Hotshots

There are some gay characters in soap operas that have, how to say it... quite fancy occupations! Or at least occupations where I guess being gay is not a walk in the park. Police as an example. I imagine that it is not that easy to come out as a police officer. The story of Oliver Fish in One life to live tells us that, and I do believe that it is not just fiction.

Oliver Fish.

Oliver Fish (Scott Evans) had a really hard time coming out after years and years of denial, and as he feared, his parent were not supportive at all. But as far as I can remember his collegues were alright. And he also had the support of his beloved Kyle.

Menno Kuiper.

And then we have Menno Kuiper (Dave Mantel) in Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden. He was the lover of the regular Lucas Sanders, and they even got married. But I read somewhere that Menno did beat Lucas up and then he disappeared from the series. I still haven't started with this Dutch soap, but it is my summer project, so I have to get back to you on that.

Nicolas Barrel.

And here's my sweetie Nicolas Barrel (Nicolas Herman) from Plus Belle La Vie. I just adore him! Both the character and the actor! A sweeter guy is really hard to find! He started out as a cop, and also had a hard time with his family. His collegues appreciated him a lot, but his father was a real homophobe, and we understand that Nicolas became a cop to prove his manliness to his father. Poor Nicolas. But it seems he enjoyed it anyway. Until he had to fake his death and work undercover. And then he became a lawyer instead! And after he came back to life and chocked the hell of his boyfriend Thomas, he continued working as a lawyer. I like the new Nicolas, but I kind of miss the old police-Nicolas anyway...

Florian Estève.

And speaking of men of the law, Thomas' new boyfriend after Nicolas, Florian (Franck Borde), was even a judge! But I don't really get how judges work in France. I think that he worked more as a prosecutor. He was very much out on the fields. But he was also a cutie and you can't really dislike him, even if you are Thomas/Nicolas-shipper. Florian was a really lovely guy. And also, a little bird whispered that Thomas is going to date a doctor after Florian. But I have to get back to you on that to.

Kieron Hobbs.

The most controversial character has to be Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks) in Hollyoaks who was a priest. A catholic such. And as you know, they have a chastity vow. He broke that a lot of times with Jon Paul, deservedly, because later he got murdered by John Paul's half brother. At least he got some shagging before he died! And love, of course!

Kalle Laitela.

And we do have a lot of doctors. My favourite are Kalle Laitela (Pete Lattu) in Salatut Elmät. He is just such a lovely character. And he also got promoted to some kind of head physician lately. And he has got his fair share of homophobia through the years. His father, Ismo, was a real homophome back in the days and his collegues seem to be assholes! There's a lot of gossip and bullshit talk about him and his boyfriend Lari, just because Lari is a little bit younger. But that is no biggie, really!

Kai Seebach.

Another favourite is Kai Seebach (Alexander Gier) in Alles Was Zählt. He was working as a sports physician in the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre and had a love story with the very closetered football player Joscha. He was just a really nice character and I do miss both him and Joscha very much! When will AWZ have a new gay storyline?!

Tom Seifert.

Another German doctor is Tom Seifert (Kay Böger) in Verbotene Liebe who used to date lli, and then dated Olli and then went back to Ulli, but after the character left the show. But we know that because we got a little sneak peak into Tom and Ulli's lives when VL had their 10th anniversery. Tom was also a really nice character who always wanted all well. From that point, I think he and Olli was very suibtable for eachother. But I am a Tulli shipper. Totally!

Dr Jo Helmke (and Olli).

And it seems like Olli has a thing for doctors, because after things went nasty with Christian Olli had a relationship with Dr Jo Helmke (Mickey Hardt). The sleazebag. I am sying that without knowing anything about him. But he looks sleazy and everyone who takes Christian's place is a sleazebag. And that's how it is.

Lucas Jones.

Last but not least we have Dr Lucas Jones (Ryan Carnes) i General Hospital. Well, he was a bit of a unnapproachable doctor, and it took a while for him to start working as one. He was whining something about not being able to be such a god a doctor as his adoptive father. Whiner. But now it's just as he has never done anything other than working as a doctor When he is not making out with Brad. Then it's just he has never done anything but that. But we don't get nough deama from this couple, I have to say. A slower storyline you have to look hard for!

John Paul McQueen.

And you also get a bonus. It might not be any status working as a teacher in Sweden (hich it should be!), but it seems that it's a little bit better in he UK. So therefor I give you John Paul McQueen (James Sutton). The teacher. And also one of my favourites. I think that John Paul has a very important occupation!

A little bit of age difference

Well, if you have read my blog I guess it doesn't come as a surprise that I am a huge Lari and Kalle shipper right now! I think they are perfect for each other. But there are some people that doesn't agree, both in the series and in real life. The biggest objection about a relationship between the two are the age difference. But I don't really get what all the fuzz is about.

Pete Lattu as Kalle and Ronny Roslöf as Lari.

Ok, there are 16 years between them, but that's nothing! Been there, done that. Lari is of age, and Kalle is both warm and kind. Lari has been through so much that he really needs a mature boyfriend, and that is not Elias right now. Just go for it!

Dennis Grabosch as Roman and Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz.

There has been some couples with a bit of age difference before. One of the clearest examples are Deniz and Roman, DeRo. Ok, Deniz Öztürk was 17 when he joined the series in 2007, which makes him born 1990, that's 7 years younger than the actor. Anyway, Roman turned 30 in 2009 or 2010 or something, if I haven't gotten it completely wrong, which makes him about 10 years older than Deniz. And that is nothing! Nothing to worry about there. Maybe when he was under age, but that's niceties. The biggest issue with these two was that they persistated on breaking up all the time!

