Hi everyone and welcome back!
I previously did a post about how film and primetime television handled gay and lesbian characters. But today, I wanted to be a bit more specific and talk about soap operas and how they handled queer characters. As you know, soap operas are one of my fave genres.
And please click on the banner below on my blog post on gays in film and primetime:
And you know? I realized I left one out of the above, and that was the original Dynasty’s turning Stephen Carrington from gay to straight!! Just like Soap did with Billy Crystal’s character, Jodie Dallas. BULL****!! 🤬🤬
But anyway… let’s dive in.
My first recollection of a gay character on a soap was Dr. Lynn Carson on All My Children back in 1983. Lynn was played by the fabulous Donna Pescow. Her character was an out and proud lesbian, and she was friends with the Devon character (Tricia Pursley). Devon was the daughter of Ellen Dalton (Kathleen Noone). I remember this storyline vividly, because my then 16yo self thought ‘how bold! They are really talking about lesbianism!’ I took great notice of this storyline, as it not only told Lynn’s story, but also had Devon question her own sexuality when she thought she was falling in love with Lynn.
To give some further backstory on Devon, Devon had had some really bad relationships with men up till this point. She even accidentally got pregnant with her daughter, Bonnie, and married the baby daddy. This marriage was a very loveless marriage, and pretty soon Devon found herself having an affair! In the end, she ended up getting divorced, but also leaving the lover, and she basically ended up raising Bonnie on her own.
So, after all of this drama, she thought she was falling for Lynn, which turned out not to be the case. And Lynn gently told her so, and that she wasn’t interested in her anyway! LOL I love that part, because I feel that so many straight people ASSUME that every gay or queer person LOVES and DESIRES everyone of their gender, which isn’t true.
Devon came to the realization that Lynn was correct in her assessment, and they continued to be friends, which I thought was beautiful from the very beginning, the fact that Devon accepted her. Plus, Devon and Lynn became roommates, I think.
I felt the story was done very well, respectfully and tastefully. And I don’t even remember if Lynn expressed any prejudice or bigotry.
My next recollection was in the 90s on One Life to Live with teenager and high school student Billy Douglass, portrayed by THE Ryan Phillippe.
Billy’s character was mainly involved with Joey Buchanan (then Chris McKenna), Clint and Viki’s youngest son. The rumors started, as they often do, and then Billy did confront Joey with the truth, which Joey didn’t want to hear. When it all started to come out, from what I recall, Clint didn’t want Joey to be involved with Billy. And this is when the hate mail for Clint Ritchie began. But that’s another story.
OLTL, I thought, did an EXCELLENT job of handling pretty much everything that could be associated with a gay character:
The harassment.
The some-people-accept-you and some-don’t aspect.
Your parents possibly disowning you (which happened to Billy) and it was the father who did it. The mother eventually came around.
To the gossip (provided by Marty Saybrooke – portrayed by Susan Haskell).
To Billy seeking the counsel of Rev. Andrew Carpenter (Wortham Krimmer). Marty saw them embrace, and she assumed that Andrew was also gay and leading Billy astray, which led to even MORE rumors and homophobia and even Rev. Carpenter getting beaten up!!
And Billy eventually ended up having a boyfriend.
And the subject of AIDS was broached, which brought the AIDS quilt onto the show!!!!!!
Lots of good stuff! And I do applaud OLTL for tackling this.
Viki (Erika Freaking Slezak!!!) got brought in because of Joey, but also because of General Sloan Carpenter (Roy Thinnes), who was also the father of Rev. Carpenter. Sloan also had another son, William, who was gay and who died of AIDS. Now, talk about a homophobic character! Sloan was downright HORRIBLE!! In the beginning, he had nothing but disparaging remarks about his deceased son. It was truly DISGUSTING!
