LGBT characters are becoming far more visible on the tube, if largely in recurrent and peripheral roles. But queer characters are rarely more realistic than they were 20 years ago, when they were anomalous to the TV landscape.
The dearth of openly queer writers and producers in TV has compounded the problem of inaccurate portrayals. Some well-known gay producers/creators like Greg Berlanti (“Brothers & Sisters”), Alan Ball (“True Blood”) and Marc Cherry (“Desperate Housewives”) have made substantial contributions to realistic characterizations of gay men on their shows, but in ensembles such as theirs, the possibilities for spotlighting the queer characters remain limited.
This is also a surprising problem on the soaps, where it would seem queer characters could be fully developed and thrive in the daily, rather than weekly, lineup.
In some cases that’s been true. “All My Children” devoted eight years to Bianca Montgomery as a central character. But no other queer characters ever came to town. All her partners were heterosexual prior to being with her, which is, for someone of Bianca’s age, highly unrealistic.
More realistic has been the relationship between Luke and Noah on “As the World Turns.” The two have a strong, believable and openly affectionate, if not sexual, relationship on the show. But while other characters are falling in and out of bed, in the nearly three years of Luke and Noah’s relationship, they have never been seen in bed once.
Nor did viewers see Rafe and Adam in bed last week when, after a much-vaunted gay storyline on “The Young & the Restless,” the devious, evil and heterosexual Adam came on to Rafe and within seconds had seduced him.
This is perhaps the worst gay storyline in recent years on TV, marrying several stereotypes at once.
Rafe is not only the show’s first-ever gay character in its 36-year run; he’s also one of its first Latino characters.
Rafe came out in his first days onscreen, but there was, as is so often the case with queer TV characters, no one for him to be gay with. So he disappeared from the screen for nearly a month.
Adam was Rafe’s client — and an extraordinarily bad guy. Adam has been involved with the assistant D.A., Heather, for well over a year. The two were in bed together only minutes before Rafe came by to accuse Adam of a new crime.
A few more minutes later — after a suggestive face-touching episode — cut to Rafe and Adam dressing. With no preamble, Rafe went to bed with Adam, who he knows is bedding Heather.
This scene was stereotypical of the gay man who will have sex with anyone, anywhere. But Rafe is not that guy. And is the audience expected to believe that Adam learned how to have sex with men off-the-cuff in prison?
After months of waiting for the character of Rafe to be explored, this slap-dash off-screen sex scene with no context was deeply disappointing.
Writing LGBT characters is no different from writing any other character. All that is required is that writers know their subject. In real life, lesbians don’t have sex with men off-the-cuff or only get involved with previously heterosexual women.
In real life, men may jump in bed with one another with no preamble, but not necessarily a straight ex-con former client.
The need for realistic portrayals of LGBT characters is apparent. But when the most realistic queer character on the tube in 2009 is a transsexual vampire, TV writers really need to make their depictions not just realistic, but resonant.