LGBTQ Representation on Daytime Soaps

[John]

Many Daytime Dramas have had LGBTQ characters and some had romances but what is everyone's thoughts on one day seeing equality on LGBTQ stories getting same screen time as their heterosexual counterparts???

[Faulkner]

If primetime did a better job of it, I’d hold out more hope, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen in hyper-conservative daytime. If anything, they’ve gotten less inclusive to LGBTQ in the past decade as a whole.

I never thought I’d see two women kissing and making out on Y&R, but they quickly put an end to that.

 

I always thought it would be interesting to have a soap legacy character who’d been off canvas for many years return as openly trans. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Faulkner

[ReddFoxx]

Seems like most soaps have LGBTQ stories just for the sake of being historic or just to be grab attention as opposed to really thinking the stories out.

[victoria foxton]

I just don't think were every going to get full representation. Not that they haven't been some great moments over the yrs.  Will Horton's self loathing. Over realizing he was gay. And the early yrs of WilSon.  Before WilSon became self parody. Were pretty groundbreaking. For a conservative soap like Days. Bianca coming out to Erica. Was brilliantly done by the late great Agnes Nixon. Even earlier on OLTL. The Billy Douglas homophobia story was so ahead of it's time.  As was AMC's coming out tale with Michael Delaney and Kevin Sheffield.  Yet over the yrs after great strides. LGBTQ representation has regressed into noting. GH has 3 gays and a trans character. Who appear once in a blue moon.   Maybe things will change. And will get the next Bianca, Will, Sonny, Paul, Luke, Noah, Reid etc. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by victoria foxton

[Faulkner]

Bradley Bell has entered the chat...

 

No, I kid. He’s certainly not the only one. But, yes, I’d prefer stories with queer characters enduring the same infidelities, etc that straight characters do.
 

I haven’t watched Hollyoaks regularly in years, but don’t they have a gazillion LGBTQ characters in high-profile roles? I just don’t think we’re ever going to see something like that when viewers are mostly Facebook grandmas. We’d need to have a totally new soap on streaming.

[titan1978]

I have my doubts.  DAYS absolutely chose the right character in Will Horton.  Sami was the lead character.  He was tied to important history on the show and to the major families.  Marlena was used exactly as she should have been, his supporting grandmother.  It all really fit well and wasn’t easy to just wipe away.

 

On GH, we have Kristina, also tied to a major family but a character they don’t really invest in all that much.  I think Morgan being both gay and bipolar like his father and interested in the family business would have given a gay male character tons of potential, especially on GH.  Lucas should have been on contract before the recast.

 

And while prime time is better- shows like Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1 are highly rated and have LGBTQ representation, it’s still has room to grow.  I think these shows will be long gone before they have true representation.

[Skin]

 

It was definitely this, honestly even in the 90's. Billy Douglas for all of his earth shattering firsts, was front burner for a couple of months for a huge summer story, and then by Christmas he was all but gone from the canvas before being quietly put on a bus to college never to be heard from again. This was a character that was written to have pretty strong connections to the Buchannan's and Reverand Carpenter. Even Marty Saybrooke was heavily involved in that story as an instigator.

 

Bianca and Luke on AMC and ATWT seemed the most purposeful, but they lacked what the other had in excess. Bianca had wealth in terms of story, but no meaningful love interests. While Luke had multiple love interests but was often relegated to B or C list territory when it came to airtime. Will was well done from the beginning but was sort of sanitized for audiences, to be as unthreatening as possible. They even had him have a daughter with Gabby prior to him even touching Sonny to show the audience that Will was a male lead for Days. The transgender storylines on B&B (Maya) and AMC (Zoey) weren't much better proving to be quite messy, and uneventful. 

 

Daytime will never get a QAF or a Looking kind of representation, or a Hollyoaks or Emmerdale. I think like a lot of soaps the best is behind us. 

 

 

Morgan would have been a perfect opportunity character to be gay. Having him come into open conflict with both of his birth parents (Carly and Sonny) for being gay and finding solace and support in his siblings, and step parents would have been a strong story. It could also create some additional tension, and an extra dimension to the Jax and Sonny rivalry, and maybe even give some conflict between Carly and Brenda/Alexis where Morgan develops a stronger emotional support outside of his biological parents than in them.

 

It also could have created an interesting reverse Jason moment, where as instead of driving himself into the mob, he goes the more morally acceptable route and becomes a sort of moral center character that denounces the mob mentality. Sort of like an Emily/Robin/Georgie/Lucky character. 

 

I think one of the problems with Daytime is the fear that once they label someone as gay, that cuts off romantic potential for many other characters. This is something Daytime has problems navigating. It's like they sort of have to pair the spares to create a pairing that is meaningful, and the characters are sort of shackled to each other the entire series (Luke & Will), or there is a will they or won't they, with a straight character, which is mostly just ship baiting (Bianca & Maggie). 

[Faulkner]

Here’s the thing, though: with soaps cycling new characters in and out, there could (theoretically, of course) be opportunities for new love interests to pop in and out of the lives of LGBTQ characters. Similar to the way Chloe comes in to provide angst for Brady and others on DAYS.

I’ve said it many times, but bisexual people have had very little representation even in primetime. Especially compared to the numbers out there IRL. Transmen (FTM) are also barely featured. Then there’s only been a handful of non-binary characters (like Asia Kate Dillon’s character on Billions).

[AbcNbc247]

Agreed.

 

It does seem like the "B" in LGBTQ is the one that gets forgotten, which sucks.

 

Days had their chance. Evan could have been a groundbreaking character, and he was completely destroyed by a writer who if you ask me has a problem with bisexuality. The same could be said for Charlie, who I do believe would not have been written so irredeemably or possibly even been redeemed if his portrayer was straight (or gay)

 

IMO, a bisexual love triangle is the shot in the arm that soaps need. It's something new and original and that's always a good thing for soaps. And honestly, with the chemistry that some male actors/characters have been having with one another lately (Michael/Chase, Thomas/Vinny, Cam/Dev), now would be the right time to finally say the hell with it and actually write it in.

Edited April 6, 2021 by AbcNbc247

[Forever8]

I still remember when ATWT was heading for a Luke/Maddie/Noah triangle. I thought Jake Silbermann and Alexandra Chando had chemistry as Noah and Maddie. But we all know what eventually happened there. 

[All My Shadows]

Yep. One of ATWT's biggest WTF moments for me was them bypassing what could have been a good, juicy bi-triangle in order to rush Luke/Noah together in the span of a handful of episodes. Pitiful.

I'm still annoyed all these years later.

[Faulkner]

Male bisexuality is so frightening, confusing, and threatening for a lot of people, I think. Some gay men included! We’re more likely to get bisexual female characters like Otalia on GL and Mariah on Y&R.

 

Rex on OLTL, of course, is a character that should have been bi. And apparently almost was.

[AbcNbc247]

Ron Carlivati is the poster child for that mindset lol

What sucks it that it doesn't have to be that way.

[victoria foxton]

 

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[Soapsuds]

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