The last couple of decades have seen significant progress toward recognizing LGBT rights. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada nationwide in 2005, and in the United States in 2015. At the same time, gay and lesbian relationships have become acceptable and normal among most of society. This has been reflected on TV and in film. Onscreen gay relationships have changed along with society’s view and level of comfort with them, from the cautiousness of the late 1990s and early 2000s with minimal kissing and physical contact to the full-blown gay sex scenes we see today. At the same time, shows and movies have encouraged acceptance by portraying them as a normal, everyday thing. Here are 10 of the most memorable gay relationships ever seen on screen.
Willow Rosenberg & Tara Maclay - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay’s two-and-a-half-year relationship on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the first ongoing, long-term gay relationships on TV. Willow (Alyson Hannigan) is reeling from her breakup with her ex-boyfriend when she meets Tara (Amber Benson) at a college Wicca group, where they bond over their shared interest in witchcraft and spells. The producers were reluctant to show them kissing or having sex, so magic often substituted for sexual contact in the show. Willow and Tara break up and then reconcile, shown in a shot of them in bed after sex, but Tara is killed by a stray bullet shortly thereafter. The show has been decried for reinforcing the problematic cliché of lesbian sex equals death. But the creators have said their relationship was not meant to be controversial or make a statement—it was just a relationship between two people who cared about each other.
Emily Fields & Paige McCullers - Pretty Little Liars
When Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) and Paige McCullers (Lindsey Shaw) first meet, they hate each other. Paige even threatens Emily with homosexual insults and physical violence. They grow close and start dating after a while, breaking up and getting back together several times, partly because the relationship causes tension between Emily and the other Liars. Both Emily and Paige come from conservative families who struggle with their being gay. Emily helps Paige eventually gain the confidence to come out to her family. They live together in California for a while. Although Emily ends up with Alison DiLaurentis, who she’s had feelings for since the beginning of the show, it doesn’t stop fans from wishing “Paily” had worked out.
Piper Chapman and Alex Vause - Orange Is the New Black
Piper Chapman and Alex Vause meet again in prison years after their relationship has ended, but their love has not. Piper has a fish tattoo signifying her love for Alex, saying “Love is pain, not beauty,” and Alex gets a “Love is pain” tattoo in response. Piper was actually put into prison because Alex, angry at the relationship breakdown, turned her in during a drug ring case. Their feelings for each other are rekindled, and after they survive a kidnapping in which they are bound and gagged, along with another inmate who dies, they realize that life is short and they want to be together. Piper proposes in the middle of the crisis, asking Alex to be her partner through love, pain, and beauty fish. To which Alex snarkily responds, “I figured that’s what you were doing,” before accepting, and then asking, “You had to do this now?”
Therese Belivet and Carol Aird - Carol
Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett) meet when Carol comes into the New York department store where Therese works. Carol is separated from her husband, who knows she has had a gay relationship before and is threatening to use a morality clause to get full custody of their daughter. This is the 1950s, an era when divorce is still taboo and gay people were considered unfit to be a parent. The story is unusual in that everyone else around them takes issue with how Carol and Therese feel about each other, but they themselves don’t. Neither woman tries to fight their homosexual impulses nor their attraction to each other. Carol is first and foremost a romantic movie that happens to tell the story of a gay couple, rather than a movie about being gay. It gives us a happy ending in a genre where the opposite is far more common. Carol was one of the first LGBT movies to be seriously considered for an Oscar.
