CNN’s Lola Ogunnaike reports a story about the first gay marriage on a network soap; last week’s union of Erika Kane’s daughter Bianca to her paramour Reese on “All My Children.” The happy occasion was as full of bigass flower arrangements, cheesy self-written vows and soft-focus money shots as every soap wedding that came before it (and check out Bianca’s odd, bedazzled toga-gown, which looks like it came from a yard sale on the back lot of HBO’s “Rome.”) Unlike the first gay network marriage, of two men on “Roseanne”, which came with arch nods and winks, pink triangles and a huge picture of Judy Garland over the altar, this wedding was played completely straight, and demanded the same envious sighs from the viewer as any other romantic wedding.
Mainstream entertainment has been inching towards acceptance for a while now, but to my mind this is as radical as People putting Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi’s wedding on their cover. Both People and “All My Children”‘s core audience is not the coastal, liberal, gay-accepting reader/viewer—although they are certainly represented—but the more conservative, church-going middle Americans to whom gay marriage is still culturally scandalous and politically anathema.
Of course, it would have been really revolutionary if the married couple was male. The marriage of two beautiful, feminine women doesn’t provoke the same kind of knee-jerk discomfort–let alone outrage–as the marriage of two handsome, masculine men would (Clive Owen and Daniel Craig, anyone? Anyone?) But it’s a big step nonetheless, and as an increasingly rabid supporter of gay marriage, I give big props to the producers of “All My Children.”
And “mazel tov” to Reese and Bianca. They’re gonna need it, and not just because of the homophobes: as every soap fan knows, the course of true love never runs smooth—it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun for viewers.
The AMC writers have handled this story line with a ton of respect. They have been treated like a normal couple, and while they had to do the cliche “pregnant lesbian” story line, they show them as a happy family. They show the women kiss goodbye, they show the women in bed together in the morning, and they are treated just like every couple on the show. They aren’t doubting their sexuality, they aren’t leaving each other for a man.
I hope they can keep it up, because it’s truly refreshing.
Isn’t it odd that lesbians would play to Peoria, but gays wouldn’t? It would seem that lesbians would upset the applecart more than gays. I mean, if you get right down to it, the patriarchy itself allows that men may fuck whomever they please, but we women? Babies & monogamy, plz!
@labeled: But two women together is HOTT, and since it’s all about what men like and men want, two women together is much more acceptable, as long as the men can ogle the HOTTNESS of two women making out.
But two men together? What guy wants to watch that? It’s icky.
@labeled: I think it’s all about the buttsecks. The whole “men being penetrated” thing comes up in every single homophobic rant I’ve ever heard about gay men, even though not all gay men have anal sex and plenty of straight men and women do too. Lesbian sex is so much less threatening–and fear-inspiring–to your average ignorant homophobe.
@Britni & Becky: I suppose. But aren’t “we” the demographic? I mean, women are traditionally the target for soaps, aren’t they? Is the economy so fubared that even soaps are adding HOTT LESBIANS for the unemployed male masses?
Cuz, gurrrrl, you know we ladies luv our gayz. What with their snappy wit and always helping out with what to wear and which couch to buy. :\
It would just seem that the patriarchy is taking one on the chin here.
@labeled: I see your point, but even though women are the target audience, society as a whole tends to see lesbians as more acceptable than gay men. And women are a part of that society and are as influenced by societal norms and opinions as are the men.
There are far more depictions of gay men on tv, and lesbians show up more often when they leave a man for a woman or leave their female lover for a man. Or, they’re sadly single.
Lesbians are seen by some as less threatening to the status quo because their sexuality supposedly isn’t real since no penises are involved, no hymen breached. This itself comes from prejudice, not acceptance. Britni points out that men are almost always the presumed audience. I don’t think the wedding falls under the umbrella of titillation for men, though. Women actually marrying each other has nothing to do with men. That’s plenty revolutionary for me.
HanaMaru: Oh, yes, I agree that the wedding is totally awesome and a huge step, hence my original comment. My comment about men being the presumed audience was geared at labeled’s inquiry about why gay men are more “upsetting” than lesbians.
Britni-I understand, and I think you made a good point about men being the standard audience.
Unfortunately, the AMC wedding and entire storyline so far has been a joke. Reese made out with Bianca’s brother-in-law the night before the wedding and had a dream about marrying him that morning. And the wedding is going to be annulled in a few weeks.
@Spencer. So what you’re saying is they’re set to have the generic soap opera sturm-und-drag, infidelity-ridden marriage? I mean, it’s not like we expect soaps to treat a gay marriage any more reverently than they treat hetero ones–shit always breaks down after the froufy, soft-focus ceremony.
Wanna place bets on how long before the writers throw in some demonic possession, amnesia and/or mistaken identity?
@BeckySharper: Fingers crossed for amnesia!
I see what you’re saying. I am all for insane, complicated soap relationships, I just wish that the spoiler in Reese and Bianca’s relationship wasn’t a man. Since Reese and Bianca came to town last fall, the focal point of their story has been Reese’s relationship with the brother-in-law, not her relationship with Bianca. That’s just my take on the show, though.