When is a lesbian not a lesbian? When she's a character on Shortland Street of course! Although the long-running local soap on TV2 has managed this year to give us a gay character that has lasted more than five minutes in the form of lesbian nurse Maia, head writer Maxine Fleming paradoxically says they don't want to do lesbian stories. "She's in relationships so it does come up but we have tried to avoid lesbian-based stories," says Fleming. "Of course when you have kids and stuff, that's the thing they want to talk about. My daughter wants to know if they're lesbians in real life and how do they feel about kissing. So obviously it is an issue but not for us so much." Feedback from fans asked the writers not to turn her straight, says producer Harriet Crampton. With the self-imposed moratorium on "lesbian-based stories", going hetero may be Maia's only hope of action. Unless the writers turn her into a nun.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 16th December 2004 - 12:00pm