Taking Pride in Daytime TV

Fun factamp160 The two lovers who have endured their share of soap opera trials and tribulations are gay men amp8211 Will Horton played by Chandler Massey top right and Jackson amp8220Sonnyamp8221 Kiriakis Freddy Smith top leftamp160 They have been together or in each otheramp8217s romantic orbit for years except for a few when Will was deadamp160 They were married years ago before the murder in what was the first gay wedding in daytime drama historyamp160 They recently remarried the first marriage having fallen apart as a result of the murder the resurrection other men etcPerhaps in honor of Pride Month amp8230 or perhaps not amp8230 Will and Sonny are finally together again as happily married husbands amp8230 for nowamp160 More crises surely awaitamp160 And thatamp8217s the pointamp160 Days of Our Lives has burned through a number of writers in recent years but all of them except for the boneheads who decided to murder Will have treated Sonny and Will not as anything special but as just another longsuffering couple on the showamp160 They work they are involved in the lives of family and friends they kiss in public they have sex in private they fight they make upamp160 The two actors have played their share of sexy bedroom scenes over the years as have other actors who have played gay men with whom Will and Sonny have been involvedIn short they are not treated any differently than the dozens of straight characters on the show though Willamp8217s prolonged coming out story years ago was highly melodramaticamp160 That is progressIt was under the auspices of current head writer Ron Carlivati who took the reigns of Days of Our Lives in early 2017 after a long stint on General Hospital that the decision was made to bring Will back from the deadamp160 The show has been the better for it ever sinceamp160 Heamp8217s a legacy character who had been on the canvas since childhood and then through his tumultuous teens and now as a good guy who needs help as often as he offers itamp160 Massey has been honored with three Daytime Emmy Awards for his portrayal of WillSomething similar is happening over on General Hospital which currently counts three gay men one lesbian and one transgender woman among its recurring characters amp8211 though none of them are as dominant on that canvas as Will and Sonny almost always are on Daysamp160 Lucas Jones Ryan Carnes and Brad Cooper Perry Shen adopted an infant son last year and now find themselves entangled in a custody battle that would take far too long to explain hereamp160 Whatamp8217s worth noting here is that Lucas and Brad like Sonny and Will are caught up in a melodrama that has little if anything to do with their sexual orientationamp160 Over the years the writers havenamp8217t been afraid to make Brad unlikable or at best a complete fckup who is no better or worse than all the fckedup straight characters on the show and there are manyamp160 Again progressThere have been other notable LGBT characters in daytime dramas through the years including Maya Avant Karla Mosley a transgender character who finds true love currently on The Bold and the Beautiful Billy Douglas Ryan Phillippe on One Life to Live the first teenaged gay male on daytime circa 1993 Oliver Fish Scott Evans and Kyle Lewis Brett Claywell also on One Life to Live circa 2009 who became a amp8220supercoupleamp8221 known as amp8220Kishamp8221 and were seen in daytimeamp8217s firstever torrid sex scene between two men Lynn Carson Donna Pescow the first lesbian soap character on All My Children circa 1982 Bianca Montgomery Eden Riegel daughter of the legendary Erica Kane Susan Lucci on All My Children for more than ten years beginning in 2000 Zoe Jeffrey Carlson also on All My Children circa 2006 daytimeamp8217s first transgender character Olivia Spencer Crystal Chappell on Guiding Light 19992009 Luke Synder Van Hansis on As the World Turns circa 200510 Vincent Clarkson Phillip Jeanmarie on Passions circa 2007 the first intersex character on daytime and Channing Capwell Jr Robert Brian Wilson on Santa Barbara circa 1984 the first bisexual male on daytimeIn the spirit of World Pride it should be noted that daytime and primetime soap operas in other countries have been and continune to be way out in front of American daytime television as far as the inclusion of LGBTQIA charactersamp160 There have been many reasons for this from the actions of powerful pressure groups to nervous affiliates to skittish advertisersamp160 But that all seems to be changing now more than everamp160 Credit may go to cable especially MTV39s groundbreaking reality soap The Real World back in the dayamp160streaming services and even primetime broadcast television Ellen Will ampamp Grace Grey39s Anatomy but daytime drama has clearly done its part if not led the wayamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the 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Taking Pride in Daytime TV

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Ed Martin

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Taking Pride in Daytime TV

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Ed Martin

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