EastEnders Gay Kiss Threatens British Audiences
Some Brits are bent out of shape over a gay kiss on popular soap EastEnders. A romantic kiss between Christian Clarke (John Partridge ) and Lee Thompson (Carl Ferguson) on the British soap Eastenders has sent conservative viewers into a frenzy.
More than 150 people griped to network BBC after character Christian and his new boyfriend, Lee, locked lips. One person griped: "I am appalled by the display of homosexual kissing..." The Daily Mail reports: "In a statement the BBC defended itself by saying it was down to parents to decide whether the content of the show was suitable for children to watch. But some viewers were left deeply unimpressed. One viewer wrote on the BBC's Points OfâView internet messageboard: 'I am appalled by the display of homosexual kissing before the watershed shown on EastEnders. This is disgraceful whilst young children are watching and sets the wrong example.' Another, Pat, wrote: 'I had to explain to my seven-year-old son what was happening. He now thinks he is gay because he kisses his dad.'"
Though some executives may have quaked in their boots, BBC came out against the outraged masses and released the following statement: "EastEnders aims to reflect real life, and this means including and telling stories about characters from many different backgrounds, faiths, religions and sexualities. We approach our portrayal of homosexual relationships in the same way as we do heterosexual relationships. In this instance, Christian is enjoying the first flush of romance and we've shown him being affectionate with his new boyfriend in the same way any couple would."
What can we say? When it comes to gay kissing, we're all for it. As one pro-gay campaign says, "Some people are gay, get over it..."
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Good for the BBC standing up for themselves! It's hard to believe that so many people around the world STILL have problems with homosexual affection. So depressing.
I thought europeans had a more liberal view about homosexuality. I guess I was wrong
Editor L: DailyMail is very right wing, so don't be affected by those guys.
Im saddened that this is still an issue in the UK, I can remember the "first" gay kiss shown on the show, must have been at least 10 years ago (if not more) and there is still this sort of reaction? Still a long way to go for acceptance :(
Those two have nothing on the awesome relationship of Olli and Christian from German soap Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). QC editors you guys must definitely take the time and watch there story line on youtube. It will tug at your heart strings like nothing else!
Why do these parents always bring up the children?.. Don't they realize that some of their children are gay? I knew I was gay when I was 5 years old!! I wanted to hold hands and kiss other boys at that age. hehehe. We need to show gay children that its okay to be gay.
When QUEER AS FOLK (the original) first aired, it received more complaints than any programming in BBC's history, so they showed the series again and there were more viewers than any program except for the marriage of Charles & Di.
I want to take a ride with the cute redhead, I love his Woody.
More importantly for me, was when Queer As Folk (the original UK version) aired on mainstream TV in the UK was that suddenly there were thousands of straight people watching it. My straight friends were amazed, even jealous of how cool it was to be gay! That was truely groundbreaking!
stevedenver, I might be wrong but I thought it aired on Channel 4 not the BBC, (Channel 4 being seen as the alternative/arts channel back then) but you are right that there were quite a lot of complaints, particularly as the opening episode had the sex scenes that 10 years ago was seen as pushing it to the limit on main stream TV. And of course this was blown out of all proportion in the tabloid press. Net result - more viewers, a second series and the rights and serialization sold to Show Time, one of their biggest TV successes in the States.
Isn't it just great when negative publicity like that has the opposite effect and its turned around like that? :)
Editor is correct. The 'Daily Mail' here has always been the most homophobic of our national newspapers and has opposed each and every legal advance for gays since our 'watershed' year of 1967. What I just don't get is that there is, apparently, a significant number of gays who buy it - thereby helping it to thrive. I'm told 'they' like its gossipy bitchiness and schadenfreude at celebrity mishaps and misbehaviour. But if that's what they want there are enough gay web-sites doing that without throwing queer-bashing into the mix.
Oh, ignore the Daily Hate. They're all loons.
Anyone from the UK will know that the Daily Mail is an unintelligent, hate-filled, sh*t rag, posing as a respectable newspaper. It is read mostly by narrow minded bigots, who are unable to read critically and cannot distinguish truth from bullshit.
Um.."more than 150 people"? That's like one church congregation in the US. Why would a major television network be concerned by a small group of people who want to ruin it for the masses? That's why the BBC isn't too worried about it. It's always the select few that rant and scream when the general public don't care.
It's about 20 years since EastEnders had its first gay kiss - and one of the actors in that first one, who is gay in real life, is now a Labour member of the European Parliament.