[NSFW] Why don't they show gay couples on TV kissing?

Have you seen our society lately? How many states allow gay marriage?

There are people out there that dislike homosexuals simply because it grosses them out.

On the show Whitney that aired on Thursday in prime-time on NBC they had two women making out. But when two women do it it is sexy and when two guys do the same it is gross.

It just seems so hypocritical of the show altough I understand they’re in it to make money and not promote an agenda.

An brief history (with commentary) of same-sex kissing on television can be found here. The bottom line seems to be that it’s getting less controversial, but don’t expect it to be treated as normal quite yet.

The recently cancelled Brothers & Sisters (starring Sally Field as family matriarch, Nora) showed a gay couple kissing and flirting fairly regularly. Kevin (Nora’s son) and his boyfriend then husband (Scotty) were shown kissing, flirting, laying in bed, cuddling on the couch. They even adopted a little girl and fathered an infant through a surrogate.

Pretty progressive stuff. Could be why the show was cancelled. :^(

Watch Eastenders, the boys are always snogging on there, full on too! And this is before the 9pm curfew. Nothing like a pure British soap :-)

Entrenched homophobia.

Things are starting to change on British TV in that respect. Most soaps have a gay relationship somewhere and there’s usually plenty of kissing. Also Coronation Street has had a transsexual for years and years.

Can’t beat Torchwood for gay kissing though.

Because that is the next tolerance hurdle. Remember a few years back, African Americans and Latino’s as well as Mexican people almost never saw anyone who represented themselves on regular programming unless they went to BET or the Spanish language channels.

Now that they have LOGO and other Gay and Lesbian and transgender shows on that channel soon they will begin to bring it more mainstream.

It’s bull$hit… But that’s the way it goes. People have to be desensitized gradually because hatred is residule and older than dirt.

@downtide beat me to it! Torchwood has plenty of gay kissing. Along with other implied acts.

You often see gay kissing on British TV. It is not uncommon for soaps (Coronation Street for example) and comedy/dramas such as Shameless to have gay/lesbian couples kissing on screen.

Just to point out – Modern Family does address this as it’s own created plot point (some time in season 2, I think the second episode, maybe third??). You can read about it a bit here.

I think it’s because a lot of straight people still don’t want to see two people of the same sex kissing, and especially have their kids watching it too. It’s offensive to a lot of people. I think things are slowly changing, but it won’t be a common thing any time soon.

All I have to say is if people think gay is so taboo and wrong, wait til they get a load of the sexual underbelly of SM/BD! I worked for a fetish specialty store and they have many sexy parties, in many large cities, sometimes hosted by porn stars, and you can find them by picking up their trendy little ads in some adult stores. One here is called Winter Wickedness in Columbus and it’s usually held at the Holiday Inn, in Westerville, Ohio.

Either because someone in the office still has standards unlikely or because it grosses people out (or else the display of such blatantly sinful behavior angers them), and grossed-out (or angry) people change channels and bam! Viewership lost, ad revenue lost, stock value lost, etc.
@spykenij We very specifically don’t want to “get a load of the underbelly of SM/BD.”

@Nullo – Are you okay with seeing heterosexual people kiss on television? I ask this because you mentioned having standards in your post.

@tedibear Within reason. TV is no place for face-eating contests. Same goes for public spaces. And nix the cohabitation while you’re there. And it’s perfectly possible to tell a story without anybody winding up in bed with anybody else. And profanity! Profanity is for the dumb bad guy to use when his feeble mind can’t come up with a more eloquent protest.

I grow weary of people constantly pushing to normalize, particularly via the media, sinful behavior. Maybe, if instead of pushing a social agenda these TV shows would introduce language to keep reading comprehension levels up, we’d have a more literate audience.

@Nullo We don’t consider it sinful. We do consider it normal.

To answer the question, cable TV channels do a much better job of this. HBO, in particular, has plenty of same sex kissing and more overtly sexual acts. Network TV is mostly aimed at the lowest common denominator.

@augustlan Of course. Needless to say (so I say it anyway) it is not your opinion, or mine, that matters.

Your god’s opinion doesn’t matter to most of the people in the world. You do know that, right?

I just saw two dudes making out on an episode of Mad Men.

@augustlan I am aware, yes. We need to step up evangelism.
I and those like me consider it sinful and abnormal.

@Nullo That was sarcasm, right? Heh…heh…. :/

@Nullo If your God is a bigot, then He can go to Hell.

And Kurt and Blaine kissed, on Glee. Things are changing.

@lillycoyote And Brittany and Santana also kissing on Glee.

@Aethelflaed I thought they did but I wasn’t sure. And, apparently, people seem to have a bigger problem with men kissing than with women kissing. So I posted that one, with the picture, for them. :-)

@lillycoyote Yeah, it’s part of the whole male sexuality is valid and female sexuality isn’t, so while lesbians are seen as less threatening, there’s also a long past of people trying to advance gay rights through really only gay men. For example, Will & Grace had only about 3 episodes in which lesbians were featured. So I’m really thrilled than Glee is trying to go “ok, but gay people happen in both sexes, not just men, and lesbian kissing on tv doesn’t have to be either more girl-on-girl (aka for the straight male viewers) or extremely butch women being seen as the only legit form of lesbian – there’s a middle ground, and more diversity, and we’re going to go after that”.

“Six Feet Under” did a fine job of this. But then that was cable (HBO I think, I forget)

They don’t need to.

Because people are close-minded. It’s okay if a straight couple kiss, but apparently seeing a gay couple kiss is inappropriate and not child friendly. It’s ridiculous.