Atralian televisn has been remarkably queer for a long time. In fact, LGBTQ+ characters and storyl filled Asie screens s before they did the US and UK. Now, one of the first openly gay men on Atralian TV is rearchg that history for a new documentary seri, Outrageo: The Queer History of Atralian TV.…
Contents:
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. 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.
“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. “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.