Gay Teens on TV: A Timele |

Contents:

• LBGTQ TV: A HISTORY OF GAY CHARACTERS, OM STONEWALL TO ‘BATWOMAN’
• 14 TV SHOWS THAT BROKE GROUND WH GAY AND TRANSGENR CHARACTERS
• 10 MILTONE MOMENTS GAY TV HISTORY
• TV'S GAY CHARACTERS, BEFORE AND AFTER ELLEN
• GAY TEENS ON TV: A TIMELE
• IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT

LBGTQ TV: A HISTORY OF GAY CHARACTERS, OM STONEWALL TO ‘BATWOMAN’

As a Vulture say about a groundbreakg “All the Fay” episo noted, “In a moment where crics pot to ss as a medium that helped change public opns about gay rights, we should remember that the procs didn’t beg wh ‘Will & Grace’ or ‘Glee. Long before that, though, there were signature, cludg the 1971 episo of “All the Fay” which the bigoted, homophobic Archie Bunker was stunned to disver that an old buddy was gay. In 1972, Hal Holbrook played a divorced dad hidg the fact he was gay om his son “That Certa Summer, ” nsired one of the first sympathetic pictns of gay characters on televisn.

The same thg happened when ABC’s “thirtysomethg” beme the first seri to pict two gay men bed together 30 years ago, a dynamic that ed work officials to thk twice about approvg such storyl. 16, 2017Last year was a remarkable time when me to the reprentatn of gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr or queer regular characters on televisn, acrdg to the latt Glaad report monorg diversy on the small screen. People, or beg able to help people unrstand who we are, pecially those tim when so many people lived hidn and visible, ” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the print and chief executive of Glaad (formerly known as the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn).

14 TV SHOWS THAT BROKE GROUND WH GAY AND TRANSGENR CHARACTERS

1972 — ‘THAT CERTAIN SUMMER’ A divorced father (Hal Holbrook) his his lover (Mart Sheen) om his teenage son Lamont Johnson’s movie for ABC, nsired the first sympathetic pictn of gay people on televisn. ”)1977 — ‘SOAP’ In this ABC s, Billy Crystal plays Jodie Dallas — a gay man havg an affair wh a famo quarterback and ntemplatg genr-reassignment surgery — who be one of the first gay dads on televisn. ]1985 — ‘AN EARLY FROST’ A Chigo lawyer (Aidan Qun) returns home to reveal to his parents that he’s gay and has AIDS this NBC movie by John Erman, settg the stage for feature films like Jonathan Demme’s “Philalphia.

1994 — ‘MY SO-CALLED LIFE’ In the episo “Life of Brian, ” this ABC drama about high school angst als wh young gay love when Rickie (Wilson Cz) velops a csh on his new classmate, Corey (Adam Bik). 2009 — ‘MODERN FAMILY’ This ABC s — featurg a gay uple, Mchell (Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (Eric Stontreet), and their adopted dghter, Lily (Aubrey Anrson-Emmons), as part of a larger fay — “is geni the way tegrat edy and cln, and is able to te and open people’s hearts and mds, ” Ms. 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.

10 MILTONE MOMENTS GAY TV HISTORY

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).

For years, ranged, perverse, and spible homosexuals were on full display — pecially om Ryan Murphy, who remas our most proment culture czar when to queer characters on TV. From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy. When her straight male roommate’s twentysomethg girliend, Francis, qutns why Leila is so terrified to tell anyone that she has sex wh both men and women, Leila tells her ’s plited bee ’s “a gay thg.” Francis rponds: “So?

Adapted om gay director Jt Simien’s breakout film of the same name, about black llege stunts g to terms wh a “post-racial Ameri,” the seri explor them of race, genr, and sexualy by skewerg jt about everyone for hypocrisy and double standards. In the send season, he manag to evolve beyond simple trop and is given space to explore his queer inty, cludg havg his heart broken by Silv (a self-scribed “Mexin Italian gay vers top otter pup”), fdg a boyiend (of sorts), and even beg rejected by another black man bee of his sk lor — provg that, spe all the talk of “muny,” ’s never easy to fe lastg bonds. Pl, managed to change many nservative viewpots the black muny — cludg Timbaland, who crafted the seri’ tchy origal tracks — and was a rare moment which a gay character of lor had so much visibily.

TV'S GAY CHARACTERS, BEFORE AND AFTER ELLEN

Matilda has high-functng tism, and some of the bt scen revolve around her explorg her fluid sexualy, while both girls embrace their gay half-brother’s relatnship failur as send nature. Holm), hers some of origal-recipe Rob’s most memorable obssns and quirks — among other thgs, Simon is the one who giv the speech about patibily pendg on what you like, not what you are like — even as his story is very different, startg wh the fact that he and the new Rob break up bee he’s gay.

And the fale’s most powerful subplot, he says the words “I’m gay” aloud — a first not only for him, but for a teen televisn character (and one played by an out actor Wilson Cz).

GAY TEENS ON TV: A TIMELE

The entire n of this lightful throwback s has queer-iendly ntent, but particularly s first season (still streamg on Netflix, even though the latt season was ma for Pop), which slowly but refully charted the journey of Elena (Isabella Gomez), a Latx teen g to the realizatn that she’s gay, and gradually disverg how to tell her very Catholic fay about . The show vers a lot of big topics — cludg a bold Season Two storyle spired by the sexual misnduct of Louis C.K., who was technilly still an executive producer at the time — but one of the most important them is Tig tryg to fd a gay muny this part of the world where she feels fortable, and the growg csh she’s velopg on her apparently straight rad producer Kate (played by Notaro’s wife, Stephanie Allynne).

Versn (set a much-gayer versn of Ptsburgh) wasted no time showg Brian (Gale Harold) and teenage Jt (Randy Harrison) the first male-on-male sex scene on Amerin televisn. While parts of may not have aged so well, the seri ntaed lots of TV firsts — cludg the first legally wed gay uple, first gay adoptn, and HIV-posive/negative uple — wh -stars Hal Sparks, Peter Paige, and Stt Lowell explorg what meant to have relatnships and stggle for acceptance.

IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT

The bt of the volv Otis’ gay bt iend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), which is ls a tradnal g-out story (everyone already seems to know when the show begs) than about Eric beg more fortable how he feels about himself and how he prents himself to the world. But there are a lot of other smart stori on LGBTQ subjects, om the technil (a gay virg learns the logistics of anal douchg) to the emotnal (former bt iends don’t work as a uple after both e out) — so many, fact, that ’s a b easier to five when one of the seri’ queer storyl (volvg a homophobic bully) don’t really work.

In that way, ’s breakg siar ground to the Sundance Now seri This Close, om af actors Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman, about a straight woman and gay man who are bti lookg for love and unrstandg. And while the seri received as much hate mail as adoratn — an evable byproduct of beg the first show to have openly gay male lead characters — lasted eight seasons before endg 2006. It was Cher-lovg Jack (Sean Hay) and alholic, right-wg sociale Karen (Megan Mullally) as much as Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Msg) that enared Amerins to the sassy s, wh l like: “Commandment number one the gay bible: Thou shalt not vet my ex’s ass.” In a surprise move, the four leads returned 2017 to revis their inic rol, sentially pickg up where they’d left off — spe how much had changed the -pl sce (and erasg some of the tails of that fale episo).

12/48ABC1994: My So-Called LifeWhile One Life to Live had s first gay teen 1992, primetime's first openly gay teen seri regular character me to My So-Called Life's Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, played by Wilson Cz.