Page 169 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

1 | Gay, Lesb an, B sexual, Transgendered, and Queer Representat ons on TV

1983—All My Children’s Lynn Carson becomes the first gay character on daytime soap
operas.
1989—On thirtysomething, a recurring gay male couple is shown in bed “the morning
after.” The episode generated a national debate and lost the network more than
$1 million in advertising revenue. The episode was not included in the summer rerun
schedule.
1992—Melrose Place launches the first of a wave of supporting gay characters throughout
network prime-time in the 1990s.
1994—The Real World includes gay housemate Pedro Zamora, who is suffering from AIDS
both on screen and off.
1997—Ellen DeGeneres comes out as a lesbian, both on Ellen and in real life.
1998—Will & Grace features the first gay male lead in network broadcast history.
2000—The U.S. version of Queer as Folk debuts on cable television, exploring the lives of
a group of gay men and women in Pittsburgh and featuring more-graphic-than-network-
allows depictions of same-sex sex.
2000—Bianca Montgomery comes out on All My Children.
2004—Lesbian and bisexual relationships and lifestyles are the star of The L Word.

gEnrE maTTErs: sExuaLiTy on DayTimE soaP oPEras

Action-based narratives offer different possibilities (and limitations) than do
sitcoms, reality shows, or serialized dramas. For example, it might seem surpris-
ing that U.S. daytime soap operas have rendered sexual minorities invisible to
a far greater extent than network prime time, given soaps’ 70-year history on
radio and television for telling educationally oriented narratives. Such stories
are not without economic risk, given soaps’ more conservative viewing audience
and advertising sponsorship as compared with that of prime time, but producers
historically resolved this dilemma by choosing “easy” social issues to write about,
such as alcoholism, drug abuse, or breast cancer. These issues are considered
easy because while the depiction or resolution of the story might be controver-
sial, the issue itself is not (no one, in other words, is “for” alcoholism or cancer
[Anger 1999]). With certain topics, however, such as varied sexualities, the in-
herent risk is greater because the subject matter itself remains controversial.
The first fully fleshed-out gay character was written for NBC’s Another World
in 1974 but the story never aired because network executives got nervous about
how viewers would respond. Between 1980 and 2000, daytime soaps featured
openly gay or lesbian characters in meaningful roles only five times. The first
occurred in 1983, when All My Children (ABC) introduced child psychologist
(and lesbian) Lynn Carson. Lynn was a marginal character, lasted only two
months in Pine Valley (the show’s fictional location), and had no on-screen
romantic life. In 1988, As the World Turns (CBS) introduced gay clothing
designer Hank Elliott. Hank appeared regularly on the show but his presence,
too, was short-lived and the character departed in 1989 to care for his partner
suffering (off-screen) from AIDS.