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

One Life to Live (1992)

Luke Snyder wasn’t the first out gay teen on television, or even the first out gay teen on a soap opera, even if he and Noah did share the first gay kiss on a daytime soap. That honor belongs to One Life to Live’s Billy Douglas, played by a young Ryan Phillippe.

Like the teenager in The Truth About Alex, Billy was also outed by an accusation that he was sexually involved with a man. An obligatory scheming vixen falsely claimed that Billy and Reverend Andrew Carpenter were having an affair. The story got into a big messy stew of pedophilia and AIDS, including a visit to the Names Project quilt.

My So Called Life (1994)

One Christmas Eve, when actor Wilson Cruz was a teenager, he told his parents he was gay, and they kicked him out of the house. He spent some time crashing with friends and sleeping in his car. Although he later reconciled with his parents, Cruz took that experience and, less than a year later, used it to help develop one of the earliest portrayals of a gay teenager on American television, the role of Rickie in the cult series My So-Called Life.

Rickie is the 15-year-old best friend of Angela Chase (Claire Danes), and a student at Liberty High in a fictitious Pittsburgh suburb. He lives with an uncle who is physically abusive. In one of the show’s most groundbreaking episodes, “So-Called Angels,” Rickie, finds himself beaten and thrown out onto the streets on a cold Christmas Eve.

My So-Called Life didn’t usually take the easy route with its storylines, and never wrapped everything up in a single heartwarming episode. Most of Rickie’s friends would have helped him if they’d known what was going on, but his sense of shame over being gay and being abused kept him mostly silent; the teenage code of honor did the rest, as even those more street-smart classmates who had it all figured out didn’t reveal his secrets – a decision that nearly cost Rickie his life.

With the help of another homeless teenager who we later find out is an angel, he ends up finding a foster home with gay English teacher Richard Katimski and his partner. And yes, this show was made over 13 years ago.

In addition to its initial run on ABC, for which it received critical acclaim but low ratings, My So-Called Life was also in heavy rotation throughout the 90s on MTV, and has achieved cult status since then. Cruz has continued to advocate for gay youth, particularly those struggling with coming out, abuse, homelessness, and HIV. He recently told Atlantaboy.com that doing the show “was a complete blessing. People go 20 or 30 years as an actor and don't get the opportunity to say something and be of service. I was able to give a voice….”