The following is a sortable listing of soap operas or serial dramas which include central LGBT themes or characters.
| Year | Title | Network | Character name | Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010- | Pretty Little Liars | ABC Family | Emily Fields Maya St. Germain Paige McCullers Samarra Cook |
Shay Mitchell Bianca Lawson Lindsey Shaw Claire Holt |
Emily revealed her sexuality on one episode of the first season through sharing a kiss with Maya (who is currently her girlfriend on the second season) while taking pictures inside a photo booth. When Maya is sent to rehab after Emily's mother discovered drugs in Maya's bag, she became briefly romantically involved with Paige and briefly dated Samarra. |
| 2009–2010 | Melrose Place | The CW | Ella Simms Caleb Brewer |
Katie Cassidy Victor Webster |
Ella is bisexual. Caleb is gay. |
| 2008– | 90210 | The CW | Teddy Montgomery Ian Marco |
Trevor Donovan Kyle Riabko Freddie Smith |
In season 3, Teddy sleeps with Ian, an out gay man. He gradually comes to accept his sexuality and embarks on a relationship with Ian. With Riabko departing the series in season 3, Smith has been cast as Teddy's new love interest, Marco. |
| 2007– | Gossip Girl | The CW | Eric van der Woodsen Asher Hornby Jonathan Whitney Elliot |
Connor Paolo Jesse Swenson Matt Doyle Luke Kleintank |
In season 1, Eric's sister's archenemy Georgina Sparks unknowingly outs Eric during a family dinner. Thus also outing Jenny's then-boyfriend Asher. Eric and Asher briefly dated. On season 2, Eric meets Jonathan and also date but break up after Eric's stepfather Bart Bass (Robert John Burke) tells him that Jonathan has been cheating. On season 3, Eric meets Elliot while playing assassin on Nate's birthday. They then became close during Dirota and Vanya's wedding where Elliot tells Eric that he's a bisexual, indicating that Eric still has a chance with him when Elliot tells him that his girlfriend left out of jealousy. |
| 2006–2007 | Watch Over Me | MyNetworkTV | Ryan Andre |
Omar Avila Casper Van Dien |
In this American telenovela, Ryan is the gay brother of the female lead. He has a relationship with cold and closeted assassin Andre. |
| 2005–2010 | Los Hombres De Paco | Antena 3 | Pepa Miranda Dr. Silvia Castro |
Laura Sánchez Marián Aguilera |
Pepa is a lesbian. She becomes close friends with co-worker Silvia who realizes she has feelings for Pepa. Silvia is straight and Pepa is her exception. In season 8 they get married. On their wedding day Silvia gets shot by the mafia and dies. |
| 2005–2006 | América | TV Globo | Junior Zeca |
Bruno Gagliasso Erom Cordeiro |
Junior, son of a powerful ranch owner, struggling to accept his homosexuality and agonizing over how to tell his family and friends about it. Zeca is bisexual and in love with Junior. |
| 2005– | Dante's Cove | here! | Almost every character, with the exception of Grace Neville |
See cast list | Horror/supernatural-themed soap opera in which almost the entire cast of characters is gay or lesbian and many of whom are played by openly LGBT actors. |
| 2001 | Spyder Games | MTV | Ivan Carlisle Jeff Northcutt |
Byron Field Zay Harding |
Short-lived serial drama lasted 65 episodes. |
| 2001–2006 | Footballers' Wives | ITV1 | Hazel Bailey Conrad Gates Noah Alexander |
Alison Newman Ben Price Marcel McCalla |
Hazel is a lesbian sports agent. Conrad is bisexual. Noah is gay and seeks out conversion therapy. |
| 2001– | Paradise Falls | Showcase | Nick Braga Trish Simpkin |
Cameron Graham Michelle Latimer |
The grandson of the mayor, Nick, was engaged to a woman despite being a closet homosexual. Trish is a bisexual goth teen. |
| 1999– | Holby City | BBC | Ben Saunders Tony Vincent Mickie Hendrie Antoine Malick |
David Paisley Lee Warburton Kelly Adams Jimmy Akingbola |
|
| 1999–2007 | Passions | NBC | Chad Harris Simone Russell |
