I remember watching the soaps when I was a closeted teenager, in awe of the likes of Zoe Tate, who was such a rare gem on 90’s TV.  Not only had she been out and proud since the early nineties, but her sexuality was also only part of her story.  She was a powerful, even formidable character.  She had money and knew how to use it.  She had her own career as a vet, that she loved.  She had a wicked streak.  In later years, actress Leah Bracknell portrayed the most heartbreaking scenes as Zoe battled Schizophrenia.  When people think back to the nineties in terms of the presence of LGBTQ characters, their minds immediately flashback to Beth Jordache and ‘that kiss’, which is of course important but Zoe came out a year before this and was the first lesbian character in a British Soap.  She was also the first gay character to have a wedding/blessing, many years before Civil Partnerships or equal marriage were even dots on the horizon for any of us.  I was genuinely saddened in 2019 when Leah passed away from cancer.

Flash forward to present day and this past June when many of us have been marking Pride month with such gratitude that we are here, that so many things have changed and that we have the capacity and strength to try and change the things that still need changing.  I have seen so many things online that remind us of why we still need Pride so much.  One of things that struck me hardest was a post about while we live in a world where kids are still sat at home believing they would be better off no longer in this world than being gay, then we still need Pride.  Pride isn’t a party.  Pride is a march of survival.  It’s a moment in time where we embrace every single ounce of ‘different’ inside and let it sing.  Even if we sing out of tune.

I’ve been that kid, sat at home, scared for my future because I didn’t fit in, because while all my friends were watching the boys on TV, I was watching the girls.  And it has been a long road in terms of being and out and proud soap addict to watch these shows change their characters, their storylines and their attitudes towards their characters and their storylines over the past twenty five years or so, when I first started tuning in and I started consciously battling my sexuality.

I remember, back in the day, that occasionally, a soap would have two dimensional gay man in it to back up another character and have no plot of their own.  They certainly wouldn’t have a love life.  Then there came the phase of the scandal storylines to boost ratings, where quite frankly, the characters and the LGBTQ viewers were badly mistreated.  There was the random storyline of Lindsey Corkhill falling in love with her best friend, Shelley who actually had a thing for her mother in Brookie.  Then there was that time that Todd kissed Nick in Corrie purely to pull viewers in to witness a ‘shock, gay kiss’ between two attractive men.  And more recently, Tracy Barlow slept with Paula for literally no reason.

Over in Australia, back in 2009, Home and Away’s Charlie Buckton had a dalliance with Joey Collins, which I confess I got completely sucked into.  It ended when Charlie cheated on her with some bloke and Joey left, never to be seen or heard of again.  Charlie (the police officer) slept with one criminal bloke after another before she got shot and died.  Delightful.  They did redeem themselves recently though with Willow and Alex’s relationship, which I also fell in love with – they actually got a happy ending.  Off screen, of course.  Well, you can’t have everything.

The landscape of how soaps have presented the LGBTQ characters and relationships have definitely changed in a positive way over the years, I think.  So many of the partnerships people have grown to love and adore, have not been heterosexual ones.  Once upon a time, a soap would have to handle every aspect of gay relationships with ‘sensitivity’, in case they offended the homophobes when really, people like me and fellow members of the LGBTQ community were just desperate to see ourselves and our lives (or the lives we wanted to live), validated on TV.

I remember back in the day when in Eastenders, Tony left Tiffany for her brother, Simon.  It was a scandal, not because of the affair but because of the sexuality aspect.  I remember Shannon and Mandy falling in love so subtly that you could have missed it.  Neighbours attempted to have Lana and Sky get together but the homophobia was so strong, they abandoned the story.  They were so proud that for their 35^th anniversary to be able to rectify this and have the girls get married.  It had always felt for the show and for the actors like an unfinished storyline.

I also remember the huge story that Eastenders took on when they got Christian and Syed together.  It was amazing!  Not only were they addressing Syed coming to terms with his sexuality, he also had to work out how this fitted with his religion.  And despite the complaints, they became such a loved and popular couple.  Since then, one of the show’s most popular couples are ‘#Ballum’ – Ben and Callum – who got together in a very similar way to Christian and Syed (an affair in the lead up to a wedding).  And one of the most special moments in the show’s history was the moment that Johnny came out to his Dad, Mick and received nothing but pure love and acceptance in return – no hesitation.

Throughout the soaps, there have been some amazingly popular couples and characters, which show the strength of writing, performance and on-screen chemistry.  Who can forget Robert and Aaron – #Robron – in Emmerdale?  Not my favourite, granted, but massively popular and there were a lot of devastated fans out there when Robert was sent to jail.  Their counterpart, if you like, are Vanessa and Charity (who I much prefer).  I am very hopeful that when Michelle Hardwick (Vanessa) returns from maternity leave, a reconciliation will be on the cards!  Charity herself was initially one of those ‘ratings bisexuals’ when she had a random affair with Zoe Tate in the early noughties.  So it was brilliant when they revisited this and created what has become a fantastic relationship with Vanessa.  Until it all went badly wrong.  Oh and let’s not forget that once upon a time, Charity’s daughter, Debbie, had a fling with best friend, Jasmine, played by Jenna Coleman.  Jasmine went to prison.  I don’t think she’ll be coming back…

One of my favourite Hollyoaks pairings is John Paul and Ste.  Between them, they’ve had more relationships than hot dinners and many would say that John Paul’s true love is Craig and Ste’s true love is Brendan.  But personally, I never subscribed to either of those relationships.  Neither of those men ever treated John Paul or Ste very nicely.  Brendan was violent and Craig dangled John Paul on a shoestring for most of their relationship.  But although I have adored people like Doug and Keiron (RIP) and James and Harry (RIP) have been great players thrown into the mix, I firmly believe that Ste and John Paul belong together.

