With the exception of what would come to be known as "Lesbian kiss episodes", in which a straight-identified female character exchanges an intimate kiss with a lesbian or bisexual character, who was generally never seen again, representation of same-sex sexual or affectional displays lagged well behind the behaviour in which mixed-sex pairs engaged.
A similar controversy surrounded Fox's decision to cut a kiss between gay character Matt Fielding (Doug Savant) and a male guest star from an episode of Melrose Place (1994's "'Til Death Do Us Part").
The hesitancy about allowing any expression of same-sex affection on television even extended to the refusal of allowing same-sex couples having weddings or commitment ceremonies on series including Roseanne ("December Bride"), Northern Exposure ("I Feel the Earth Move") and Friends ("The One with the Lesbian Wedding") to kiss at the conclusion of the ceremony.
As noted by author Ron Becker, So viewers got to see Carol and Susan wed on Friends, but they didn't get to see them kiss.
And fans of NYPD Blue could hear male hustlers talk about their johns, but the only sex they got to see involved the precinct's straight cops—naked butts and all.