Charles Divins Cathy Doe |
Chad began the show seemingly straight but was revealed as bisexual or possibly just gay in 2007, an aspect of himself he hates. Simone came out as a lesbian in 2005 and is open with it. |
| 1998 - | Isidingo | SABC 3 | Steve Stethakis (1998-2006) Len Cooper (2001-) Paul McPherson (2005-2008) Luke (2006) Prada Naicker (2010-) |
Emmanuel Castis Chris Beasley Carl Beukes Gary D'Alessandro Ashish Gangapersad |
Steve was a character in the show's earliest days, who had a variety of romantic relationships, including Len, Paul and close female friend Dusty. He eventually married Luke only days after gay marriage was legalized in South Africa. [1] [2] Len identified as bisexual and worked with both Steve and Paul at the television station. Paul was a talk show host and journalist who struggled with bipolar disorder. Prada was the gay cousin of character Priya, whose role was expanded after a few initial appearances [3]. |
| 1995– | Hollyoaks | Channel 4 | Bazil McCourtey Nick O'Connor John Paul McQueen Craig Dean Spike Kieron Hobbs Ravi Roy Kris Fisher Sarah Barnes Gina Patrick Emily Taylor Lydia Hart Charlotte Lau Jasmine Costello Ste Hay Brendan Brady Macca Fern Noah Baxter Esther Bloom Tilly Evans George Smith |
Toby Sawyer Darren Bransford James Sutton Guy Burnet Tom Vaughan Jake Hendriks Stephen Uppal Gerard McCarthy Loui Batley Dannielle Brent Lorna Pegler Lydia Kelly Amy Yamazaki Victoria Atkin Kieron Richardson Emmett J. Scanlan Drew Dillon Amy Gavin Law Thompson Jazmine Franks Lucy Dixon Steven Roberts |
Brazil dates Lucy Benson before coming out as gay. Nick is openly gay and had a relationship with Nathan. John Paul and Craig ambark on a complicated relationship, in between John Paul dates Spike and Kieron Hobbs, before leaving with Craig.[4] Ravi's bisexual who dates Kris, a cross-dressing bisexual. Sarah and Zoë had a drunken liaison together.[5] Gina & Emily had a brief lesbian relationship, encountering homophobia from Darren Osborne when this was revealed. Sarah starts dating Lydia Hart,[5] Charlotte Lau her ex becomes a student and has had flings with Laura and Molly Montgomery. Jasmine Costello then suffers from Gender disaphoria and dresses as a male called Jason.[6] Ste later reveals to Brendan he had feelings for another male whilst in young offenders and they share a kiss, embarking on a violent relationship.[7] Fern is a lesbian who bullies Jason because of his GID. Noah arrives and is openly gay.[8] Esther arrives and comes out as a lesbian. She later has a romance with Tilly, and later her gay friend George Smith arrives in Hollyoaks to start College.[9] |
| 1995– | Verbotene Liebe | ARD | Dr. Gero von Sterneck Erika Sander Nina Ryan Ulli Prozeski Dr. Tom Seifert Carla von Lahnstein Hanna Novak Oliver Sabel Christian Mann Stella Mann Rebecca von Lahnstein Miriam Pesch |
Broder B. Hendrix Raphaela Dell Freya Trampert Andreas Stenschke Kay Böger Claudia Hiersche Katharina Dalichau Jo Weil Thore Schölermann Anne Wis Jasmin Lord Romina Becks |
Gero was engaged to Julia before he came out and broke off the engagement. He then shared a lover with his mother and later another one with his best friend; Erika was engaged to Arno Brandner, when she began to fall for Nina. They had a passionate relationship, before they broke up, but years later reunited; Ulli came out and had a relationship with Tom. They broke up because Ulli moved to Munich for a job opportunity and Tom could not handle a long-distance relationship. Months later Tom got into a relationship with Oliver but they ended things after a year. Tom reunited with Ulli a couple years later; Carla first began to fall for the straight Hanna Novak, who was together with the successful lawyer Lars Schneider. Carla in the closet herself began a passionate affair with Hanna, who eventually broke up with Lars. Carla and Hanna remained secret lovers until Hanna died. Carla married Bernd von Beyenbach to hide her sexuality, but later came out and married Susanne Brandner, who she divorced a year later; Oliver has been out for a while, recently he had a sexual encounter with Christian Mann. Christian fell in love with Olli and they have since been a couple; Stella first had a crush on Charlie Schneider. But their relationship did not work out, because Charlie realizes that she's straight and cannot be with another woman after all. Stella then began to fall for her boss Carla. Carla and Stella are engaged. |
