If you were like me, for a split second — literally — you had a feeling you saw a same-sex couple kissing during Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle‘s London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony tribute to all things Great Britain. And, now we can prove that, yes, there indeed was a lesbian kiss — and it was broadcast around the world.
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Slate writes:
This scene lasted just half a second, but according to a few overheated news reports, since the ceremonies were aired around the world, this was the first same-sex kiss shown in some Middle Eastern nations. And despite some claims that NBC didn’t show the kiss, this armchair detective proved that it did indeed air. It’s just that it flashed by so quickly, you could blink and miss it.
What made this girl-on-girl action significant enough to include in the Olympics opening ceremony? It was the first lesbian kiss that appeared on British television before the 9 p.m. “watershed,†meaning that it was considered suitable for all viewers.
And, to their credit, one of the few things NBC did right was to not censor it.
Think about this for a moment: millions of people in nations where being gay can be met with state-sanctioned death, for literally a split-scond, saw something they probably never saw before.
It’s a start.