A brief glimpse of the female on female kiss shown on now defunct British soap Brookside was seen by over a billion people in the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday night.
The kiss between Beth Jordache (left) and Margeret Clemence (right), first aired nineteen years ago in 1993 was shown in a montage of famous kisses from the United Kingdom’s television and film history as part of Danny Boyle’s £27m production.
The Olympic opening was broadcast live to every nation involved in the games, including 76 countries where homosexuality is still illegal.
The inclusion of the clip means that in many nations where homosexuality is still illegal, it was the first homosexual kiss ever broadcast. The broadcast was shown in: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Many gays and lesbians took to social networking site Twitter to share their excitement of the historic moment. Noted television personality Sue Perkins said:
“Gay kissing, multi-cultural romance AND a ‘socialist’ health care system – bet Romney’s having an embolism right now”