He did basically come around, thanks to Viki. But then she dumped Clint for this clown! Don’t get me started on that ticky tacky subject!! Because it broke Clint and Viki up for DECADES! And it wasn’t until the end of the show in 2012 that it REALLY looked like Clint and Viki were going to get back together, with Clint (by this time Jerry VerDorn of Guiding Light fame) getting on his knee and proposing to Viki at Llanfair!! But I digress!
There was another very notable gay storyline on All My Children when Erica Kane’s beloved daughter, Bianca, came out to her as a lesbian! Talk about a shock and a ratings grabber! A child of Erica Kane’s GAY???? Much less, her daughter. You would think that a daughter of Erica’s would be, well just like her mother. So, I guess that’s why there was Kendall, her other daughter! 😂🤣
Bianca coming out was extraordinarily wonderful! It showed Erica’s non acceptance, which was very realistic. Eventually, Erica came around, and Kendall was very supportive. However, Bianca faced prejudice and an “outing” when Greenlee blabbed about her! Eventually, Bianca had relationships with women, which led to daytime’s first gay kiss in 2003! (Though Luke and Noah from As The World Turns are also credited with the first gay kiss in 2007). So, we can say that Bianca shared the first LESBIAN kiss with Lena (Olga Sosnovska), and Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann) the first gay kiss on daytime!
Also, interesting how in both the Lynn storyline and the Bianca storyline, the writers had them call themselves “gay” rather than “lesbian.” Lesbian. Lesbian. OH LESBIAN!! – Golden Girls fans will get it. 😂😁
Anyway, speaking of Luke and Noah, I did not watch this storyline on As The World Turns, but I most certainly heard all about it, too, back in the late 00s. The character was Luke Snyder, who was Lily and Damian Grimaldi’s son, yet Holden did help raise him. He was involved with Noah, which from what I understand was a coming-of-age love story. And ATWT presented soap’s first gay male supercouple.
Back to AMC, they were the ones who also did daytime’s first transgender story. The character Zoey, was portrayed by Jeffrey Carlson, who I sadly learned passed away in 2023.
Bianca first met Zoey, as Zarf, who was male presenting. But then on New Year’s Eve 2007, Zarf showed up as Zoey to come out to Bianca. However, she wasn’t having it and totally misinterpreted Zoey’s intentions. Please see below:
And I cannot forget about Daniel Colson over on One Life to Live, portrayed by Mark Dobles. Daniel Colson was the DA on OLTL back in 2005. He ended up marrying fellow attorney, Nora Gannon Buchanan, portrayed by the fabulous Hillary Bailey Smith. But unbeknownst to Nora, her new hubby was carrying a secret – three in fact – (1) he was secretly gay! (2) he was involved with a male 20-yo university student, Riley! and (3) he was also a murderer!
I thought OLTL was very bold to tell such a story of an in-the-closet married gay man. I think there were complaints about the story, though, because they also turned him into a killer.
Personally, I enjoyed the story, and the fact that he killed Jen, which had absolutely nothing to do with the gay storyline, didn’t bother me. And I liked Jen, and didn’t want to see her go. However, in retrospect, it would be much better to show the struggles of a queer married man trying to hide/keep his secret. I am telling such a story in my soap opera Fabulous And Gorgeous, because I’ve lived it. As the other man. 😉
As I bring this to a close, I must say that in my opinion, the soaps did a MUCH better job of tackling the Alphabet Community stories than prime time or the movies. It seems that primetime – and especially the movies – wanted to show more of the tragedy, whereas soaps were much more realistic. Gay people exist and live wonderful, vibrant lives. But Hollerwood didn’t want to show that.
The Honorable Mentions:
General Hospital – Brad Cooper and Lucas Jones – (yes, THAT Lucas – Bobbie and Tony Jones’s son!)
One Life to Live – Police officer Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis!
Days of Our Lives – Will Horton.
Now, before you step away, please check out my Five CBD products from The Derek Store!
Please return next time when I will be talking about how this current cartel – er presidential administration is affecting us. Yes, I am going to go THERE again! So, please stay tuned… Until then, please be safe and as always, mentally well!
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