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Top > Benchmark Lesbian Kissing Moments > Article
Lesbian Kissing between Eden Riegel and Olga Sosnovska / All My Children (Television show, 2003)
By Kaylee Larson, LesbianLoveNow.com
Daytime television broke out with a lesbian kissing scene in April 2003 on the soap opera, All My Children. The scene between Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Lena (Olga Sosnovska) became the first lesbian kiss in daytime history. Although the kiss made national headlines, Sosnovska herself was most confused about all of the attention this breakthrough moment attracted, as she thought the kiss was insignificant and didn’t merit such a fuss, according to an interview from the August 12th, 2003 edition of Soap Opera Digest.
Sosnovska went on to express her bewilderment regarding the many media representatives present on the day of the taping. She noted that such attention created higher tension than usual on the set for others, but it hardly affected her; after all, she said, she wasn’t kissing someone who was “ugly, smelly, and horrible,” but that she had kissed a “gorgeous girl,” and everyone shared a laugh about it later.
The kissing scene takes place at an airport as Lena prepares to leave to escape her feelings for Bianca. In the conversation that ensues, Bianca reveals to Lena that she feels a connection with her. After a long, emotional speech and an episode of events building up to this moment, the two share a passionate embrace. The moment the two women begin to kiss, the camera fades out.
CNN and various other news outlets provided extensive coverage of the soap opera kiss. CNN even provided a disclaimer beforehand, stating that the material being showed was highly controversial and suggested that sensitive viewers change the channel. Then, even though this disclaimer had been displayed on the screen, the coverage merely showed the moments before the kiss, never showing the actual kiss.
In response to the CNN coverage, Sosnovska expressed her confusion further in the interview, stating that the soap opera had presented material that was far more controversial than the lesbian kissing scene. The television show’s story line touched upon subjects such as rape, the death of children, deceit, and murder.
Although this scene was not the most controversial kissing scene up to this point, it was considered noteworthy and controversial because it occurred on daytime television; it was not during primetime, not on a premium channel, and not in a movie. The media coverage that followed came about as a result of this breakthrough in daytime television.
This scene in All My Children has made Olga Sosnovska a very unlikely lesbian icon. She and Riegel also won Soap Opera Weekly’s Hottest Soap Couple Contest, which demonstrated the growing acceptance of lesbian couples among the media. The most surprising result of this benchmark moment was the positive outpouring of support and acceptance from fans. This support showed how far society had come with regard to lesbian relationships on television and in society.
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