Since the early 2000s, soap operas haven’t shied away from representing the LGBTQIA+ community with characters and storylines that were both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and General Hospital was always a pioneer. But the queer community of Port Charles isn’t quite what it used to be, with one character’s recent coming out sometimes feeling unnecessary.
Port Charles’ First Coming Out Story
In 2005, Lucas (Ben Hogestyn) became the show’s first openly gay character when he came out to Georgie (Lindze Letherman) on October 11, National Coming Out Day. Things only got harder for the teen as the storyline played out and Lucas experienced coming out to friends and family, a hate crime, disownment from his mother Bobbie (Jacklyn Zeman, see how General Hospital said farewell), and counseling before finally being accepted by his dying father Tony (Brad Maule).
Queer Characters Blazing
When Lucas left Port Charles in 2006, GH had a decline in queer characters until 2012 when the openly gay Felix (Marc Anthony Samuel) and Brad (Parry Shen) were introduced and eventually ended up in a love triangle when Lucas (Ryan Carnes) returned to town.
Their storyline was followed by Kristina (Lexi Ainsworth) coming out as bisexual in 2016 after the character questioned her sexuality and entered into a same-sex relationship with her college professor Parker (Ashley Jones), a storyline which earned Ainsworth a Daytime Emmy win in 2017.
In 2018, the show gained two more queer characters when transgender actress Cassandra James debuted as Dr. Terry Randolph, the show’s first transgender character, and Elizabeth’s (Rebecca Herbst) youngest son Aiden (Enzo De Angeli) was presumed to be gay. However, Aiden’s storyline was seemingly dropped until late 2023 when he revealed his interest in a male classmate to his mom.
Should Blaze Have To Come Out?
The latest member of Port Charles’ queer community is Blaze, aka Alison Rogers (Jacqueline Grace Lopez), who started out as merely a recording artist of Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) before blossoming into a main character when she developed a relationship with Kristina (Kate Mansi).
The twist? Blaze was deep in the closet when they began dating, afraid not of what her fans would think of her being gay, but what her religious family would think. The storyline came as a surprise, considering the way GH has paved the way for its queer characters in the past, not even having official “coming outs” for characters like Felix and Brad. Kristina has been long out and proud, even working to build a LGBT homeless youth center in Port Charles, while Aiden was always accepted for who he is and never even felt the need to officially come out.
While Blaze’s current coming out story might feel unnecessary in a town full of out and proud queer people, it certainly remains a much-needed story to tell, with plenty of LGBTQIA+ people experiencing religious turmoil over their sexualities. Unlike Lucas and Kristina, who were afraid of what their parents would think of their sexualities simply because they felt they were different, Blaze’s battle with her religious relatives — including her mom Natalia (Eva LaRue) — adds an extra element to the situation that GH has never delved into and is already portraying beautifully.
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