Neighbours set to feature its first same-sex wedding

Neighbours set to feature its first same-sex wedding
Image: Image: Channel 5 (UK).

Soap opera staple Neighbours is set to feature its first same-sex wedding.

Ramsay Street has a strong history of diverse representation, including gay and lesbian characters.

Aaron Brennan (Matt Wilson) will propose to boyfriend David Tanaka (Takaya Honda) during a trip to the beach, Gay Times has reported.

We won’t spoil exactly what happens, but it looks as though Aaron and David will be getting hitched.

Wilson said it was about time a gay couple on an Australian show were married.

“The general consensus from everyone in my groups is that Australia is so far behind and it was almost embarrassing,” he said.

“So the fact that it happened and Aaron and David are at that stage in their relationship where they are going to get married, we may be the first gay couple to get married on Australian television since it’s become legal.”

He said he wanted the Neighbours wedding to be a huge production.

“I’ve been trying to get this wedding to happen for some time now… I feel like I’ve got a lot of ownership over this, so I want it to be perfect,” said Wilson.

“I’m starting to feel like a bit of a groomzilla.

“I hope they make it big, I want it colourful, I want the old cast to come back for it. I don’t know if that’s possible [but] I want it to be the wedding of the year.”

Wilson controversially said last year that his character “acts straight and acts normal”, drawing criticism from people in the LGBTI community, some of whom said a straight actor shouldn’t play a gay character.

He later clarified that he meant Aaron is not a stereotypical effeminate gay television character, and that gay people shouldn’t be expected to act differently because of their orientation.

Elsewhere in Australian soaps, Home and Away has just introduced its first gay character in more than a decade, with Ty (Darius Williams) joining the Summer Bay crew.

The last time Home and Away featured a gay character in 2009, backlash from outraged viewers and parents caused the network to cut a scene featuring a lesbian kiss.

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