Carlo Degen as Joscha and Alexander Gier as Kai.

Well, I guess the writers of Alles was zählt like a bit of age difference in their gay storylines. Joscha and Kai, that we had the pleasure of following last year until May this year had a little bit of age difference to I guess. If I understood it right Joscha was about 20-22. Well Kai was a doctor, who had been working for a while, so he have to had been in his thirties. I guess there was about 10 years between those cuties to. And we have already noted that 10 years are nothing! Even 16 years are nothing!

James Sutton as John Paul and Stephen Billinton as Danny.

And then there's John Paul MacQueen and Danny Lomax who had a fling last year. Danny and John Paul worked together and also started sleeping together. Ok, John Paul actually was 17 in 2006. That makes him 25 now. He looks older. That might be because James Sutton is 31. But anyways, Danny Lomax has grown up children so he would be at least 40. I would guess about 45. That means about 20 years of age difference! That is quite a lot, but if everyone is happy it is not a problem. And really, that is just fur years older than 16 years, and as stated before, that is nothing. The problem here was that Danny was married. And, just as an anecdote, he is also Ste's biological dad. Ste and John Paul is dating right know. And Danny also died in a car crash.

Ferry Doedens and Dave Mantel.

There is also suppose to be an age difference between Lucas and Menno from Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, but I haven't seen that storyline yet and they also broke up so I don't really have much to say about them. But I will see it, of course. Anyone who know how much of age difference there was?

So, my point is that age difference is a phenomenon from real life that we also see in soap operas, and not just with yung girls and rich older men. There is nothing shocking with a little bit of age difference so stop nagging about it and let Lari and Kalle snog in peace. Amen.

Gay weddings

Sonny Kiriakis and Will Horton at their wedding.

This week the first gay male wedding i a daytime soap in USA happened. There are a lot of daily, and long-running, soaps in USA so it was about time. The supercouple Will Horton (played by Guy Wilson, previously by Chandler Massey) and Sonny Kiriakis (played by Freddie Smith) from Days of our lives finally tied bands. The couple has been an item since 2012 and finally there was a wedding. It was just as sugery and sleazy as to expect from an american wedding. This with own wedding vows is nothing we are used to in Sweden. We are quite sparing with feelings. But it was cute and we do need lot's and lot's of same sex weddings in american TV.

Kevin Walker and Scotty Wandell in Brothers & Sisters.

It has happened before, but not in a daytime show. In 2008 Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane) got married in the ABC series Bothers & Sisters. They even had Calista Flockhart (Kevin's sister Kitty) as a wedding officiant. The couple are cute as hell and they even got children. We need more of those role models in american TV.

There might be more gay weddings in american TV-shows but they are few. And we have some here and there in the world, but it is not naturally obvious that a same-sex couple can get married, not even in soaps. It is not for instance not allowed in Finland and Germany, the home of Larias, Chrolli and DeRo among others. But that didn't stop Christian and Oliver to get married - twice.

Jo Weil and Thore Schölermann as Olli and Christian.

In Germany it is allowed to enter into partnership since 2001, and that's what Christian Mann (Thore Schölermann) and Oliver Sabel (Jo Weil) did in 2010. And then again in 2012 after a divorse they regretted just a couple of days afterwards. But in Verbotene Liebe, Christian and Olli never talked about anything else than that they were going to get married. The first wedding was even in a church, with a homosexual priest. You can make a "real" church wedding, even though you are not allowed to. But it is really about time for Germany to institute same sex marriage while being such a modern and gay-friendly country.

Menno Kuiper and Lucas Sanders in white.

The Netherlands was the first country to institute same-sex weddings in 2001 and this year they even got a soap gay wedding. Lucas Sanders (ferry Doedens) finally got to keep a love and gets to marry Menno Kuiper (Dave Mantel) in white, in a church (it seems) with Lucas father as a wedding officiant. Beautiful!

Christian Clarke and Syed Masood.

And there finally was a wedding between Christian Clarke (John Partridge) and Syed Masood (Marc Elliott in the British long running show Eastenders. It almost didn't happen, but Syed appeared just in the last second before the wedding officiant left. This happened in 2012, but it was not until this year, 2014, the law about same-sex marriages has became reality for the citicens of England, Wales and Scotland. Northen Ireland still has som leaps to go. In the Christian and Syed wedding Christian said in his (yet again quite cheesy) vows to Syed that he loves him more than all the stars in the heaven. If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

David and Fer kissing, after David's been steeling one of the grooms.

There almost was a gay wedding in Spanish Física o Química in 2010 between Fer and Borja, but just as the couple was going to say yes, David entered the chapel and Fer got doubts. After kissing in the rain and becoming wet, fer decided to go for David instead (yay!) and the couple even asked the wedding officiant to marry them right there and then. But she didn't want to. Bummer. The home country of the actors Adrian Rodriguez and Javier Calvo has gender neutral marriage since 2005, so it could have become reality, right there and then. Unfortunately Fer dies in the next season. Bummer again.

Stefan Holmberg and Micki Sandell.

Exept for the wedding between Jens Erik and Thomas Wallin in Danish 2900 Happiness I am not aware of any gay marriages in a nordic soap opera or TV-series but the one between Micki Sandell and Stefan Holmberg in Rederiet in 2000. But, and there is a but, same-sex marriages was not instituted in Sweden until 2009, so this was actually a registered partnership. Why do we always have to be so slow in Sweden? We need more same-sex marriages on Swedish television, and in television in general. Love is beautiful and we really do need to teach our children that lova has multiple faces and why not on TV? I borrow the words from Tiamat and say that: It's about time we all get out and vote for love!