Lesbian on Ramsey St?

I was watching Neighbours last night for the first time in a couple of weeks and they were introducing a new character - who was clashing with Sky -- and Nick walks in the room and says "Oh it's the lesbian" and I said What? What are you talking about? He's like "yeah I read it on News.com.au - she's a lesbian.
I thought - News.com.au reported that Neighbours was going to have a lesbian character?

This isn't news -- It's not even new.

Home & Away had lesbians like 5 years ago (Shannon and her book editor)
All Saints has a lesbian character who's in the process of trying to have a baby
Stingers has a bisexual character
the Block and Big Brother had homosexual contestants.
If I remember correctly Australia was one of the first countries to even portray homeosexual relationships on television -- in the 60s/70's -- the Box and Number96 (two shows I never saw and was far too young for but remember from when they did TV where are they now or televisions greatest drama specials)

So what's so big news about Neighbours introducing a lesbian character to Ramsey Street?
Was it a slow news day?
Will they make Neighbours PG or even M now?

Link

Gay Neighbour
August 20, 2004

NEIGHBOURS, long regarded as a staple of family-friendly entertainment, is to jump on the pink TV bandwagon.

Bridget Neval
Debut ... Bridget Neval will play a lesbian school student on the hit TV show.
While audiences can see gay culture portrayed in shows including Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, The Block and Will & Grace, the producers of Neighbours are introducing the first homosexual character to Ramsay St.

Actor Bridget Neval, 19, will make her Neighbours debut as lesbian school student Lana Crawford on August 30.

Little, it seems, will be left to the audience's imagination regarding the character's sexual orientation, with a storyline seeing Lana kiss Sky Mangel, played by Stephanie McIntosh.

"My initial reaction to the role was 'What? A gay character in Neighbours'?" Neval said.

"But the nature of the character never bothered me. My only concern was that the story would not be told in a sensationalist or distasteful way.

"It's not a stereotypical character and being gay is not her only character trait."

Was Neval nervous about kissing co-star McIntosh?

"Not at all. It's never an issue for me because as an actor you have to be able to do scenes where your character is sexually attracted to someone who in real life you are not attracted to.

"It doesn't matter whether the other actor is male or female."

The Daily Telegraph

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