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“Youngest ever” gay kiss on US TV

A kiss between two 13 year olds triggers debate, but creators describe it as a true "first kiss" for a gay person.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVflpLWFCtA

A kiss is just a kiss yet media in the US are debating a same-sex kiss on drama series The Fosters, due to the age of the characters, just 13 years old.

The scene is being described as the youngest ever gay kiss on US television.

The Fosters, which airs in Australia on FOX8, focuses on the story of a lesbian couple and their family of biological and fostered children.

Last week, friends Jude (Hayden Byerly, 14) and Connor (Gavin MacIntosh, 15) kissed after a build-up around their blossoming relationship.

Show co-creators Peter Paige (Queer as Folk) and Bradley Bredeweg defended the scene, following criticism on social media.

“When people question the scene my response has been: ‘Everyone has a first kiss and you remember it. How old were you?’ Ninety percent of people who have an answer come back and say, ‘I was 12, 13 and 14 years old,’ and I say, ‘Exactly. It was time to see this, time to put this up for the world,'” Bredeweg said. “Then people understand, they’re able to wrap their heads around it.”

“I would say its very easy to baulk at or sensationalise the headline, but its hard to deny the truth or the integrity of the whole story,” Paige added. “We are here to tell the true stories of what it is to grow up and these are true stories of what it is to grow up as a young, potentially gay person. It’s the truth and that’s all.”

14 year old Byerly said the scene would impact for those in the LGBT community.

“It was very important to portray a character that is going through a struggle that so many people go through,” he said. “I want people to watch the show and see the struggle that Jude goes though and feel more comfortable about themselves; to feel like it doesn’t matter whether you are gay or straight or bisexual or transgender or whatever you are, that you are happy with who you are, and that you are accepting of yourself. My hope is that people watch the scene and they are happy to see something on television that represents them.”

Season 2 of The Fosters is currently airing Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on FOX8.

Source: Huffington Post

8 Responses

  1. The best drama is always based on real people and real situations … there is no question that this is just a “slice of real life” for many thousands of teenagers around the world … good on the writers for being truthful and also maintaining the dignity of the characters and the show!
    Don’t fear the crazies … just put the truth out there! 🙂

    1. Bit confusing…if you’re acknowledging it is an issue, that would deem it newsworthy. However the site has varying degrees of what is relevant. As a blog there are news, reactions, colour pieces and more. This one has a TV history angle to it, and the show airs on FOX8.

  3. 1968 and media went nuts over the first black/white interracial kiss on U.S. TV. Captain Kirk and Uhura. 13 years after Rosa Parks boarded the bus and sat where she wanted to. Indeed, these things take a long long time.

  5. It’s sad that the media has turned this into a sexualisation debate, because The Fosters’ writers have done a truly wonderful job of charting Connor and Jude’s emotional development over the first two seasons of the show. To me, it comes back to the fundamental Christian argument that hetero relationships are ‘love’, and gay relationships are merely ‘sex’. I’d like to think that storylines like this will help to influence the next generation, but the wider media coverage proves that we still have a very long way to go.

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