Gay characters the post-Stonewall era go a lot wir and eper than ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘Ellen.’
Contents:
- LBGTQ TV: A HISTORY OF GAY CHARACTERS, OM STONEWALL TO ‘BATWOMAN’
- 10 MILTONE MOMENTS GAY TV HISTORY
- TV'S GAY CHARACTERS, BEFORE AND AFTER ELLEN
- WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
- 14 TV SHOWS THAT BROKE GROUND WH GAY AND TRANSGENR CHARACTERS
LBGTQ TV: A HISTORY OF GAY CHARACTERS, OM STONEWALL TO ‘BATWOMAN’
* history of gay characters on tv *
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 1980s brought AIDS to the nversatn, wh movi such as “An Early Frost, ” an NBC movie about a gay lawyer who mt break the news about his AIDS diagnosis to his parents.
10 MILTONE MOMENTS GAY TV HISTORY
Longtime TV cric Dan Avery charts the history of gay, queer, and transgenr reprentatn popular Amerin seri om 1971 to today, om Ellen to Pose. * history of gay characters on tv *
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. The fay wel her warmly, but as Beverly (out of drag) and Archie’s son--law, Mike, walk to the subway, they are btally attacked by gay bashers, who beat Beverly to ath.
Mike eventually enurag Edh to be strong for her fay, but ’s clear her crisis of fah isn’t rolved when the closg creds Dallas, Soap (1977-1981)A young Billy Crystal played Jodie Dallas, one of the first recurrg gay characters on Amerin TV, this s send-up of daytime dramas. Steven Carrgton, Dynasty (1981-1989)Dynasty helped lnch the glzy nighttime soap era of the 1980s, and Steve Carrgton was one of prime time’s first major gay characters as the son of tyon Blake Carrgton.
’”Ellen Man, Ellen (1994-1998)Every gay person of a certa age remembers where they were when Ellen’s “The Puppy Episo” aired 1997—the two-parter that saw Ellen DeGener’s character e out as a lbian, cidg wh the edian’s own real-life g out. Ultimately, the equent aths of LGBTQ characters on TV lead to anized cricism of what was dubbed the “bury your gays” Tman, Will & Grace (1998-2006)Jack McFarland (Sean Hay) got the big lghs on this top-rated NBC s, but Will Tman (Eric McCormack) was the ground unterpot to Jack’s flamboyance. Will’s ep, though platonic love for Grace (Debra Msg) ronated wh many viewers, and the show’s unapologetic pictn of a smart, succsful gay man searchg for love ted untls more.
TV'S GAY CHARACTERS, BEFORE AND AFTER ELLEN
Can you gus which nostalgic TV show troduced the first gay character back 1972? * history of gay characters on tv *
” Brian Kney, Queer as Folk (2000-2005)If Will Tman showed Ameri that gay men uld be more than jt their sexualy, Gale Harold’s Brian Kney was a vorac sexual beg wh ltle e for social nventns. “Shane was the only non-femme ma character, and seeg her have ternal stggl that weren’t jt about beg gay was so important to queer kids, ” Jacquele Toboni, who -starred wh Moeng on the 2019 reboot The L Word: Generatn Q, told Vogue. ) But was always picted wh humor and heart—and helped normalize gay relatnships for many straight Hummel, Glee (2009-2015)Chris Colfter was only 18 when Glee buted on Fox.
WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
“When I found out that I got st as the gay character on Glee, I had thought my reer was gog to be over, ” Colfer admted to Enterament Weekly 2015, when the show was endg.
The character was later rurrected, and Will has regularly appeared on Days of Our Liv and s spoff Peack seri, Beyond Burset, Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019)By the send of the 21st century, gay and lbian reprentatn was fairly entrenched on televisn, but trans people were still largely visible. But most importantly he is the glue that holds together a group of men who all re for each other when most openg gay Black characters often are suated among a group of whe characters. 1/48CBS1971: All the FayAll the Fay ma LGBT history when troduced the first gay character primetime 1971, revealg that Archie Bunker's bar buddy Steve was gay.
14 TV SHOWS THAT BROKE GROUND WH GAY AND TRANSGENR CHARACTERS
4/48YouTube1975: Hot l BalmoreThe Norman Lear s starrg Jam Cromwell, Charlotte Rae and Conchata Ferrell had perhaps the first pictn of a gay uple on an Amerin TV seri.
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. 15/481997: Ellen"The Puppy Episo" of Ellen featured Ellen Man (Ellen DeGener) g out as gay, the same time the star me out on the ver of Time magaze, makg Ellen the first show to feature an openly lbian actrs playg an openly lbian character.
22/48CBS2007: As the World TurnsMen were kissg primetime long before daytime fally got on board, but the soaps ught up 2007 when As the World Turns featured the first-ever gay kiss between two male characters, Le Snyr (Van Hansis) and Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann). This obvly had the very real impact of nvcg the Amerin public that the LGBT muny only nsisted of child molters and villas while simultaneoly showg the muny that beg gay or trans led to ath. For example, Ryan Evans om High School Mil, while not explicly stated as a homosexual, is thought by many to be a “queer d” character (a term I’ll get to later the post).