On Fri, 28 Jul 2017 21:59:01 -0700 (PDT), Legend <
livi...@gmail.com>
wrote:
I have to disagree with your premise that gay men have been accepted;
at least certainly not on Y&R! They have done two "gay" stories in
the history of the show (Well, 2-1/2 if you stretch it). And as a gay
man I'm not very thrilled that Y&R has not yet done a positive
storyline involving gay men:
#1) Jill's mother was selling her house and a horribly, sickeningly
stereotyped flaming effeminate gay couple went to look at it. Liz
Foster had a fit over this, and wouldn't sell them the house. And of
course we were supposed to laugh at the faggots
#2) Decades(?) later, another storyline casting gay relationships in a
bad light. Adam Newman, of course, pretended to be attracted to Rafe
and supposedly had sex with him for some nefarious purpose, using him
then tossing him aside (no making out on camera of course as every
single straight couple does). To make matters worse, the actor
playing Adam Newman at the time (Chris Engen) walked out and quit his
job when he found out the script called for him to kiss another man.
And after all that, after Michael Muhney took over the role of Adam,
they never did show him kissing Rafe!
#2-1/2) One time since the Rafe/Adam fiasco, they showed Rafe in a
having dinner in a restaurant with his "friend," understood to be his
gay partner.
That was it. The whole extent of Y&R's gay storylines.
There have been so many opportunities for them to do one and do it
well. Kevin, Fen, Kyle, Noah, any of them could have been gay and it
would have made a great story seeing them come out to their stodgy
parents. But those ships have long since sailed.
I'm still waiting for a normal, nice gay couple like ATWT's Luke and
Noah... a story that more accurately portrayed what real-life gay men
are like. Just living their lives with the same trials and loves and
goals and desires as everyone else. We're exactly like straight men
except for whom we love. Most of us are not flamboyant or nelly or
creepy. We're just people.
Y&R hasn't even come anywhere close to portraying that.
I'm not an activist by any means. I'm now 65 years old, born in 1951
and was in my formative/teen years in the 50's through the mid 60's. A
horrible time to be gay. There wasn't even a word for it other than
the occasional epithets I'd hear like "queer" or "faggot." I grew up
in the closet, and it stayed tightly locked my whole life. I learned
to deal with being alone through college while my friends went on
dates, had romances, did normal things that I couldn't do. The only
gay men I knew of were portrayed on TV shows in exactly the same way
that Liz Foster's potential home buyers were: effeminate, flamboyant,
overly dramatic and exaggerated, people to be laughed at and
ridiculed. They still are although to a lesser extent. It's too
late for me now at my age; I wish I had been born 50 years later
sometimes. So I stay in the closet except for in forums like this
where I can just be myself; just be like everyone else from behind my
keyboard. My ship has sailed.
Young and Restless has not broken the barrier at all. Life really
does imitate art, and I've been waiting for a healthy gay storyline on
Y&R for a long time. I know there are haters who would raise hell
over it and stop watching, just as they did ATWT. But we will never
have the same normal lives as everyone else until we are portrayed as
we are... just people.
Wow, I didn't mean to write that long "essay", LOL! It just sort of
came out, so to speak. :-D
p.s. I really am looking forward to a Mariah/Tessa storyline and hope
that Y&R does go there. It's at least a good start. I'm afraid you
may be right though, that they will not fully commit to the long
overdue story. We shall see.