From a petulant birth in 1949, America’s soaps have become famous across the world for more weddings, tortured love-trios and infeasible plots than any sane mind should be asked to conceive. And today, ABC gave us a new one – Two ladies got married on ‘All My Children.’
As with all soap opera weddings, there were enough designer labels, red roses and acres of Botox to bankrupt an industrialized nation. But the happy couple barely had their first dance before the more vociferous viewers grabbed the chance to complain. “There are a lot of things that people don’t want coming into their homes, and lesbian weddings are certainly one of them,” Glenn Stanton of the group ‘Focus on the Family’ was quoted as saying.
It’s almost comforting to know we can rely on these folks for some peerlessly self absorbed knee-jerk homophobia.
Back on planet Earth, gay rights groups are said to be delighted by the event; According to Neil Giuliano, president of GLAAD; “It simply reflects what’s happening in the real world.”
If any of you don’t agree, you might need to get out more.
It would be nice to think ABC’s motives were grounded on a simple desire to ensure their Soaps reflect modern society, but daytime’s ratings have been in free-fall for months and today’s wedding could get considerable media coverage. And the day a US network does not do something without at least one beady eye on the profit potential has not, so far, come to pass.
Whatever the motive, the important potential can be found in the fact that Prop. 8 is still alive in the courts, and today’s example of why its death is so vital could turn public opinion just far enough to give gay people the rights they lost last November.
…And that could be the first worthwhile thing any Soap ever did.