| 1994- | Generations | SABC 1 | Senzo Zondo (2008-) Jason Malinga (2009-) |
Thami Mngqolo Zolisa Xaluva |
Senzo appeared on the show for a year before his sexuality became a part of the story. He became involved with bisexual Jason; their kiss sparked a huge controversy with viewers. [10] When Senzo's father found them in bed together, he beat them both, sending Jason to the hospital, but the pair continued an on and off relationship for several years. |
| 1994– | Volver A Empezar | Televisa | Paul | Radames de Jesus | Paul is Reni's best friend and hairdresser. He often shares comments about men with her. Paul was one of the first of a number of Televisa's openly homosexual telenovela characters. |
| 1992– | Shortland Street | TVNZ | Jonathan McKenna (1993–1996, 2011) Nicole Miller (2009–) Maia Jeffries (2004–2011) Jay Copeland (2004–2007) |
Kieran Hutchison Sally Martin Anna Jullienne Jaime Passier-Armstrong |
|
| 1992–1999 | Melrose Place | Fox | Matt Fielding | Doug Savant | Matt was the only regular character never to have a love scene. The one time he was set to kiss another man on-screen, Fox edited it out. |
| 1988– | Home and Away | Seven Network | Shannon Reed (1994–1997) Mandy Thomas (1995–1997) Christopher Fletcher (2003) Eve Jacobsen (2005–2006) Dean Silverman (2006) Gareth (2006) Freya Duric (2009) Joey Collins (2009) Charlie Buckton (2008–) |
Isla Fisher Rachel Blake Rian McLean Emily Perry Gary Brun Sophie Hensser Kate Bell Esther Anderson |
Pippa and Christopher returned in 2003 for Sally's wedding to Flynn Saunders; during this appearance Pippa reveals that Christopher is gay. This revelation creates additional tension when Christopher tries to kiss Seb Miller. After some dramatics Seb explains it is all right for Chris to be who he is. After this is resolved Christopher returns home. Eve falls in love with Sarah Lewis and dies in 2006 trying to get revenge for Sarah's death. |
| 1985– | Neighbours | Eleven | Andrew MacKenzie Andrew Watson Gino Esposito Aaron Barkley Lana Crawford Donna Freedman Chris Pappas Aidan Foster |
John Morris Chris Uhlman Shane McNamara Stewart Adam Bridget Neval Margot Robbie James Mason Bobby Morley |
The first male gay character to appear was Andrew MacKenzie in 1994.[11] The following year, schoolteacher, Andrew Watson was a victim of a campaign for his dismissal for being gay. Hairdresser Gino was often hinted at being gay and said to be in a relationship with Aaron Barkley.[11][12] Lana Crawford became the show's first openly lesbian character; she kissed Sky Mangel (Stephanie Macintosh) twice.[13] Donna is openly bisexual; the first storyline that included this aspect of her character was a kiss between herself and Sunny Lee (Hany Lee).[14] Chris is initially confused about his feelings for his best friend, before coming out as gay. He is the first on-going gay male character in the soap.[15] Aidan Foster, a love interest for Chris, was introduced in August 2011.[16] |
| 1985– | Lindenstraße | ARD | Carsten Flöter Gert Weinbauer Georg „Käthe“ Eschweiler Suzanne Richter Tanja Schildknecht |
Georg Uecker Günter Barton Claus Vinçon Susanne Evers Sybille Waury |
