Producer Greg Berlanti was awarded the Governor’s Award at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night, and he reminded us all of some of the groundbreaking queer TV moments he was responsible for.
Berlanti, who produced shows like Dawson’s Creek, Arrow, Riverdale, Everwood, Du, And Supergirl to name a few, was honored for his groundbreaking work in the field of queer representation on television.
The award was presented to him by Matt Bomer and Joshua Jackson, who historical gay kiss To Dawson’s Creek: The mysterious setting between Jack McPhee and another boy, Ethan.
In 2000, actress Kerr Smith called the kiss “a part of history.”
Jack’s gay story was created by Berlanti and the show’s other queer creator, Kevin Williamson.
In his acceptance speech, Berlanti spoke about what it was like growing up without queer representation.
“Like so many Gen X kids in the ’70s and ’80s, the only color TV our family could afford was on 24/7 in our house, and I always watched it and loved it. There weren’t many gay characters on TV back then, and I was a closeted gay guy,” he said. “Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if they were watching, too. dynastyAnd Dallas and could name all four Golden Girls.”
Thanks to him, a whole generation can now see plenty of gay characters on television!
