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

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An Atralian TV prenter has e out as gay on her 31st birthday - and is celebratg wh rabow ke.

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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?

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.

TRACY GRIMSHAW PERSONAL LIFE; MARRIED, GAY, FAY, SALARY

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.

ABC SHOWS THE PRI AND DIVERSY OF THIS YEAR’S SYDNEY GAY AND LBIAN MARDI GRAS

“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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY AUSTRALIAN TV PRESENTERS

Tracy Grimshaw Personal Life; Married, Gay, fay, Salary .

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