Portraying homosexuality in the media

Homosexual milestones, mainly
on TV, since the year 2000

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Some milestones:

• 2000: Until 2000-DEC, none of the daytime soap operas had ever included a major, continuing homosexual role. Then, All My Children broke new ground. Bianca Montgomery (played by Eden Riegel) began to realize that she is a lesbian. She desperately tried to convince herself that she is a heterosexual, without success. She agonized about coming out of the closet. She finally came out to her mother, Erica Kane (played by Susan Lucci). Erica initially went into denial, but subsequently began to accept her daughter's sexual orientation. 
• 2000-DEC: A U.S. version of Queer as Folk debuted on the Showtime network. It follows the lives of five gay men in Pittsburgh.
• 2001-APR: In the APR-26^th episode of Friends, Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) recalled a brief, experimental, lesbian experience from her college days. She and a fellow classmate Melissa, (played by Winona Ryder), got drunk, and had a passionate kiss and make-out session. Ryder denies that the event ever took place. At the end of the episode, Rachel kisses Melissa, who then confesses her attraction to Rachel. She immediately recants her confession.
• 2001-MAY: The writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer broke new ground when they portrayed a gradually developing relationship between two Witches, Willow (played by Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (played by Amber Benson). The "Willow" character is apparently a bisexual. Her relationship with a male star, Oz, failed. This is believed to be the first instance on television where a developing same-sex relationship has been accurately portrayed by two main continuing characters in a series.
• 2001: Minute Maid sponsored an ad that featured Popeye and his arch-rival Bluto. In the past, the two were always shown fighting. But in this commercial, they played on the swings and sea-saw, they buried each other in sand and got tattoos together that said "Buddies for Life." Later, they drive a bicycle-built-for-two and pass their mutual friend, Olive Oyl. They don't seem to notice her. Although the gay overtones are obvious, Minute Maid spokesperson Dan Shafer denied that this was the intent of the ad. He said: "We're not going to go there. Any intent to draw a (gay relationship) parallel would be wrong. Anyone who knows Popeye and Bluto understands that's not the case, there's no intent like that."
• 2002-FEB-14: Revealing what was probably the worst-kept secret in entertainment history, Rosie O'Donnel's lesbian sexual orientation was revealed on the women's discussion program, The View.
• 2003-FEB: According to Agape Press: "Marvel Comics has announced that 'The Rawhide Kid,' a Marvel character since the 1950s, will make his first appearance as a homosexual in a February release. In an Associated Press report, Marvel's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada states that while the character will not come right out and say he is homosexual, it will be 'obvious through his actions and the things he says that his preference is men, not women.' " ₁ [It is worth noting that if his "preference" is for men rather than women as a sexual partner, then he is apparently a bisexual not a homosexual.]
• 2003-APR: The ABC network announced on APR-15 that Eden Riegel and Olga Sosnovska, playing the roles of Bianca and Lena on All My children, will share a kiss during the APR-23 episode. This is believed to be the first lesbian kiss on the daytime soaps. ₂
• 2003-4 Season: Many TV programs with homosexual theme include "Will and Grace" "Queer as Folk," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," and "Boy Meets Boy." Madonna sang kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera briefly on MTV Video Music Awards, after the latter sang "Like a Virgin" to her. Later that week, Meredith Vieira re-enacted Madonna's kiss with Associated Press write, Christy Lemire on The View. North America responded with a collective yawn. On SEP-21, during the Emmy awards, Brad Garrett kissed comedian Garry Shandling in the spirit of Madonna.
• 2003-Summer: The Bravo cable network introduced Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in which five gay males revamp a straight person's appearance, clothing, and living space. It quickly became Bravo's most successful program to date.