Carsten Flöter as young student is gay and kissed 1987 Gert Weinbauer. Later he became in Lindenstraße a doctor after university and had a long-term relationship with Georg „Käthe“ Eschweiler. Suzanne Richter is a lesbian and has a relationship with Tanja Schildknecht. Together they have a baby and live together as LGBT parents. |
| 1985– | EastEnders | BBC1 | John Fisher Ruth Lyons Colin Russell Barry Clark Guido Smith Queenie Price Joe Wallace Della Alexander Binnie Roberts Tony Hills Simon Raymond Fred Fonseca Derek Harkinson Sonia Fowler Naomi Julien Marco Bianco Charity Kase Christian Clarke Lee Thompson Syed Masood Ben Mitchell |
Dave Dale Judy Liebert Michael Cashman Gary Hailes Nicholas Donovan Jon Labonowski Jason Rush Michelle Joseph Sophie Langham Mark Homer Andrew Lynford Jimi Mistry Ian Lavender Natalie Cassidy Petra Letang Bart Ruspoli Morgan Crowley John Partridge Carl Ferguson Marc Elliot Joshua Pascoe |
EastEnders has used various homosexual characters to highlight gay issues since the 1980s, including homophobia, bisexuality, age of sexual consent, and HIV/AIDS among others.[17]
EastEnders was the first UK soap to screen a gay kiss in 1987, prompting outrage from viewers and the media who branded the programme "filth" and dubbed it "EastBenders".[18] There were even questions in Parliament about whether it was appropriate to have gay men in a family show when AIDS was sweeping the country.[19] Despite initial negativity, the characters had a powerful impact on public attitudes, and the show's handling of Colin and Barry's relationship was deemed by many gay activists as something of a breakthrough.[20][21] Actor turned politician, Michael Cashman (Colin), believes the storyline started "the social change" in opinion towards homosexuals, which "happened alongside the legal reform" in the 1980s.[22] EastEnders has been at the centre of much controversy regarding its gay characters kissing on-screen. Aside from Colin giving Barry a chaste peck on the forehead in 1987, EastEnders screened the first mouth-to-mouth gay soap kiss in the UK in 1989 (Colin and Guido), leading some MPs to call for the programme to be banned.[23] EastEnders' first regular lesbian characters provided the soap with its first lesbian kiss in 1994, provoking more complaints than any other UK television programme that year.[24] This was followed by a "censored" kiss between Tony and Simon in 1996, which infuriated gay activists after the BBC cut the kiss from its original two seconds to a half-second, so they would not "startle" viewers.[25][26] In 2007, a lesbian kiss between bisexual Sonia and lesbian Naomi prompted 211 complaints to the BBC,[27] and in 2008, a kiss between gay characters Christian and Lee prompted 145 complaints from viewers who were "appalled by the display of homosexual kissing before the watershed [...] whilst young children are watching". The BBC released a statement saying: "We approach our portrayal of homosexual relationships in the same way as we do heterosexual relationships. In this instance, Christian is enjoying the first flush of romance and we've shown him being affectionate with his new boyfriend in the same way any couple would."[28] As of November 2011 there are now multiple gay characters on the show leading normal affectionate relationships and also now going into adoption. |
| 1984–1993 | Santa Barbara | NBC | Channing Capwell, Jr. (1984, 1985, 1991) Lindsay Smith (1985) |
Robert Brian Wilson Joel Bailey |
During his love-affair with Santana, Channing Junior maintained a relationship with Lindsay Smith, a friend he seems to have met at the time of his law studies. And it seems that Channing was deeply in love with him. They were used to refind each other in the tunnel that connected the Capwell mansion to the Lockridges. This heavy secret revealed by Mason will contributed to his rupture with C.C.. |
| 1982–2003 | Brookside | Channel 4 | Gordon Collins (1982–1987) Beth Jordache (1993–1995) Shelly Bower (1999–2001) |
