Dawson’s Creek producer reflects on 90s show’s history-making gay kiss as he’s honoured with award

Producer Greg Berlanti was honoured at the 76th Primetime Emmys with the Governor’s Award for his work in increasing LGBTQ+ representation on screen – including the iconic Dawson’s Creek gay kiss 24 years ago.

The Governor’s Award is given to creators who make a “profound, transformational, and long-lasting contribution” to television.

Berlanti, who produced shows like Arrow, Riverdale, You, Supergirl, and Dawson’s Creek – which first aired in 1998 – was given the award by Matt Bomer and Joshua Jackson.

Jackson previously starred on Dawson’s Creek, which Berlanti worked on as a staff writer and an executive producer. Most notably, Berlanti was responsible for a groundbreaking gay kiss between two male characters on the show – years before many people saw queer relationships on screen.

The kiss happened in 2000 between the characters Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) and Ethan Brody (Adam Kaufman) on Dawson’s Creek, with Jackson saying that the show made history with the scene before handing the microphone over to Berlanti.

In his acceptance speech, Berlanti said he grew up without queer representation on TV. He said: “I wanted to be a part of television even before I knew that was possible. There wasn’t a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid, and it’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time.”

“There was no Internet to connect with other queer kids, no LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in schools. Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if he also watched Dynasty, Dallas and could name all four of the Golden Girls.”

Berlanti later did see gay people on screen but only in relation to the AIDS crisis: “Too many were dying, but they were also in the streets. Men holding hands with other men, marching and fighting for their lives — and they gave me hope that I might one day have their courage to come out and share my truth with the world,” he explained.

Berlanti is one of the youngest individual recipients of the award and it is not overstating to say that he achieved several milestones with regards to queer representation.

Recently, Berlanti reflected on his career and how he initially turned down the showrunner job for Dawson’s Creek. He eventually took the job but only on the condition that the same-sex kiss would happen on screen without the camera cutting away.

Speaking to Variety, Berlanti said: “I remember we talked about the violence airing at the same time Dawson’s [Creek] was on. People getting shot and people getting stabbed in the heart on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It felt to me that if they can do those things, why can’t we show a tender moment between two members of the same sex?”

Following the first gay kiss on primetime television, Berlanti was also responsible for the first gay superhero to headline a TV series (Freedom Fighters: The Ray), the first transgender recurring character on TV and the first legal gay marriage on network TV (Dirty Sexy Money), the first transgender superhero on TV (Supergirl), the first lesbian superhero to headline a TV show (Batwoman), and the first single gay lead in a U.S medial drama (Brilliant Minds).

Berlanti has also helped to create a number of culturally significant shows that feature LGBTQ+ characters – including Prime Video’s Red, White and Royal Blue, an adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s novel of the same name starring Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez, which has since been greenlit for a sequel.