<p>New s Vic featur a mp gay uple as leads. It may feel like a throwback, but shows how far TV has e, says Stonewall's <strong>Ben Summerskill</strong></p>
Contents:
- GAY MEN
- GAY PEOPLE
- CASUALTY H WH 111 PLATS AFTER HOMOPHOBIC VIEWERS REPORTED GAY UPLE'S KISS
- DO VIC MARK THE END OF GAY TV CHARACTERS BEG VISIBLE?
- GAY GUY DI FIRST
GAY MEN
* gay characters casualty *
Marty - played by Shaheen Jafargholi - has found love wh new character Jack, however some fans weren't too happy about their new loveVio LoadgVio UnavailableMarty's storyle on CasualtyCasualty has been h by a wave of plats om homophobic viewers after they claimed Marty’s kiss wh his boyiend was "offensive". John, who is gay, uld be seen wellg up as H and Matt whirled and twirled across the rk. AppleThe lack of LGBTQ+ them and characters is particularly noticeable though, bee at the end of the day, Ted Lasso is a show about football, a sport that has long stggled wh homophobia on and off the se you were unaware, there have only ever been a handful of openly gay profsnal football players, and there are none currently playg the Premier League.
The first-ever openly gay pro footballer was Jt Fashanu, who played for a number of clubs durg his reer before publicly g out 1991. His niece Amal has sce set up the Jt Fashanu Foundatn to tackle homophobia the Imag//Getty ImagPerhaps the most mon issue around homophobia football om the stands. Homophobic chants were a mastay of plenty of Premier League clubs for s until they were officially banned by the FA back the terveng years, thgs have fely improved.
GAY PEOPLE
It's doubly a problem for Ted Lasso and shows like bee, if you prent a cholate-box versn of London/the world where everythg is nice but no one is gay, you're suggtg that the prence of LGBTQ+ people nflicts wh that image. Gay marriage is now legal the UK, same-sex upl n adopt children and the Brish ernment plans to abolish gay nversn are queer people now treated equally? He's a gay Filipo man, and this is explored great pth on the show and through his dividual storyl.
47 Elena Alvarez, One Day at a Time (Isabella Gomez)Mike Yarish/NetflixAlistair RyrFrom Ellen g out the '90s to recent seri like Morn Fay explorg the ia of gay parenthood, ss are arguably the most groundbreakg genre when to on-screen pictns of morn LGBTQ+ first season of One Day at a Time, the now-ncelled reboot of the '70s s phenomenon, may tread faiar ground when to Elena Alvarez' (Isabella Gomez) g out story, but explor the trma of the closet wh an unexpected the cultural nservatism of olr Lato fay members to straed relatnships wh the homophobic men of the fay, One Day at a Time don't sugar-at s trma, even as handl s exploratns wh a lightns of touch. Did I also thk I uld be gay after havg been wh a woman? Hell beg so outspoken about her bisexualy and fendg wh iends, fay and lovers anticipated what I'd al wh my mid- and late-20s whenever I'd discs my inty wh both straight and gay people.
39 Jt Suarez, Ugly Betty (Mark Inlito)Andrew Eccl//ABCLra Jane Turner In the early 2000s, Betty Suarez's nephew Jt was the gay reprentatn that many young people craved and whose g out storyle spired a generatn.
CASUALTY H WH 111 PLATS AFTER HOMOPHOBIC VIEWERS REPORTED GAY UPLE'S KISS
But those aren't the only reasons Phil Mchell's progeny will go down 's inty as a gay man, om bullied schoolboy to revenge-seekg hardman to fiancé, has always been tied to his plot l and his populary. First there was his teenage love Pl Coker, who was tragilly murred bee of his sexualy as part of a storyle that shed a grim light on vlent homophobia.
Ben's volvement the #Ballum saga also gave the EastEnrs wrers a new angle to explore sexualy and g out – which triumphantly clus Phil Mchell punchg an angry homophobe square the face. Her sexualy is never announced, jt is, which mak her such an important addn to the roster of gay characters on telly.
DO VIC MARK THE END OF GAY TV CHARACTERS BEG VISIBLE?
36 Ryan Hay, Special (Ryan O'Connell) BETH DUBBER/NETFLIXAli GriffhsRyan O'Connell's portrayal as a fictnalised versn of himself Netflix's Special is unique, not jt bee of the show's foc on a gay man wh cerebral palsy, but bee of the sheer amount of self-pretn that ntas.
She told Lbian News that Xena was: "Gay. Bill was the long-nng BBC show's first openly gay regular pann, and someone a large sectn of the show's fanbase uld intify wh.
GAY GUY DI FIRST
It's a realy that vast swath of gay men have endured and yet pop culture has largely given a wi berth.
It monstrat exactly why so many gay men are reluctant to volise what they have suffered, and should be broadst police statns up and down the land to prevent such occurrenc om not only beg a rary, but extct altogether. Patrick, played by Jonathan Groff, didn't e out until llege but his entire life out of the closet has been fed by the lgerg anxieti om when he was si ; a straed relatnship wh nservative parents back Denver, to the strs of nformg to a body type the gay muny would see as (Raúl Castillo) has an even more ayed relatnship wh his father due to the lgerg homophobia of his eply relig fay jt outsi the cy.
Lookg was a genuely groundbreakg show for how litely explored prevly unr-discsed topics like the subnsc racism of whe gays, brgg those to the foreont of a drama about morn gay relatnships.