TV: The American Revolution

In March 1994, America freaked out when two women kissed on prime-time television. After word leaked that Roseanne would include a scene in which a lesbian, played by Mariel Hemingway, planted a lip lock on the titular character, conservative groups protested, advertisers balked, and ABC decided not to air the episode. It took an angry Roseanne Barr threatening to take the show to another network to make ABC relent, although it felt the need to precede the episode with a stern parental advisory.

In March 2016, few people even noticed that ABC had two shows in its lineup focused on the lives of gay teenagers: The Real O’Neals, a sitcom about a Catholic family’s response to 16-year-old Kenny O’Neal’s coming out, and the drama American Crime, which in its second season showed the devastating psychological damage familial and peer-group homophobia can inflict on gay high schoolers. The transformation of American attitudes toward homosexuality over the past 22 years is encapsulated in those contrasting reactions..

An overview of American stuff in The Advocate.

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