Over in Australia, Neighbours has excelled itself in waving the rainbow flag.  For me, they have outshone every soap.  Years ago, it dipped its toe in the water with the character of Chris and from there, more and more gay characters arrived.  Now, it can celebrate one of the best partnerships the show and in fact, soap, has ever seen in David and Aaron who are not only legally married (and walked down the aisle to Kylie and Jason!) but have also been foster parents and are expecting their first child.  Aaron’s sister, Chloe is also bisexual and not just telly bisexual where she’s actually straight and goes off with a girl now and again to boost ratings.  Chloe is such a vibrant character and has brought so much diversity to show in terms so showing someone who can love and have relationships with people for who they are, not for what gender they are.

In more recent years, Doctors have created some great character development with Emma who now identifies as pansexual after being very surprised to find herself falling for a female friend. Since then, she has had relationships with either gender and a couple of years ago, the show had an extremely harrowing storyline where Emma and her then girlfriend, Jasmine experienced a homophobic attack. It was not dissimilar to that awful story of the girls on the bus in London a few years ago.

Neighbours has taken Pride further in recent years with the amazing trans activist, Georgie Stone, who plays Mackenzie.  Following Mackenzie’s story has been so emotional and so enlightening.  She has been the Hayley Cropper of the millennial generation.  But joking aside, it has been incredible to watch this young person, both the actress and the character, essentially explain her journey.  She has not only portrayed the character but also been involved in the writing and story lining and I have genuinely wept during parts of her tale, as she had undergone surgery and struggled with acceptance from her family.

I remember years and years ago, attending a transgender workshop and the first thing the trainer said was that they would love to say their charity was responsible for the education regarding trans people but it was actually Coronation Street.  Everyone laughed because it was funny and also because it was a little bit true.  This is the far reach of soaps and also the heavy responsibility they have to make sure that as well as entertaining people, they are socially responsible.  I remember when Hayley first turned up in Corrie and it was such a scandal.  I was about thirteen years old and still trying to get my head around my sexuality.  I had no idea about gender diversity or anything and I had never heard of being transgender before.  But the idea of someone not quite fitting, not feeling like they were who or how they were meant to be, completely connected with me.  And Hayley turned out to be this angel, the kindest woman to ever walk the cobbles and they put her together with Roy, the kindest man to ever walk the cobbles…  Well, the magic was made.

Since then, of course, Sally has turned up in Hollyoaks and the actress who plays her helped Coronation Street create Hayley so even though Hayley is gone, it’s kind of like she lives on.  So even though Corrie was extremely late in bringing in the L, the G and the B, they did lead the charge with the T, something other soaps haven’t always been that eager (or that good) at doing.  Currently, it’s only Emmerdale, (alongside Neighbours)who have Matty with any trans visibility.  His story is particularly special as we actually knew his character as Holly, years ago.  This hasn’t been done before.  What’s also been a turning point in recent years with LGBTQ characters is that most of the actors who are playing the roles are members of the LGBTQ community.

So, at the end of this June – Pride Month – I am happy to reflect on how hard our soaps have worked to become inclusive and reflect the society we do or should live in.  I am happy that I have all manner of characters and pairings to discuss, enjoy and dislike amongst all the different soaps.  I love that I don’t have to cling to the single character that exists in each soap just because they’re gay.  Firstly, there are plenty to choose from (except in Home and Away) and secondly, they are written so well that actually, sometimes they’re just not very nice.  Because not all gay people are nice!  Not all gay men are camp and fluffy.  And gay women come in all variations too!  Imagine!

When I was growing up, that just wasn’t how it was.  You only knew Shannon liked Mandy because she talked about her incessantly.  A bit like I talked about Shannon, actually!  You were lucky if Zoe could hold hands with her wife.  And two guys together were a rare scandal.  Now, homophobia on screen is rare and definitely dealt with.  I am reminded of a scene in Eastenders where Callum’s Dad was vile to him and Ben and Phil Mitchell to stood up for them.  It was such a fantastic and affirming scene.

All the while people are not safe in the world because of their gender or sexuality, there is a lot of work to do.  All the while there are people who don’t feel they belong in this world because of their gender or sexuality, there is a lot of work to do.  But just for a brief moment in time, it is nice to reflect on how far this small corner of our society has come, even in my lifetime.  When I was a teenager, I absorbed every message that these shows delivered to me and I am overwhelmed at how the messages have changed.  You couldn’t pay me any money in the world to be a kid today with social media and mobile phones constantly beeping at me and recording my ever move and mistake.  But I do think the positive approach to diversity and acceptance is a special thing that I definitely didn’t have twenty (ish) years ago.  Soaps are intended to reflect life.  They beam their way into our homes on a daily basis and right now, I praise them for doing a good job of positively affirming us, the LGBTQ community.