While the representation of lesbians and gays on primetime television has made great strides since Ellen Morgan came out in 1997, daytime television--that bastion of conservative television viewers--has lagged far behind. It wasn't until the fall of 2000 that daytime TV got it's first lesbian lead character, when teenager Bianca Montgomery came out on All My Children.

For the next two and a half years, in true soap style, Bianca drifted in and out of failed relationships, until, in the Winter of 2003, Polish-born actress Olga Sosnovska joined the cast of All My Children as Lena Kundera, a financial whiz and corporate spy bent on stealing Enchantment's secret formula to a revolutionary anti-aging cream. Originally meant to be a short-term character, the mysterious and sexy Lena immediately caught on with viewers as well as the boss' daughter--despite the fact that Lena was initially a bisexual schemer, equally comfortable plying her charms on both men and women.

Sparks flew between Bianca and Lena and AMC soon found itself with not one, but two, lesbian icons.

The pairing of Lena and Bianca quickly became a hit with viewers, regularly knocking older more established heterosexual couples out of the #1 spot on internet and soap magazine readers' polls. In another historical first, in October 2003, 60,000 votes were cast in Soap Opera Weekly's Hottest Soap Couple contest, and Bianca and Lena emerged as the winning couple, resulting in the first time a same-sex couple has ever been featured in a 2 page glossy centerfold poster (sold at grocery store check-out counters across America with nary a complaint). This is ground-breaking social change, made possible in part by both Eden Riegel and Olga Sosnovska's talent and hard work.

Olga is no stranger to change, having moved at age 11, from Poland to England with her brother and her parents amidst the turbulence of the Polish Solidarity movement. She is quick to point out, however, that even though her father did spend time in jail during that era, their move was influenced by economic rather than political pressure. “My parents don’t think of themselves as political refugees; my father was offered a job in England.” She also mentions that the intention was to return home eventually, “They insisted on a two-way passport, but it became a practical choice not to return.”

Then in 2001, Olga made another major change, moving from London to New York in support of her American husband's acting career--just as she was making headlines on the other side of the Atlantic with her role as Andrea Patton in the ITV domestic thriller, Take Me, a six-part series centered on a rural neighborhood of kinky, wife-swapping socialites.

Since then, Ms. Sosnovska has been seen (almost) daily on TV screens across America as one half of history in the making. Did she realize that by accepting this role in a soap opera that she would be stepping into so much controversy? Not exactly, she told me in a recent phone conversation. "I’m still coming to terms with this phenomenon of Lianca, with the devotion that I’m shown as a couple on TV, and the whole concept of fans. The letters that I get are heart breaking. It’s horrible that even now in the 21st century [so many lesbians] feel the need to hide. Not everyone is confident enough to face the world, and not everyone lives in a safe environment.”

“I never really thought about it before--it doesn’t occur to you that this medieval type of mentality occurs," she adds. "It’s horrifying what happens.” But Olga sees the decision to be out as a personal choice, saying “I don’t blame people who choose not be out.”

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