The One with the Lesbian Wedding

"**The One with the Lesbian Wedding**"
"The One with the Lesbian Wedding"
Friends episode
	Carol and Susan exchange vows
Episode no.	Season 2; Episode 11
Directed by	Thomas Schlamme
Written by	Doty Abrams
Production code	457312
Original air date	January 18, 1996
Guest appearances
	Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick; Jessica Hecht as Susan Bunch; Candace Gingrich as the minister; Lea DeLaria as the woman; Phil Leeds as Mr. Adleman; Marlo Thomas as Sandra Green (Rachel's mother);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The One with Russ"	Next →; "The One After the Superbowl"
	Friends (season 2)
	List of episodes

"The One with the Lesbian Wedding" is the eleventh episode of the second season of the television situation comedy Friends. It attracted mild controversy and censorship as a result of its portrayal of same-sex marriage. The episode first aired on January 18, 1996.

Plot[]

Ross' ex-wife Carol (Jane Sibbett) and her lesbian life partner Susan (Jessica Hecht) are getting married; Ross' sister Monica caters the wedding. Carol's parents refuse to attend the wedding, leading Carol to doubt her decision, but Ross – initially hesitant to see his ex-wife remarry – finds himself in the position of being the one to encourage her to go ahead with the ceremony despite her parents' opposition. At the reception, Susan thanks Ross for his part in saving the wedding, and offers to dance with him; he agrees, apparently resolving their strained relationship.

One of Phoebe's massage clients, Rose Adelman, dies on the massage table and her spirit apparently gets stuck inside Phoebe for a while. Rose, via Phoebe, corrects people's behavior and makes weird jokes using references to obscure people or events. Upon talking to Rose's husband, who states that Rose wanted to see everything, Phoebe takes Rose sightseeing around New York, but is not able to rid herself of Rose. However, during Carol and Susan's wedding, Rose blurts out that she has now seen everything and promptly bolts out of Phoebe's body. During the reception, Phoebe muses to Chandler about how she misses Rose; one of the wedding guests (Lea DeLaria), comically assuming that Phoebe and Rose were a lesbian couple, suggests that Phoebe find a way to forget about Rose and move on with her life, and offers to buy her a drink, which Phoebe accepts.

Meanwhile, Rachel's mother, Sandra (Marlo Thomas), makes a major life decision after seeing how Rachel has learned to fend for herself: she is considering leaving Rachel's father. Rachel is horrified at the thought of her parents splitting up and angry at her mother, but Sandra admits she wants to do this because Rachel did not marry her Barry, the man she never loved, but she did hers. Rachel, stunned at this revelation, gives her mother her blessing to move on.

Early on in the episode, Joey makes his first appearance on the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. He shares with the group a "smell-the-fart" acting tip he had learned from the actress he did his first scene with.

Reception[]

As a result of its portrayal of a lesbian couple marrying, the episode attracted some controversy across the United States. Two network affiliates refused to air the episode⁠—KJAC-TV in Port Arthur, Texas and WLIO in Lima, Ohio⁠⁠—citing objectionable content, although the decision drew little press attention, partly due to the small size of the markets in question.^[1] Gay and lesbian groups⁠—notably GLAAD—decried the censorship of the episode.^[2]

While this episode of Friends was one of the first mainstream portrayals of gay marriage on U.S. television, it was actually the second gay marriage on a sitcom. Roseanne had aired an episode just five weeks before called "December Bride" in which the title character coordinated and attended a wedding for her co-worker Leon and his partner Scott. The New York Times claimed, "The biggest news about the wedding on Friends was that it was almost no news at all." However, the fact that Carol and Susan's ceremony was officiated by Candace Gingrich, a gay-rights activist and sibling to conservative Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich did draw some media attention, as the casting was perceived as a comment on the Republican Party's anti-gay rights stance and the "Contract with America" platform.^[1] A writer with the Associated Press noted in an article that week that the ceremony would not include a kiss by the newlyweds, including the episode as part of an observed trend of portrayals of gay characters while skirting controversy by avoiding or minimizing physical contact.^[3]

The episode was the highest-rated television program for the week, with 31.6 million viewers.^[4] According to Marta Kauffman, 'NBC expected thousands and thousands of phone calls and hate mail' but actually received only four complaints by telephone.^[5]

References[]

^ ^a ^b Ron Becker. Gay TV And Straight America, Rutgers University Press, 2006, pp. 161-163.
^ "GLAAD Condemns Censorship of Friends Episode." GLAAD 18 January 1996. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Web. 27 April 2012. Original, now a dead link: [1]
^ Lynn Elber (Associated Press). "TV gays avoid the physical stuff," The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 15 January 1996 page 11D.
^ Staff writer (1996-02-02). "Here come the brides". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
^ Wild, David (2004). Friends ...'Til the End. London: Headline. p. 216. ISBN 0-7553-1321-6.

External links[]

"The One with the Lesbian Wedding" at IMDb

[becker-1] Ron Becker. Gay TV And Straight America, Rutgers University Press, 2006, pp. 161-163.

[2] "GLAAD Condemns Censorship of Friends Episode." GLAAD 18 January 1996. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Web. 27 April 2012. Original, now a dead link: [1]

[ap-3] Lynn Elber (Associated Press). "TV gays avoid the physical stuff," The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 15 January 1996 page 11D.

[4] Staff writer (1996-02-02). "Here come the brides". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-14.

[5] Wild, David (2004). Friends ...'Til the End. London: Headline. p. 216. ISBN 0-7553-1321-6.

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v t Friends episodes
Season 1	"The Pilot" "The One with the Sonogram at the End" "The One with the Thumb" "The One with George Stephanopoulos" "The One with the Blackout" "The One with the Monkey" "The One Where the Monkey Gets Away" "The One with the Fake Monica" "The One Where Rachel Finds Out"
Season 2	"The One with Ross's New Girlfriend" "The One with Russ" "The One with the Lesbian Wedding" "The One After the Superbowl" "The One with the Prom Video" "The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies" "The One with Barry and Mindy's Wedding"
Season 3	"The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" "The One Where No One's Ready" "The One with the Flashback" "The One with the Football" "The One with the Morning After" "The One at the Beach"
Season 4	"The One with the Jellyfish" "The One with the Cat" "The One with the Embryos" "The One with Ross's Wedding"
Season 5	"The One After Ross Says Rachel" "The One Hundredth" "The One with All the Thanksgivings" "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" "The One with the Girl Who Hits Joey" "The One with the Cop" "The One Where Rachel Smokes" "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" "The One with the Ride-Along" "The One with Joey's Big Break" "The One in Vegas"
Season 6	"The One After Vegas" "The One Where Ross Got High" "The One with the Apothecary Table" "The One with Unagi" "The One with the Proposal"
Season 7	"The One with Monica's Thunder" "The One with All the Candy" "The One with All the Cheesecakes" "The One Where They're Up All Night" "The One with Ross and Monica's Cousin" "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding"
Season 8	"The One After 'I Do'" "The One with Rachel's Date" "The One with the Halloween Party" "The One with the Rumor" "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby"
Season 9	"The One Where No One Proposes" "The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song" "The One with Rachel's Dream" "The One in Barbados"
Season 10	"The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss" "The One Where Ross Is Fine" "The One with Ross's Tan" "The One with Phoebe's Wedding" "The Last One"
Specials	Friends: The Reunion