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Not
only do African-American shows almost
never include recurring lesbian characters, they rarely feature
lesbian-themed episodes of any kind, which is in sharp
contrast to the too-numerous-to-count lesbian-themed episodes
that seem to occur once a year on almost every mainstream show,
like Ally McBeal, Fastlane,
Boston Public, Smallville,
The Division, Boomtown,
and The Handler.
Prior
to 2003, in fact, there have only been a handful of lesbian-themed
episodes of African-American shows, beginning with the 1996 episode
of the Fox sitcom Living Single titled "Woman to
Woman," in which Max's (Erika Alexander) roommate from college
comes out to her as a lesbian and invites her to her wedding to
another woman. Max is upset that Shayla (Karen Malina White) had
been keeping the truth from her all these years, and even more
upset to discover Shayla did so because she was secretly in love
with Max.
Max
does not have a problem with Shayla being in love with her as
much as lying to her; complicating matters is Max's discovery
that her friend Khadijah (Queen Latifah) had known all along.
When
Max declares that she won't go to the wedding because their entire
friendship has been based on a lie, Khadijah and Max's other friends
Synclaire (Kim Coles) and Regine (Kim Fields) help her realize
she needs to forgive Shayla, since Shayla had only kept the truth
from Max because she was afraid of losing Max's friendship.
Next,
there was an episode of Malcolm & Eddie in September
of 1997 in which Malcolm (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) and his gay sister
Maura (JoNell Kennedy) compete for the same woman. She also appeared
later that season in an episode called "Tough Love"
in which Maura gets fired and dumped in the same week, and then
in one more episode that season called "Mixed Nuts"
when Malcolm and Maura throw a surprise party for their father.
In
a March 2000 episode of The Parkers, Professor Oglevee's
(Dorien Wilson) new girlfriend Angela (Traci Bingham) turns out
to be bisexual, and Nikki (Mo'Nique) and Veronica (Paulette Braxton)
try to reunite Angela with her ex-lover so that Nikki can go after
Professor Olgevee herself.
Finally,
in 2002, there was a February episode of Soul Food in
which Bird's customer (Raven Dauda) hits on her, and an October
episode of Girlfriends in which William's sister Linda
is introduced when she asks William to be the sperm donor for
the baby she and her partner want to have.
So
this single night on UPN last week, combined with the
Soul Food storyline this summer, means 2003 so far has
seen almost as many lesbian-themed episodes on African-American
shows than the last five years put together.
Which
begs the question: does this increase in lesbian-themed episodes
reflect a growing acceptance of lesbianism within black communities--a
new openness, however gradual, towards the subject of homosexuality--or
is it just about ratings?
That
these three lesbian-themed episodes on UPN last week were scheduled
during November Sweeps is clearly not coincidental, since the
introduction of (short-term) lesbian characters and themes are
among the networks favorite tricks to boost ratings. But Sweeps
has been occurring for years and this is the first time any African-American
shows have used lesbianism to boost ratings.
Shows
targeted to the African-American community have generally been
among the last to feature lesbian characters or themes, for a
host of reasons related to the black community's historically
complicated relationship with homosexuality, including the belief
held by some that homosexuality is a threat to the survival of
the black family, and is a "white" problem which has
infiltrated the black community (these are some of the same reasons
there are very few lesbian or bisexual characters in films
created by and for the black community, as well).
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