“The Show Humanizes Stories In A Way People Need To See.” Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo Talks About The Military Gay Kiss In The Show

It was a kiss welcomed everywhere by the gay fans of Grey’s Anatomy, between two soldiers played by Benny Ciaramello (Friday Night Lights‘ Santiago) and MTV Road Rules‘ alum David Giuntoli.

In the first few minutes of the fourteenth episode of Season 4 titled ‘The Becoming’, we were introduced to Darren Covington, the newest patient in Doctors Derek Shepherd’s and Meredith Grey’s clinical trial. He had a brain tumor.

When Darren’s “closest friend”, Todd Vernon, comes over to the hospital to see him, Darren is upset, seeing as Todd is being deployed in five days. And with only Meredith in the room, Todd lets Darren know that he’s not going anywhere; he makes his way to the bed and reassures his secret lover with an intense stare that leads to one of the most sensual, emotional and damn near heart-breaking gay kisses ever seen on network television.

Sadly, the passion and relief vanish the moment Darren’s ex-soldier of a father walks in, catching the boys making out. Old Man Covington is outraged, throws Todd out of the room, and Darren spends much of the rest of the episode not wanting to disturb his father while denying his one true love.

During Variety‘s Women of Grey’s Anatomy panel, Ellen Pompeo, fellow castmates Chandra Wilson and Debbie Allen, and showrunner Krista Vernoff were talking about Grey’s Anatomy being at the forefront of the conversation in Hollywood surrounding representation on screen and behind the camera, and Pompeo brought up the episode as an idea of the kind of legacy the Shonda Rhimes-led show has.

“Grey’s has always brought human brings together, and that goes back to talking about the stories that we try to tell and opening people’s eyes a little bit,” Pompeo said. “I remember the first episode that I was really, like, ‘I’m so glad America is seeing this’ is that we had two gay soldiers, and they were making out on the show, and I was like, ‘Yes! Yes! There’s gay men in the military! Yes!’

“That says it all for me. and the fact that people can come together and watch the show and think about things they may not have ordinarily thought about or see things normalized and humanized in a way that a lot of people really need to see – it helps you become a better human being. If this show has helped anybody become a better human being, then that’s the legacy I’d love to sit with.”

Watch Variety‘s full panel here.