This issue is always fraught with semiotic complications, of course. The
standard measure is, I believe, BEWITCHED, which marries Paul Lynde, a gay
man/warlock, to his estranged wife, Agnes Moorhead, a lesbian/witch. These
characters don't seem to fit comfortably in the heterosexual frame even
in their TV characters, but they are not portrayed on the show as
particularly "gay" either. Carnivalesque, perhaps. Someone, somewhere has
written on this topic, but I can't remember who it was.
 
Also, since you are list-building still, howzabout the lesbian couple on
the now-defunct HEARTLINES. My guess is that they were probably the
first upper middle class, normalized lesbian couple on TV. They were an
idea ahead of its time on a show that, unfortunately, was a tad boring. It
was so dull, conservative media watchdogs did not even seem to notice.
Then again, neither did anyone else.
 
Meryem Ersoz
University of Colorado-Denver
 
----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama.