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One of the companies they planned to contact was Subaru, whose national ad manager Mark Dunn said at the time, “We advertise on programs we think will reach our targeted audience. Just because you advertise on a show doesn’t mean you support every issue raised in it.” Since 1991, Subaru has become one of the most gay-friendly companies in the world, and has produced commercials with Martina Navratilova and been featured on The L Word.

Perhaps the inclusion of Subaru on Wildmon’s list was a predictor of the way things would go for the American Family Association, because none of their product boycotts ever proved to be very successful. However, NBC didn’t know that at the time, and shortly after Wildmon’s group issued its statements, NBC backtracked from its previous support of the C.J.-and-Abby storyline.

Sue Binford, NBC’s spokeswoman, stated, “We were not attempting to create a lesbian character in that episode. It was much more of an attempt to add texture to C.J.’s character. It was a minor part of the overall story line.” The network, apparently, had never intended to develop a lesbian or bisexual storyline for C.J.

Michele Green left the show at the end of the season amidst rumors that she didn’t want to be part of a lesbian storyline, but producers insisted that she only wanted to pursue other interests. In an interview with AfterEllen.com in March 2003, Green stated, “On LA Law they never intended to explore the issue of a relationship between two women; it was about ratings during sweeps, so I always found it a bit cynical.” Green’s assertion is likely to be correct. During the fifth season of L.A. Law the series also included a controversial interracial romance—another sign that the series was looking to up its ratings.

Nevertheless, “He’s a Crowd” was indeed groundbreaking. The relatively mild protests that followed showed that America was ready to see women kissing each other on television, and television delivered. Beginning with this kiss, the early 1990s became known as a period of “lesbian chic,” with a plethora of Sapphic smooching on television. Picket Fences featured a lesbian kiss (although in a darkened room) between Kim (Holly Marie Combs) and Lisa (Alexondra Lee) in 1993; Roseanne Barr kissed Mariel Hemingway (of Personal Best fame) on Roseanne in 1994; Outer Limits and Deep Space Nine entered the lesbian kissing fray in 1995; Relativity in 1996; and in 1997 Ellen DeGeneres came out and kissed her costar, Lisa Darr, on Ellen.

Fourteen years later, the lesbian sweeps kiss is a tried-and-true staple of television producers eager to generate ratings. Although most of the “lesbians” are actually straight characters who go back to being straight after sweeps, nonetheless the fact that so many women are kissing each other on primetime television shows that we have made significant strides in terms of visibility. Fewer television shows have included regular recurring lesbian characters, but progress has been made there as well, on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once and Again, and The O.C.

Even though the 1991 L.A. Law kiss only lasted for a few seconds, it showed that lesbians could express physical affection without serious backlash, and gave producers the greenlight to do it again, and again, and again.