All My Children's resident lesbian character, Bianca (Eden Riegel), has had a tough time of it in the last few months: just days after she finally got a girlfriend, Lena (Olga Sosnovska) and the two shared their first (and only) kiss, Bianca was raped and subsequently discovered she was pregnant, while Lena tried to commit suicide. In the process, Lena and Bianca's relationship fell apart (the two women have rarely even been in the same room together in the last few months), while Bianca's friendship with best-friend Maggie (Elizabeth Hendrickson) is suddenly front-and-center again.

This series of tragic events in Bianca's life has conveniently saved All My Children from having to deal with the controversial aspects of featuring a lesbian relationship on the show. Since admitting that in fact, they're not willing to treat Bianca and Lena just like every other couple on the show, and that the much-hyped "first lesbian kiss on daytime" was primarily a ratings stunt, would undermine the "we're so progressive" drumbeat they've been sounding so proudly since Bianca and Lena shared their first (and only) on-screen kiss almost six months ago, AMC is doing everything possible to put off the inevitable moment when they will have to either give Bianca's relationships equal treatment, or acknowledge the double-standard.

Bianca's pregnancy also represents a step backwards in the development of her character, since it almost assures her continued asexuality in the near future. The pregnant-lesbian storyline is a favorite refuge for TV writers who both want to avoid dealing with the sexual aspects of lesbian relationships and who want to "normalize" the lesbian characters--to show viewers that, at their core, lesbians are just like heterosexual women (who of course, all want to be mothers).

Not that the last few months haven't seen a few positive developments on All My Children. Eden Riegel has played her role to great effect; although many viewers vehemently dislike the direction her character has taken, Riegel's performance has been almost universally praised (as has Sosnovska's performance, despite the limited screen time she's been given).

The fact that Bianca's friendship with Maggie has been given more screen time has made BAM (Bianca-and-Maggie) fans happy, as well, and given new life to the character of Maggie, who was languishing in her previous storyline with former boyfriend Henry. It's a nice reward for all the fans of Bianca and Maggie who've waited patiently to see them together again.

But Bianca's renewed (platonic) friendship with Maggie has supplanted Bianca's relationship with Lena, as Maggie and Bianca make plans to share an apartment together, go away together for the last stages of Bianca's pregnancy (although this is unlikely to actually happenp), and even raise the baby together--activities that are usually shared by couples.

Reinforcing the confusion between Bianca's relationship with Maggie and Bianca's relationship with Lena is the fact that recent dialogue between Bianca and Maggie seems to imply there may be something more behind her desire to help Bianca than simply friendship. When Bianca's mom, Erica (Susan Lucci), questions Bianca and Maggie about this news, Maggie tells her "don’t worry, we’re gonna take care of each other" and when Bianca questions Maggie's decision to take a leave of absence from college to help Bianca with the pregnancy, Maggie tells her "did it ever occur to you that I wanna be with you?” Maggie even throws in an "I love you" for good measure.

Compare these to Lena's statements to Bianca in the same week: "whatever it is that you’re afraid to tell me, we’ll deal with it together," followed by "this feels so right. You and me, together, talking again," and "just remember that I love you."

Even the soap magazines are contributing to the confusion. Soaps In Depth recently put Bianca and Maggie on the cover of an October issue previewing November storylines with the caption "Together At Last!" even though the actual article does not address the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two. Around the same time, Soap Opera Weekly included a pinup poster of Bianca and Lena in their magazine--the first ever pinup of a lesbian couple in a soap magazine.

For lesbians on All My Children, friendship appears to be an acceptable substitute for romance--not that there is much difference between friendship and romance for Bianca in the first place. Bianca's romantic relationship with Lena (for the two or three days it lasted) looked almost exactly like her current platonic friendship with Maggie. While it is certainly okay and even a positive development that Bianca and Maggie are spending more time together, their friendship is looking more and more like a romantic relationship without actually being one.

If the Maggie-Bianca relationship is heading down a path towards romance, then all of this buildup is fine; if AMC has no intention of having Maggie come out, however, then it just feels like exploitation.

AMC has stated in the past that Maggie is straight (when Bianca confessed her feelings to Maggie in January 2003, Maggie's response was "I love you...but I'm into guys"), and there is no official indication so far that they have changed their position on this. As long as they insist on maintaining Maggie's heterosexuality and keeping Lena at bay, the innuendo and long looks between Maggie and Bianca--and Bianca and Lena--seem like nothing more than a blatant attempt to have it both ways: keep lesbian viewers watching by dangling the possibility of a lesbian relationship, while always ensuring it is just out of reach.

Viewers may prefer one pairing over the other, and that's simply a matter of personal taste, but the point is that All My Children is continually hinting at both and following through on neither.

Ultimately, this means all Bianca fans, whether they're rooting for a Maggie-Bianca pairing or a Lena-Bianca one, will end up disappointed. All My Children needs to develop a relationship between Maggie and Bianca, or stop writing dialogue between the two that sounds like a love poem; at the same time, they need to either rekindle Lena and Bianca's romance, or stop pretending they're going to.

Soap operas are all about teasing, of course, and couples are continually brought together and pulled apart as various obstacles are placed in their path to relationship bliss. On-and-off relationships are what keeps viewers tuning in.

But the permanent position for Bianca's relationships seem to be "off," and this, combined with the fact that there aren't any other lesbian relationships to offset Bianca's, is where the double-standard arises. For every straight couple on AMC that is wrenched apart, there is almost always another straight couple proclaiming their undying love for each other in the same episode (usually before locking in a steamy embrace).

For every lesbian couple that's pulled apart, there's...well, nothing else. And even when they are together, the lesbians are only allowed to hold hands.