Gay characters on Atralian TV: why are there so few? | — Atralia’s leadg news se

Contents:

• WHERE ARE ALL THE GAY CHARACTERS ON ASIE TV? IS TE ‘GAY DON’T RATE’? FOUR SIRS WEIGH
• GAY ATRALIA

WHERE ARE ALL THE GAY CHARACTERS ON ASIE TV? IS TE ‘GAY DON’T RATE’? FOUR SIRS WEIGH

The Amerin soap opera 'Soap' was the first to clu a gay character 1977 (the character Jodie Dallas), while the first openly gay character Great Bra's soaps was the show 'Brooksi' 1982 (the character Gordon Colls). Same-sex love scen once proved too sndalo for much of mastream TV, but the sex-driven plots of soap operas, gay and lbian characters have enjoyed some moments of timacy worthy of a parental warng. Wh the ph to crowdfund a fourth season of steamy gay soap Dante's Cove, surely more heat is on the way.

Will and Sonny's First Time (Days of Our Liv)When Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis, young gay members of two major fai on the long-nng soap Days of Our Liv, got together, showed that mment to the characters' sexualy than was more than a sishow. Ne Explos (As the World Turns)Sometim lled Amerin soaps' first gay super-uple, Le Snyr and Noah Mayer were romantilly lked on the sce-nceled As the World Turns, but waed about two years between a first kiss 2007 and fally dog the ed 2009.

Dperate HoewivDperate Hoewiv' out creator, Marc Cherry, ma no secret that the Van Kamp fay stood for his own, but still stunned many viewers when son Andrew was revealed to be gay. (One Life to Live)One of daytime soaps' first love scen between two gay men took place 2009 when Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis stripped each other down while ndl burned the foreground. But 's this wild hookup Mexi where he bumps to Tripp that Teddy fally embrac his gayns.

GAY ATRALIA

AUSTRALIAN televisn broke remarkable new ground 1972 by layg claim to the world’s first homosexual character a drama Sale was rponsible for creatg the boundary phg Number 96, about a un block filled wh an array of lourful rints, cludg the openly gay Don Flayson. “And at a time when homosexualy was illegal, ” Sale sce then, there’s been only a handful of meangful exampl of gays and lbians on the small screen. Sale believ the dtry is far ls progrsive today - and he’s not is there a reluctance to clu homosexual characters mastream shows?

Is the adage that “gay don’t rate” really te?

And what’s like to be gay and work an dtry unwillg to reprent people like you?

Four gay and lbian creativ Atralian TV share their personal and profsnal WALKER - WRITERWHEN veteran TV wrer and script producer Sarah Walker was told that no one wanted to see gay people on the small screen prime time, she was jt as a lbian, but as a voted storyteller who believ the power of characters who reflect Atralia’s diverse was workg on a mastream drama when she wrote a same-sex relatnship to the script.

When aired, a storm of ntroversy epted and “everyone at the work eaked out” the aftermath, the wrers were told that there was never to be another gay storyle the show. “I was told there was to be no mentn of gays and lbians on the show — no referenc at all. ”The strange nundm of TV is that attus like this n exist an dtry that employs many gay people.

“The big drkg, blokey world at the top of the food cha, they work hand--hand wh the gays.

They probably feel gayns and creativy go together — that ’s jt an expectatn creative typ are sometim gay. “However there’s a big difference between acceptg they have to work wh gay people and beg fortable wh seeg that on screens.

It was the famed Number 96 — rponsible for the world’s first gay character a drama — that she veloped an tert TV, and her first csh. “I’m generally not allowed to plot gay characters or gay stori shows — not to the extent that I’d like to anyway.