The History of TV's Gay Teens from "ATWT" to "Queer as Folk"

Noah: Is this painful for you? You wrecked my entire life and you’re the one who’s wounded?
Luke: So you’re mad? You’re mad at ME? You think I did something?
Noah: I think you did what you’ve wanted to every since we…
Luke: Ever since we what, ever since we what, ever since we kissed? You can’t even say it.
Noah: It wasn’t your decision.
Luke: I didn’t do anything… I told her that she needed to talk to you. What I’ve been telling you for weeks.
Noah: Luke, you could have...
Luke: I could have what? Lied? Covered for you again? Lied to my friend? So we can just go on pretending?
Noah: I’m not lying to her. I want to move in with her. I want things to go back to the way they were before… before you screwed everything up.
Luke: Okay, just hold up! Just a minute. We both know that I have been nothing but honest since the beginning. And it was you who came on to me. I didn’t try to seduce you. I didn’t try to convert you. And now that Maddie knows what you are, well that, as they say, is inevitable.
Noah: I… I… I’ve gotta go find Maddie. I’ve gotta tell her that I’m not like you.
Luke: Yeah, you’re not like me, that’s for damn sure. At least I’m happy with who I am.
Noah: (Looking like he’s going to cry) Luke… it’s not… damn… (Runs out the door.)

Gay teenagers on other soap operas have been involved primarily in storylines dealing with social issues like homophobia and AIDS rather than love, romance, betrayal, lies, cheating, and all the other staples of soap opera relationships, so Luke and Noah’s perfect storm of a summer romance is a genuine daytime first for a gay male couple.

A Somewhat Better Story on Nighttime Television

Historically, nighttime television has done a somewhat better job of fleshing out its gay teenaged characters and their love stories, particularly on American cable and in Canada, where Degrassi: The Next Generation puts most American teen dramas to shame in its treatment of gay and lesbian youth. It wasn’t always that good, though; just like on the soaps, gay teens in prime time started out as social issue fodder. Not until 1998 and the second season of popular teen drama Dawson’s Creek did a gay teenager actually have a love life – and get kissed, too.

Here is a look back at the history of gay male teens on television.

The Truth About Alex (1986)

Based on Ann Snyder’s novel Counterplay, this 1986 HBO movie borrowed a few pages from the “afterschool special” genre for a look at a gay high school student, Alex Prager (Peter Spence). Alex’s best friend and football teammate, Brad Stevens (Scott Baio), is headed for West Point, to the great joy of his father, a career army officer.

Alex is outed when he’s approached in a gas station bathroom by a gay man who, after Alex fights him off, claims the teenager approached him. Brad’s loyalty to his friend is severely tested when Alex admits that he is, in fact, gay. Both his father and his girlfriend Kay (Jessica Steen) demand that Brad cut his ties to Alex, and things finally erupt on the football field during the championship game.

Although the plot and tone of the film are much more “after school special” than the kind of dramas HBO later aired, it marked what might have been the first sympathetic portrayal of the struggles faced by gay teenagers in high school ever shown on television. Brad’s ultimate decision to support his friend in the face of massive pressure to cut him out of his life is clearly presented as a triumph of virtue over prejudice, and the casting of Baio lent the considerable power of his teen-idol status to that message.