Mark Burgess Anna Friel Alexandra Wescourt |
Always groundbreaking, particularly in the 1980s, Brookside was the first British soap to have an out and proud gay character in Gordon Collins. Middle class and well spoken, his sexuality was not the only thing that set him apart from his fellow residents on Brookside Close. Beth featured in the most famous Brookside storyline of all when she helped bury her father's body after her mother had killed him, however this character will be equally remembered for British television's first pre-watershed lesbian kiss. Viewers complained in droves, however it proved a turning point in the way gay relationships were handled on mainstream British television. Shelly arrived in 1999 and soon had a relationship with Lindsay Corkhill, who had always considered herself straight until she met Shelly. Shelly would leave in 2001 after admitting she had feelings for Lindsay's mother Jackie. |
| 1981–1989 | Dynasty | ABC | Steven Carrington (1981–88, 1991) | Al Corley (1981–82, 1991) Jack Coleman (1983–88) |
Dynasty was the first American nighttime drama to have a core bisexual character. During the show's run, however, Steven's sexual identity became very muddled, as he became involved mostly with women; a few times, he would have relationships with men. By the 1991 reunion movie, however, Steven firmly declared himself as gay and was having a relationship with politician's son Bart Fallmont. |
| 1974–1977 | The Box | Network Ten | Lee Whiteman (1974–1976) Vicki Stafford |
Paul Karo Judy Nunn |
Lee is a high-camp television producer who is generally well liked and resepcted by the show's other characters, and was a popular character with the show's viewers. Vicky is a bitchy journalist who became a popular cult figure among the show's fans. In the first episode of the series she engaged in a lesbian kiss. |
| 1973– | The Young and the Restless | CBS | Katherine Chancellor Joann Curtis Phillip Chancellor III Rafe Torres |
Jeanne Cooper Kay Heberle Thom Bierdz Yani Gellman |
In 1977, Kay started lavashing Joann, who was separated from husband Jack Curtis, with gifts but a few months later, Kay's son Brock Reynolds told Joann of Kay's feelings and Joann ended her sociation with Kay.
Philip came out in July 2009. On April 24, 2009, Rafe became Y&R's first gay character when Lily Winters attempted to set him up with Colleen Carlton, unaware that he is gay. On September 8, 2010, Billy introduced his brother Phillip to Rafe. |
| 1972–1977 | Number 96 | Network Ten | Don Finlayson (1972–1977) Dudley Butterfield (1973–1977) Robyn Ross (1973) |
Joe Hasham Chard Hayward Carlotta |
Don is a dependable lawyer widely popular with the show's other characters. He enjoys several gay relationships over the course of the series, the most enduring with Dudley Butterfield, who is a camp and flighty caterer and fan of old films. In later storylines Dudley is revealed as bisexual and later embarks on relationships with women. Robyn Ross is Arnold Feather's (Jeff Kevin) showgirl girlfriend. When her transgenderism was revealed the character quickly left the show. |
| 1972– | Emmerdale (Emmerdale Farm until 1989) |
YTV/ITV | Zoe Tate (1989–2005) Jason Kirk (1999-2002) Gavid Ferris (1999) Jasmine Thomas Debbie Dingle Aaron Livesy Jackson Walsh (2010-2011) Paul Lambert (2004–2009; 2010) Ivan Jones (2005-2006) Jonny Foster (2007-2009) Ali Spencer (2011-) Ruby Haswell |
Leah Bracknell James Carlton Robert Beck Jenna-Louise Coleman Charley Webb Danny Miller Marc Silcock Mathew Bose Daniel Brocklebank Richard Grieve Kelli Hollis Alicya Eyo |
Zoe was an openly lesbian character in this long-running British soap. Zoe was involved in a number of relationships with women and had hard-hitting stories such as schizophrenia, and the aftermath of conceiving a child during a schizophrenic episode. Zoe left town with her nephew and daughter in 2005.