• 2004-FEB: A single anonymous posting on a popular gay gossip forum www.DataLounge.com on FEB-01 exploded into a news item on CNN within a little more than a week. The rumor was that Marcia Cross, who plays Bree Van De Camp on the hit TV show Desperate Housewives is, in real life, a lesbian. She denied the rumor on the FEB-09 episode of The View, saying: "It's very odd and I assume it's what comes with being 42 and single." Actually, it is "Bree's" son, the pot-smoking problem teen, who is expected to come out of his closet in a future episode. A new rumor has surfaced: that another Desperate Housewives cast member is going to reveal that she/he is gay in real life.
• 2004-FEB-20: History was made when not one but two fictional characters came out of the closet -- to viewers at least -- within two hours. Also, one was caught in a same-sex encounter:
  • On The Simpsons, Marge Simpson's sister Patty revealed her sexual orientation and her intention of entering into a same-sex marriage . The marriage fell through when her partner was exposed to be a man who disguised himself as a woman because he loved Patty.
  • On Desperate Housewives, "Justin," played by Ryan Carnes, revealed himself as being unsure of his sexual orientation. A passionate kiss from another wife on Wisteria Lane produced no sparks; this seems to have settled any doubt that he is truly gay.
  • Also on Desparate Housewives, "Andrew Van De Camp," played by Shawn Pyrfrom, was spotted kissing Justin in a swimming pool. He is the teenaged son of "Bree Van De Camp" on Desperate Housewives. In future episodes, this development causes his mother to worry whether her overbearing nature caused his homosexual orientation.
• 2005-DEC-09: The movie Brokeback Mountain was released to a few theatres in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Broad distribution came in 2006-JAN. It is described in the media as covering the lives of two homosexual cowboys in Wyoming. Actually, the story deals with two bisexual sheep herders, and was photographed in Calgary, AB, Canada. It was nominated for more 2006 Academy Awards than any other film. More details.
• 2006-MAR-19: The movie C.R.A.Z.Y. is a coming-of-age tale about growing up gay in Roman Catholic Quebec, Canada, from the 1960s to the 1980s. It received ten awards at Canada's Genie awards earlier in March. It won 14 awards at the Prix Juntra French Canadian movie awards. It took the top prize in every category in which it was nominated, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actor.
• 2007-Fall: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAD) found that there were 7 actors portraying gay, lesbian, and bisexual regular characters scheduled in prime-time program series. They accounted for 1.1% of all of the regular characters, down from 1.3% in 2006.
• 2008-SEP-22: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation found that networks had drastically increased the number of actors playing gay, lesbian, and bisexual regular characters scheduled in prime-time program series. They totaled 16 or 2.6% of all of the regular characters -- more than twice as many as in the previous season. The Fox network went from 0 characters last year to 5 this year. Among the new characters are "Thirteen" a female physician specializing in internal medicine, portrayed by Olivia Wilde. "Do Not Disturb" has a gay man.
  
  There are 19 recurring characters who appear in occasional episodes are gay, lesbian or bisexual. This is an increase over the 13 in 2007.
  
  GLAAD President Neil Giuliano said:

  "As the networks gradually add characters from all backgrounds and all walks of life to prime-time programming, more and more Americans are seeing their LGBT friends and neighbors reflected on the small screen." ₄

   

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There are some TV shows which have gay or lesbian characters for which we do not have the starting date:

• Kerry Weaver is Chief of Emergency Medicine and a lesbian on "ER."
• Bad Girls is a UK program with main characters who are lesbians.

References used:

1. Allie Martin and Jody Brown, "Marvel Comics Puts Homosexuality in the Saddle," Agape Press, 2002-DEC-11, at: http://headlines.agapepress.org/
2. "Lesbian kiss is daytime first," Associated Press, approximately 2003-APR-15, published by the Toronto Star, 2003-APR-16, Page F4.
3. "The Jutras C.R.A.Z.Y. in love with Quebec's coming-of-age film," Toronto Star, 2006-MAR-21. Page C7.
4. "Study: Series TV showing more gays, lesbians," Associated Press, 2008-SEP-23, at: http://ap.google.com/

Copyright © 1999 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-OCT-03
Author: B.A. Robinson

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