Television has come a long way through the years and has proven to be an essential tool for the LGBT community in developing widespread representation and awareness to the world.
While some now may take for granted the presence of queer figureheads on TV, there was a time less than 30 years ago where the mere presence of someone identifying as gay would send people into a tailspin, especially as being gay, or gay marriage, was illegal.
As a result, things were often noted in code – such as flamboyancy or dress sense – in order to represent their sexuality, with kissing and romance happening off the screen.
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But there were moments which paved the way for greater acceptance – allowing people to finally feel seen for the way they want to love.
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For Metro.co.uk’s Pride Week, we’ve looked back through the years of LGBT relationships on TV, celebrating landmark moments and trailblazing showrunners who defied odds to get the essential scenes on air, beginning to break down homophobia and transphobia in the process.
Here’s just some of the characters and shows that broke new ground in bringing lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer stories to our screens.
1989: Colin Russell and Guido Smith air first gay kiss on UK TV in Eastenders
In 1989, the first lip-to-lip gay kiss aired on British TV thanks to Eastenders.
It happened between Colin Russell (Michael Cashman) and his romantic other half Guido Smith (Nicholas Donovan) – after years of character Colin being out and gay on the series.
The kiss was so controversial that MPs even called for the soap to be pulled from the air completely.
Conservative politician Terry Dicks among the complaints claimed that the show was ‘promoting perverted practices’.
In January this year, Piers Morgan apologised for his coverage of the scenes at the time, where he branded the couple ‘yuppie p**fs’ within his copy.
1991: LA Law airs first ever lesbian kiss
CJ and Abby’s kiss in LA Law was the first of its kind on US network television.
CJ Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) helped vulnerable lawyer Abby Perkins (Michele Greene) during the episode, but by the end felt romantic feelings for each other.
However, the scene stirred controversy for its ‘impropriety’
CJ was soon written off from the show completely, leaving Abby to marry a man.
Michele Greene later branded the 1991 scene a ‘publicity stunt’ to get higher ratings.
1994: Brookside airs first pre-watershed gay kiss between Beth and Margaret
Brookside’s 1994 lesbian kiss between Beth (Anna Friel) and Margaret (Nicola Stephenson) is often cited as the first UK gay kiss, but unfortunately they were five years late.
It is, however, a gamechanger for UK TV, as it was the first LGBT representative kiss on TV before the watershed – an agreed time where channels move to shows more appropriate for adults.
It was also the first gay kiss between two women.
Speaking about the moment years later, Anna Friel said she wanted to make sure the significant moment wasn’t a passing phase for Beth, but signified her finding her own sexuality and falling in love with her best friend.
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‘I’d had a few days to process is, and I said “As long as it doesn’t look like she’s become a lesbian because she was sexually abused and a victim of domestic violence”,’ she explained in an interview with John Bishop.
‘If you’re bringing that whole world in she always has to be a lesbian, it’s not just a passing shocking phase.’
The moment was so iconic, it even managed to land a place in a montage for the 2012 London Olympic Opening Ceremony – airing across the world including countries where homosexuality was illegal.
1994: The Real World airs first gay wedding ceremony on TV, and stars HIV+ contestant
In 1994, reality TV show The Real World: San Francisco broke some serious ground without even meaning to when gay couple Sean Sasser and Pedro Zamora held a commitment ceremony to each other live on air.
Exchanging vows and rings, the pair effectively became the first gay wedding to ever air on television.
However, in a tragic twist of fate, Zamora died aged 22 from complications of HIV/AIDS, just eight days after the episode aired.
He appeared on the show to raise awareness of HIV, declaring his status to his fellow housemates and openly discussing his experience with the disease.
Sadly, Sean died from lung cancer aged 44 in 2013.
1996: Susan and Carol get married in Friends
When it originally aired in the States, The One With The Lesbian Wedding attracted controversy about its content – saying that it was ‘inappropriate’ and demanding censorship.
But the show pushed forward regardless, and even had gay rights activist Candace Gingrich officiate the wedding to drive the point home.
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However, Carol and Susan are never actually seen kissing on the show, instead only affectionately hugging each other.
They were narrowly beaten to first lesbian wedding on TV by Roseanne, who aired their own marriage just five weeks earlier.
1997: Ellen Degeneres comes out as gay on her sitcom
It’s one of the most defining moments of the late 90s – Ellen Degeneres coming out as gay, first as a character on her show, and then publicly shortly after.
But even though it was a groundbreaking moment for those in the LGBT community, the rest of the world took its sweet time to catch up and were divided over the revelation.
Ellen’s previously family friendly show was suddenly slapped with a parental advisory warning by having a lesbian lead, before being cancelled in 1998.
Thankfully Ellen kept fighting and showed haters where to shove it, becoming a multi-millionaire talk show host. She also married actress Portia De Rossi in 2008.
