Slowly but surely, we are getting to a place where LGBTQI people can express themselves freely on television. Today, we’ve reached another mini-milestone: a same-sex couple will feature for the first time on an Australian reality dating show.
While same-sex couples have featured on reality shows before (for example, Warren and Gavin from ‘The Block‘ in 2003), but this will be the first time we’ve been able to watch the blossoming (or fizzling) of love between two men on an Aussie dating show.
On Channel 7 reality show ‘First Dates‘, a remedial massage therapist named Iain and a celebrity psychic named Harry will go on a blind date, and make the difficult decision to decide if they like each other enough to get something poppin’.
Harry said that their inclusion was a really positive sign:
“I remember going into the experience thinking this could be so much bigger than just me. It could be real platform for other people out there who don’t have the opportunity to witness same-sex love on TV. I’ve never seen it.“I’m so glad I did this because it really creates another voice for people out there who are unheard or unseen. I think this is for the whole LGBTI community.”
When Gavin and Warren were on The Block, they also spoke of the importance of openly-LGBTQI people being on television:
“Our appearance on television made such a huge difference in making the general public realise that we were good people and being gay or straight doesn’t really make a difference.”
Channel 9 also said last year that they’d be including same-sex couples in the next season of their reality dating show, ‘Married at First Sight’, and gave potential contestants an option to select their preferred gender for a partner on application forms.
The episode of ‘First Dates’ featuring Harry and Iain will be on Channel 7 at 9pm on Wednesday.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Channel 7.
