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
• TAG: GAY STRALIAN TV HISTORY
• THE 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY & LBIAN ATRALIANS

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

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?

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. “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.

TAG: GAY STRALIAN TV HISTORY

”Although she pots out the long-nng soap Neighbours has had several gay characters recent are some tricky logistics havg gay characters, she explas. If you take two of your prec st and make them gay, you’ve got two girls or two guys on the other si who now don’t have anyone to partner up wh. “Take Wentworth, where there are so many different, plex and multi-layered characters — gay, straight, transgenr, dark antihero, challengg villas, a b of light and sha, ” Wilkson says.

“And ’s always the same, particularly for female characters — girls who dabble wh beg a b gay but then go back to beg straight.

THE 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY & LBIAN ATRALIANS

Bee of him, seemed pletely possible and not really an issue at all to be openly gay and have a big, fantastic reer. “The only time I n remember seeg a homosexual man on TV was terrible Brish ss, and they were ridiculoly over-the-top effemate or somethg. ”He pots to Ne drama Hoe Hbands, which has om s start embraced a central gay character Kane, played by Gyton Grantley.

“It hasn’t sred viewers away, ” Lus challenge now is to enurage even more clive storytellg that don’t feel staged or then, gay wrers like Lus will ntue lendg their own experienc to straight characters’ romantic antics.

Programs like The Block, which featured a gay uple s but seri, and Atralian Idol, which ma drag queen Courtney Act a hoehold name, set the benchmark for bold, brave stg more than a ago. ”Ayr, a shownner, director and producer rponsible for shows like The Slap, Glch and Devil’s Playground, has never shied away om cludg gay characters his work when there’s spe. The overwhelmg succs of a show like Morn Fay, which boasts a married gay uple wh a child among s re characters, is ttament to that.