Landmark moments in gay television

Landmark moments in gay television
By Chuck Barney
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 11/02/2008 01:23:00 AM PDT

Gay characters have come a long way in prime time. Here's a rundown:

1977 — Billy Crystal becomes one of the first openly gay characters in prime time on ABC's controversial "Soap." Some sponsors boycott the show and a few ABC affiliates refuse to air it.

1981 — Debonair Steven Carrington (Al Corley and Jack Coleman) of "Dynasty" is gay, but not effeminate.

Feb. 7, 1981 — "L.A. Law" airs prime time's first girl-on-girl kiss between C.J. Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) and Abby Perkins (Michele Greene). It paves the way for more such smoochfests on other shows, including "Ally McBeal" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

1992 — Steamy "Melrose Place" was full of sexual shenanigans, but Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), its lone gay character, was inexplicably sexless. It was typical of TV's double standard.

1994 — In a groundbreaking piece of casting, MTV's "The Real World: San Francisco" introduces viewers to Pedro Zamora, an openly gay AIDS activist who was diagnosed with HIV at a young age. Pedro's presence humanized the disease and helped to educate.

May 9, 1994 — "Northern Exposure" celebrates scripted television's first gay wedding. Gay rights groups express disappointment that the ceremony isn't sealed with a kiss, but the door is open for more gay weddings, including one on "Roseanne."

April 30, 1997 — More than 35 million watch Ellen DeGeneres and her character, Ellen Morgan, come out of the closet in the fourth season of her ABC sitcom. It proves to be a watershed television moment and a force for change.

1998 — NBC debuts "Will & Grace," a sitcom about a gay lawyer (Eric McCormack) and his straight best friend (Debra Messing). It is the first series to showcase one or more homosexual men as primary characters.

2000 — British import "Queer as Folk" makes its way to America via Showtime and revels in its envelope-pushing ways. The series follows the lives of five gay men in Pittsburgh.

2003 — The Bravo reality series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" introduces America to the Fab Five and gives us fun-filled lessons in fashion, grooming, dining, culture and interior design.

2004 — "The L Word" bursts onto the scene as Showtime's Sapphic response to "Queer as Folk" and becomes television's first and only lesbian-based drama.

2005 — "Noah's Arc," a series about four gay African-American men living in Los Angeles, establishes itself as the most popular show on the flegling Logo network. Many label it as the gay and black "Sex and the City."

— Chuck Barney

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