Celebrating Pride Month by highlighting the most memorable LGBTQ+ soap characters! Check it out here ---->>>
Photos: ABC, CBS, NBC
To celebrate Pride month we are highlighting some of soap opera's favorite, memorable, and history-making LGBTQ characters and couples!
Back in the ’80s, All My Children had the first openly out character with Dr. Lynn Carson. While the character didn’t last she paved the way for characters like Bianca Montgomery, who is widely considered the first major lesbian character in daytime. Bianca would fall in love with Reese and the two would marry in the first lesbian wedding in the history of soap operas. One Life to Live gave us daytime’s first openly gay teen with Billy Douglas. His story was a poignant one that showed the teen struggling with his sexuality and homophobic parents.
In 1998, As the World Turns introduced us to the first male character to come out as gay when Hank Elliot revealed that his partner was dying of AIDS. The storyline earned the CBS soap recognition at the first GLAAD Media Awards. It would be a while before the show would have another LGBTQ+ character. Legacy child Luke Snyder came out when he fell in love with Noah Mayer in 2007. They would go on to become soaps first gay supercouple garnering a lot of praise from viewers and critics. Their existence would lead to several fan-favorite gay couples like One Life to Live’s Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis, General Hospital’s Lucas Jones and Brad Cooper, and Days of Our Live’s Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis. The latter would go on to have the first soap opera wedding between two men - and reach supercouple status among fans thanks to their loving and at times tumultuous relationship.
While All My Children introduced us to daytime’s first trans character, Zoe, who was depicted throughout her transition journey, it was The Bold and the Beautiful who made a surprising - yet welcomed - move when it was revealed that established character Maya Avant was a transgender woman. The storyline proved to be an informative and emotional one for viewers. At the same time, we were introduced to Maya’s mentor and friend, Nick. Scott Turner Schofield, who played Nick, became the first transgender actor to play a trans character on a soap opera. Recently, General Hospital also added a trans actress Cassandra James to its roster when she portrayed Dr. Terry Randolph.
Currently, the most positive representation of an LGBTQ+ relationship comes in the form of The Young and the Restless’ Mariah Copeland and Tessa Porter. Their beginning was rocky but recently their storyline has revealed them as a beautiful, flawed, but real couple that many can look up to. Their growth as characters and a couple is the kind of thing that fans of Guiding Light’s Olivia and Natalia and General Hospital’s Parker and Kristina strived for.
While soap operas still have a way to go when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation, the genre has made leaps and bounds in recent years. And it’s clear that these characters hold a special place in our hearts and soap history. Representation matters and the media plays an important part in the way that we understand ourselves as humans.
Watching characters like Paul Narita, Kristina Corinthos, and Mariah Copeland question their sexuality can be beneficial to anyone watching who may be going through the same thing. Let’s hope that the genre continues to provide positive and long-lasting representation for the LGBTQ+ community and viewers.
Watching characters like Paul Narita, Kristina Corinthos, and Mariah Copeland question their sexuality can be beneficial to anyone watching who may be going through the same thing. Let’s hope that the genre continues to provide positive and long-lasting representation for the LGBTQ+ community and viewers.
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