Builder Jason was Paddy Kelly's cousin. He had a brief relationship with Gavin Ferris, who was engaged to marry pub landlady Bernice at the time. Both Jasmine and Debbie are bisexual characters on the soap, both having entered into a relationship together twice. Paul was openly gay and had several relationships, one with bisexual binman Ivan. In the end Paul married Johnny Foster and left the village. Aaron was first portrayed as a straight, angry teenager but soon he is revealed to be gay and is very self-loathing, but once he comes out, he entered into a relationship with Jackson, ending when Aaron agrees to Jackson's wish to euthanize him. In 2011, Ali Spencer and partner Ruby Haswell moved to the village. Ali had been married for 15 years and had several children before realizing she was a lesbian and settling into a relationship with Ruby. |
| 1970–2011 | All My Children | ABC | Dr. Lynn Carson (1982–1983) Michael Delaney (1995–1997) Kevin Sheffield (1995-1998) Brad Phillips (1996-1997) Bianca Montgomery (2000–2005; 2006-2007; 2008-2009; 2010-2011) Sarah Livingston (2000) Mary Francis "Frankie" Stone (2001) Mary Margaret "Maggie" Stone (2002–2005, 2007) Lena Kundera (2003–2004) Freddy Luper/Zarf/Zoe (2006–2007) Reese Williams (2008-2009) Marissa Chandler (2009-2011) |
Donna Pescow Chris Bruno Ben Jorgensen Daniel McDonald Eden Riegel Elizabeth Harnois Elizabeth Hendrickson Olga Sosnovska Jeffrey Carlson Tamara Braun Sarah Glendering |
Lynn Carson, the first gay character on American daytime serials was introduced in 1982, although she never had a love interest. Lynn was written out after only one year. High school teacher Michael was the second gay character when he came out to his students. Michael was also written out after two years. He dated Dr. Brad Phillips. One of his students was Kevin Sheffield, who came out after Michael was fired from teaching. He later had daytime's first story on reparative therapy.
The character of Bianca, played by Eden Riegel, came out in late 2000, and after a very long time, her mother, Erica Kane, started to accept it. Bianca had a brief relationship with Sarah Livingston. In 2003, ratings rose nearly half a percentage point when news was leaked out that Riegel (Bianca) and Olga Sosnovska (Lena) were to share daytime's first lesbian kiss. Maggie Stone came to Pine Valley in 2002 following the murder of her twin sister Frankie, who also was a love interest for Bianca. Maggie and Bianca developed a close friendship with undercurrents of much deeper feelings. They left Pine Valley together in 2005 for Paris, where they became lovers, both admitting on the show that they were in love with each other. Zarf is a male to female transgender character who fell in love with Bianca. Zarf, who was born Freddy Luper, has taken the female name Zoe. Bianca and Zoe left Pine Valley in April, 2007. Zoe returned to her home in London to record an album as a female rock star and complete her transition, Bianca, with her daughter Miranda, returned to Paris and their life there. Bianca returned, with partner Reese Williams. They married, in daytime's first same-sex wedding. [29]. After their split, Bianca eventually became involved with Marissa Chandler. |
| 1968–2012 | One Life to Live | ABC | Billy Douglas (1992–1993) Daniel Colson Matt Cavanaugh (2004–2005) Kyle Lewis (2009–2010) Oliver Fish (2009–2010) Nick Chavez (2009–2010) |
Ryan Phillippe Mark Dobies Mark Solomon Brett Claywell Scott Evans Nicholas Rodriguez |
Months of story came to a climax in episodes in which Andrew Carpenter (Wortham Krimmer), who had been accused of having a sexual relationship with Billy Douglas, brought the AIDS Quilt to rest on the lawn of the Llanview Church. Billy was written out after one year. Lawyer Daniel married Nora Hanen (Hillary B. Smith), but he was also a murderer who killed Paul Cramer (David Tom) and Jennifer Rappaport (Jessica Morris) to keep his affair with a college student a secret. He was caught and sent to prison. Kyle Lewis is a lab tech that gets involved with the Starr Manning baby switch storyline. He gets in trouble with the law and Oliver Fish is ready to arrest him. The two were in a relationship in college. After Oliver tells Kyle that he is 'straight', Kyle starts a relationship with Nick. Oliver is soon forced out of the closet and wants Kyle back. Kyle and Nick are almost married by Andrew Carpenter during Dorian Lord's big gay wedding. Kyle and Oliver became an official couple that day after they declared their love to each other on national television. Nick, Kyle and Oliver were all written out of the series in 2010. The departure of Oliver and Kyle, who as a couple were popularly known as "Kish", was particularly upsetting to their fans because ABC released a statement blaming the couple for drops in the show's ratings. |
