A homosexual producer of the nation’s favourite TV soap, Coronation Street, says he uses the show as a platform for pushing homosexual issues.
Phil Collinson told The Sun it is “an amazing platform” that really makes “a difference to the way people think”.
The show is reportedly about to launch its first civil partnership storyline, and courted controversy in 2009 when it announced that a born-again Christian character was set to begin a lesbian affair.
Campaign
Homosexual lobby group, Stonewall, has in the past boasted of its influence over TV soaps to run plots sympathetic to its campaign issues.
Mr Collinson said: “What’s transmitted on Monday night people talk about in pubs, clubs and at work the next day.
“You can really make a difference to the way people think – and this show has always had a gay sensibility.”
Relationship
The new story is said to involve characters Marcus Dent and Sean Tully, played by Charlie Condou and Antony Cotton.
It is reported that Mr Cotton’s role has already been made bigger since Phil Collinson took over earlier this year.
Marcus has been absent from the show for a number of years but is set to come back, with a source saying the relationship between him and Sean will lead “to Corrie’s first same sex marriage”.
Concern
In November Mr Cotton proclaimed: “Education is key” to promoting the message of the homosexual lobby.
Mr Cotton, along with Brooke Vincent and Sacha Parkinson, who play a young lesbian couple on the soap, were visiting schools in Manchester in a campaign which claimed to be aimed at tackling homophobic bullying.
The visits are likely to concern many parents who are wary of the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
Activists
In July Miss Vincent spoke about her role on the soap during a TV interview. She plays Sophie Webster, who has been known as a born again Christian.
Miss Vincent’s language echoed that of homosexual activists who are keen to downplay stories of people leaving the homosexual lifestyle.
She was asked on ITV1′s This Morning programme whether the lesbian relationship of her character was “a phase she’s going through”.
Lesbian
But Miss Vincent said it was not a phase. She commented: “In the story conference and everything, they wanted to make out that it wasn’t a phase because it’s not a phase to most people”.
The actress continued: “We wanted to play it really real and just normal.” She said: “You have a stereotype of what a lesbian is and it’s not always like that”.
In a publication by Stonewall, a Stonewall Youth Volunteer is quoted talking about what teachers should do if a pupil tells them they are gay, lesbian or bisexual.
“The teacher definitely shouldn’t say this could just be a phase”, the document says.
Lobbied
The Daily Mail reports Coronation Street was created by homosexual writer Tony Warren and that some of the show’s actors led a ‘gay pride’ parade in Manchester in August.
Earlier this month it was revealed that BBC soap EastEnders is set to have a same-sex surrogacy plot, reportedly the first such plot on a British soap.