On April 22, 2003, the first lesbian kiss on daytime television occurred between Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) and Lena Kundera (Olga Sosnovska) on the ABC soap opera, “All My Children.” Since it premiered in 1970, “All My Children” had earned a reputation for tackling a number of controversial topics, including AIDS, abortion and racial bias. Previous to the on-screen kiss, Riegel had already made history by playing the first openly gay character on an American soap starting in 2000.
In a 2000 interview with The Advocate, “All My Children” creator Agnes Nixon shared that Chastity Bono’s memoir inspired Biana’s storyline. Nixon hoped “outing” a character that was already established on her show would help homosexuals gain more acceptance in society. In 2000, 16-year-old Bianca revealed her sexuality to her shocked mother, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). Kane sought therapy to deal with her daughter’s revelation, but eventually, the mother and daughter reconciled on the show. Riegel shared in a 2005 New York Times interview: “I heard from kids who watched the show with their parents and came out because they saw, with their mom and dad, how Erica Kane responded.”
Photo: Courtesy of ABC
Audiences ultimately embraced the openly gay character. In a Variety interview, executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers explained: “We did not tell a story about a lesbian. We told a story about a young girl coming out and her life around it..If you can make people care on a human level, it’s not sexual preference. It’s about the human experience.” In 2003, “All My Children” further mainstreamed the experiences of LGBTQ characters when Bianca kissed her new friend Lena. Their lesbian kiss is not only considered a daytime-TV landmark but an important moment for gay rights advocates.
By the time Riegel left the show in 2005, Bianca had become a much-loved heroine on the show. As one “All My Children” writer revealed in a 2005 New York Times interview: “It’s stunning. The lesbian girl became the moral tent pole of our show.” Audiences immediately considered characters who went against the openly gay Bianca to be “the bad guy.” Today, more and more characters identify as a homosexual on daytime television, carrying on the legacy from the groundbreaking moment in “All My Children.”