| 1965– | Days of our Lives | NBC | Will Horton (1995–2007, 2009– ) Sonny Kiriakis (2011– ) |
Chandler Massey (February 2010– ) Freddie Smith |
Will Horton's coming out storyline began on June 23, 2011. Smith will join the cast June 26, 2011 as Sonny, described as "a good-natured young man who returns home to join his family".[30] |
| 1963– | General Hospital | ABC | John Hanley (1994–1995) Ted Murty (1997–1998) Lucas Jones (2004–2006) |
Lee Mathis Patrick Fabian Ryan Carnes/Ben Hogestyn |
|
| 1960– | Coronation Street | ITV | Hayley Cropper (1998–2007, 2008–) Todd Grimshaw (2001–2004; 2007; 2011) Karl Foster (2004) Sean Tully (2004–present) Sonny Dhillon (2006-2007) Marcus Dent (2007-2008; 2011-present) Sophie Webster (1994–present) Sian Powers (2009–present) Amber Kalirai (2005-2009; 2011-present) |
Julie Hesmondhalgh Bruno Langley Chris Finch Antony Cotton Pal Aron Brooke Vincent Charlie Condou Sacha Parkinson Nikki Patel |
Hayley was the first regular transsexual character to be introduced into soap opera. Hayley has been discussed in the British Parliament, when MP Lynne Jones praised the research into the storyline and Hesmondhalgh's portrayal."[31] After it became legal in the United Kingdom for Transgender people to marry, Hayley married longtime partner Roy Cropper (David Neilson).[32]
Todd was the first gay character in the show's 40+ year history. Previously paired with Candice Stowe (Nikki Sanderson) and Sarah Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien), Todd became very confused with his sexuality and kissed Sarah Lou's brother Nick; naysayers argue that the storyline was ill-formed and rewrites the character of Todd completely. Sean first appeared in the series as a friend of Todd. After Todd's departure, Sean moved in with Todd's family. The character is regularly slated by critics as being a stereotype and token character. Sean has had several stories involving being unlucky in love, including a relationship with a bisexual man named Sonny, who was dating one of his friends, Michelle Connor. Sean has had an on and off relationship with a sonographer, Marcus Dent. In 2010 Sophie Webster and her friend Sian became the soap's first lesbian couple. In 2011, Dev Alahan's daughter Amber returned to Weatherfield. Now bisexual, Amber showed interest in Sophie. |
| 1956–2010 | As the World Turns | CBS | Hank Eliot (1988–1989) Luke Snyder (2005–2010) Noah Mayer (2007–2010) Dr.Reid Oliver (2010) |
Brian Starcher Van Hansis Jake Silbermann Eric Sheffer Stevens |
The first gay male character on American daytime soaps was seen on, arguably, the most conservative serial. The storyline in question was supposed to involve Hank going through the process of AIDS diagnosis, but the storyline was switched to his lover, Charles, who was not seen for most of the time Hank was on the show. Hank was then written out after only a year. Head writer Douglas Marland was praised for the story and the soap won the 1990 GLAAD Media Award. Luke is the son of popular couple Holden and Lily and came out to his parents in May 2006. He had had a crush on his best friend, Kevin Davis, for a while, but Kevin initially rejected Luke once his sexuality came out. After Luke saved his life, however, Kevin decided to accept him, though their relationship remained strained. In 2007, Luke met another intern at WOAK named Noah, who initially started dating Maddie Coleman before coming out to be with Luke. The couple broke up in March 2010, and Luke becomes attracted to the doctor who saves Noah's eyesight. Reid is hit by a train following his car stalling at a railroad crossing. He dies in the hospital. Noah returns to comfort Luke but Noah decides to move to Los Angeles to pursue his directing career, while Luke decides to stay where he is despite being invited to Los Angeles by Noah. |
| 1937–2009 | Guiding Light | CBS | Olivia Spencer (1999–2009) Natalia Rivera (2007–2009) |
Crystal Chappell Jessica Leccia |
In the final years of Guiding Light, the love story of Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera was a central part of the show. |