Univison is about to make history. Their latest telenovela, El corazón nunca se equivoca stars a gay couple in lead roles. In fact, the telenovela is actually a spinoff of the hit Televisa-produced novela, Mi marido tiene familia, about two teenage boys falling in love despite their families’ intolerance to homosexuality. El corazón nunca se equivoca follows the two young lovers to Mexico City and will be the first primetime telenovela to feature a gay couple as its leading characters. This is major!
Like most Latinas, I grew up watching novelas. Not because I wanted to but because if mami or abuela were watching one — especially in the living room — you were stuck watching it with them. Sure, I get nostalgic when I think of some of the classic ones like Luz Clarita, Muchachitas, and María la del Barrio but a lot of those novelas were highly problematic. For starters, the majority of the actors — the leads especially — were white Latinxs. Indigenous and Afro-Latinxs were rarely seen and when they were they often played the help. The storylines fed into a lot of sexist and machista narratives and rarely if ever told the stories that resonate with LGBTQIA community. I’m excited to finally see that all change.
The two leads are played by Aristóteles “Aris” Córcega (Emilio Osorio) and Cuauhtémoc “Temo” López (Joaquín Bondoni) and show the challenges the couple faces after relocating to follow their dreams. The show also touches on real issues that affect people in the LGBTQIA community like being accepted by your own family after coming out, depression, and suicide. Keeping the telenovela modern, it also touches on politics and social media influencers. It’s about time a novela that actually speaks to real-life comes out. I mean it only took them decades to get here but I’m glad they finally did. Here’s to hoping more telenovelas like this —with more racial diversity though — come out in the near future. El corazón nunca se equivoca premiered this week on August, 13, 2019 on Univision at 9 p.m. Check out the trailer below!
