, at that time a popular "cruising" spot for gay men. Today, the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, a public elementary school, is across 19th Street from the park, and the GLBT Historical Society is nearby.