Gay characters the post-Stonewall era go a lot wir and eper than ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘Ellen.’
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LBGTQ TV: A HISTORY OF GAY CHARACTERS, OM STONEWALL TO ‘BATWOMAN’
It has also, perhaps most importantly, been a platform to tell stori that have ma gay, lbian, bisexual, trans, queer, tersex, and more people feel ls alone the world – to know there is a big and varied muny to which they belong. They did so by beg the first work superhero TV show wh an LGBTQ+ lead (actrs and character), as is the se of the CW’s Batwoman, or featurg some of the earlit recurrg gay characters on Amerin TV, like Vcent Schiavelli’s Peter Panama on the short-lived The Corner Bar, or Billy Crystal’s Jodie Dallas on Soap. In this sectn you’ll also fd the first Disney Channel show to feature a gay ma character (Andi Mack), the first animated show to feature a same-sex marriage proposal (Steven Universe), and Pose, which broke ground wh s diverse, largely transgenr st, and for beg the seri on which Ja Mock beme the first transgenr woman of lor to direct and wre an episo of televisn.
“I’m lucky I was born outsi of Nigeria, so I haven’t had the same stggl that my gay brothers and sisters have had wh Nigeria, and the problems that they’re havg: beg arrted all the time, beg harassed when they go out [and] beg thrown out of their fai. THEIR IMPACT: In this age of “Don’t Say Gay” bills and other forms of blatant homophobia, this Netflix seri — and the romance between lead characters Nick (Connor) and Charlie (Locke) — wasn’t jt enarg but val lettg kids know that if they’re non-straight, don’t mean they’re bad or wrong. 1 on the ll sheet — is a Black gay man, ” says seri -creator Cameron Johnson, who also acknowledg the rary of beg able to tell stori about a gay man who isn’t a TV show’s “addnal character.
It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc. Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage. Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010).