It’s hard to believe The Golden Girls is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. I’m almost as old as the show is, and it’s always been one of my favorites. For me, it’s the ultimate comfort show. I know it so well that I reference it in everyday conversation.
One of the reasons it’s remained a favorite is because of how well the show handled topical issues. Despite being a sitcom, they tackled themes and topics like ageism, addiction, AIDS, and chronic illness with ease. And even if they were dealing with something serious, they always ended it with a laugh.
Something that also sticks out is the way they handled LGBTQ+ representation. Over the years, the show became iconic with the LGBTQ+ community. And for good reason. The show never shied away from storylines with queer characters, and unlike a lot of other shows (and frankly the world at large!), it never treated them like they were a joke.
There are plenty of jokes in those episodes, but they never punch down. And that’s why they’re still fun to watch!
The most famously queer episode is of course, season two’s “Isn’t It Romantic?” Dorothy’s college friend Jean comes to visit and quickly becomes friends with Rose. As the two bond, recently widowed Jean develops romantic feelings.
Blanche’s iconic “LESBIAN?” line is arguably one of the show’s most famous bits. Three years ago, Carmen published an in-depth breakdown of the episode here on Autostraddle. Indeed, the episode is worthy of revisitation over and over. It was so ahead of its time.
I find it so interesting that they make the oldest person in the house the one who is most tolerant of queerness. So many of us have trouble getting our older relatives to understand and accept us, and here is a woman who was supposed to be born in the early 1900s just out here accepting it. Throughout the series, Sophia never seems to bat an eyelash when a queer character appears. In fact, she is often the one who readily embraces them (and usually has the best quips).
Sophia is the unsung hero of the season six episode “Sister of the Bride.” In this episode, we see Blanche’s younger brother Clayton return to Miami. In Clayton’s first appearance (season four’s “Scared Straight”), he finally comes out to Blanche. And saying that his homosexuality isn’t well received by his older sister is an understatement.
No matter how many times I’ve seen the Clayton episodes, I always get mad at Blanche’s reaction to finding out her brother is gay. I understand it from a storytelling perspective, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
When Clayton returns, he has a big surprise: a mustachioed cop named Doug. Clayton has brought him to Miami to meet his big sister because they’re planning to get married.
After a series of bad behavior from Blanche, Sophia comes in as the voice of reason, reminding Blanche that who Clayton loves isn’t the problem, her bigotry is. “Everyone wants someone to grow old with,” she says. “And shouldn’t everyone have that chance?”
While it may feel like a trite “love is love” kind of sentiment now, we have to remember when it was made. Audiences (and Blanche apparently) had to be reminded that gay people were people, too.
The Golden Girls was either the first or second show to deal with the topic of gay marriage, according to Marc Cherry, who co-wrote the episode. “Sister of the Bride” aired in 1991, 24 years before same-sex couples could legally marry in all 50 states. But they were planting the idea on a Saturday night TV show and using an smart-mouthed octogenarian to tell people that gay marriage wasn’t a threat. If 80-something Sophia could understand it, why couldn’t those who were so vehemently against it?
While these are both tried and true examples of Sophia’s allyship, there is an episode that often gets overlooked. In season three’s “Strange Bedfellows,” the girls have decided to help support Gil Kessler, a local politician running for office. It backfires epically during a press conference when he lies about having an affair with Blanche.
Throughout the episode, Sophia is suspicious of Kessler. She has a hunch, and her hunches are never wrong. But there’s no way she would have been able to guess his secret.
“I’m not who you think I am,” Kessler says to the crowd. “In 1968, I had an operation. Until that time, I lived life as part-time stenographer and mild-mannered housewife, Anna-Maria Bonaduci.”
“Five more minutes, I would have had it,” Sophia says. “Look at his nose, of course he’s Italian.”
Yes, The Golden Girls gave us a transgender character in 1987. When Gil outs himself, nothing happens to him. He isn’t cast out, or attacked. There are no invasive follow-up questions. He is allowed to fade back into the story, only briefly mentioned again as having dropped out of the race. But we don’t know if it’s because he outed himself or because he feels guilty that he lied.
Later, the jokes are made at the expense of Rose, who is desperately trying to make sense of what she’s just learned. “I’m still confused about the operation Gil Kessler had,” she says to Dorothy. “Is the man asleep during it?”
As frustrated as Dorothy is, it’s never at the fact that Kessler outed himself as trans. It’s because he lied about his affair and that she’d ruined her friendship with Blanche because of it.
So many sitcoms chose not to address LGBTQ characters or only treated them as a punchline. The writers of The Golden Girls never did that. They allowed LGBTQ characters to be fully realized people, to exist in the world just like everyone else. It’s hard to say how people will feel about The Golden Girls in another 40 years. But the fact it has endured this long says a lot.
