While LGBT characters are nothing new in U.S. Spanish-language television, this week history was made when Univision aired its first wedding between a gay couple in novela "Amores Verdaderos," or "True Love."
First time I see a gay couple getting married in a novela @Univision#AmoresVerdaderos
— Ericaa. (@ericaa_asumadre) July 23, 2013
Watch video of the wedding here:
This moment was historic on many levels. It was the first time a gay wedding aired in a novela produced and distributed by Mexico's largest—and notoriously conservative—media conglomerate Televisa (to which for years GLAAD attempted to reach out but to no avail). The episode aired in Mexico almost three months ago.
But while Spanish-language television in the United States has increasingly included programming with LGBT characters, in the last few years LGBT inclusion has remained stagnant; this is despite the fact that Latino support for LGBT issues is strong and ever growing (with 59% saying that homosexuality should be accepted by society, 54% supporting marriage between same-sex couples, and 83% supporting housing and employment non-discrimination protections for LGBT people). Given that 61% of Latinos watch TV in both English and Spanish, Latino audiences who tune into television in Spanish deserve to see more of what they saw this week in "Amores Verdaderos."
The episode aired in a week when Univision set a TV ratings milestone with its average of 1.81 million viewers aged 18-to-49, besting Fox, NBC and CBS.
I think I just witnessed the first gay wedding in Hispanic television history #AmoresVerdaderos
— Danny (@JairJaimes) July 23, 2013
For years Univision almost exclusively imported novelas from Televisa. But in recent years it has increasingly imported novelas produced in Venezuela and Colombia. Univision rival Telemundo also imports novelas made in Mexico and Colombia, but its productions are increasingly being made in the U.S.