2000: Jack and Ethan share network’s first passionate kiss on Dawson’s Creek
If there was one TV genre that was ahead of the curve in terms of actual representation, it’s surprisingly, teen dramas.
Dawson’s Creek surprisingly kicked off this trend with the first passionate snog on network TV, when Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) declared his feelings for Ethan (Adam Kaufman).
True Love, the season three finale of the show, aired on May 2000, and showrunner Greg Berlanti was so eager for the representation he fought with the network to do it.
He later told Vanity Fair: ‘There had been joke kisses, but there was never a romantic kiss between two characters, let alone two high-schoolers. We got our kiss.’
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Kerr Smith later added to Huffington Post: ‘We’re proud of what we did.
‘Every show has a gay character now. It’s no big deal, and that’s the way that it should be’
2001: Willow and Tara start a lesbian relationship on Buffy The Vampire Slayer
As Buffy The Vampire Slayer played out over a number of years, viewers were able to see Willow (Alyson Hannigan) bloom into her sexuality.
First having a heterosexual relationship with Oz (Seth Green), Willow developed feelings and relationship with young witch Tara (Amber Benson), before coming out as gay to her friends.
They were later seen in romantic clinches and sexual situations, which was another groundbreaking moment for TV.
In 2017, Amber spoke about the romance and said: ‘I think there were a lot of young people who felt very isolated, and to see two characters on a television show be accepted by a group of peers, changed the game.
‘They already loved Willow but then to see that Willow became even more somebody that they could identify with, it made it okay for them to be who they were.’
2009: Modern Family introduce gay couple Cam and Mitch adopting a Vietnamese baby
Cam and Mitch were a little like Marmite for some viewers – but love them or loathe them, you can’t deny they were important representation on TV.
Leading gay roles, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) were introduced after adopting a Vietnamese daughter, Lily.
They later went on to get married and adopt a second child, but this was the first time on a major sitcom that the concept of adoption, and raising a family in a gay household, was truly displayed at length.
Even characters like Susan and Carol in Friends were only side players, though they were known to be raising Ross’s son Ben off-camera.
2014: Orange Is The New Black’s Laverne Cox first transgender star to earn acting Emmy nomination
Laverne Cox is a trailblazer in her own right and nothing cemented this more than the moment she because the first transgender actress to ever earn an Emmy nomination.
She was given the nod for her role as Sophia Burset, who ended up in prison after committing credit card fraud in a bid to raise the money for her transition.
During her time on the show she was seen being fierce in the face of guards and bullies who would mock her, and fight for her hormone therapy that was being withheld from her by the prison system.
Only one other trans person at that point had been given an Emmy nod – composer Angela Morley, back in 1990… a whole 24 years before Laverne got hers.
Laverne has since gone on to be a major face for the fight for LGBT and black equal rights, most recently fronting and producing Netflix documentary Disclosure – which focused on transgender people in the media eye.
2018: Nicole Maines becomes first transgender superhero in Supergirl
Supergirl broke new ground in the DC Universe, and superhero world as a whole, by the announcement that Nicole Maines would play Nia Nal, who becomes known as Dreamer.
Dreamer is the first transgender superhero, with the actress playing her being transgender herself.
She was announced as part of the cast at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2018, and made her debut on the show in the season four premiere, American Alien.
Speaking to Variety ahead of her first appearance, Nicole said: ‘I want fans to take away an understanding of trans people.
‘We can be anybody, we can be who we want, we can be superheroes – because in many ways we are.’
2020: Ruby Rose’s Batwoman becomes first major gay superhero
Batwoman caught the attention of fans everywhere when it was confirmed that actress Ruby Rose will be playing the superhero – and she will be playing her as openly gay.
This was the first time a leading superhero was proudly out to the rest of the characters, and Ruby ensured that this title moment was not ignored.
She was seen in romantic sex scenes, before publicly coming out to the people of Gotham in January 2020 episode How Queer Is Everything Today!
Unfortunately, her time in the Batsuit was short-lived, and Ruby announced in May 2020 that she would not return for season two of the series.
2019: Empire airs first gay black wedding
In April 2019, record label drama Empire aired the first ever gay black wedding on network TV, with Jamal Lyons (Jussie Smollett) tying the knot to Kai Givens (Toby Onwumere).
The moment was historical, but was sadly somewhat overshadowed by the controversy surrounding actor Smollett, who allegedly faked a hate crime attack against him that year.
Jussie has always vehemently denied the accusation, saying the attack was real, but he was released from his contract and never returned.
As a result, this was one of his last appearances on Empire, despite his co-stars rallying around him, but he said he was proud that he was part of this moment in LGBTQ history.
The scenes were groundbreaking – and held particular resonance with queer black viewers who had never seen that kind of representation on TV before.
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