[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/abc-bachelor-tv-franchise-makes-history-with-first-same-sex-engagement\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/abc-bachelor-tv-franchise-makes-history-with-first-same-sex-engagement\/","headline":"ABC\u2019s \u2018Bachelor\u2019 TV franchise makes history with first same-sex engagement","name":"ABC\u2019s \u2018Bachelor\u2019 TV franchise makes history with first same-sex engagement","description":"\u201cI came here to find myself. But I found myself in you,\u201d Burnett said before asking Haggerty, \u201cWill you marry me?\u201d","datePublished":"2019-09-23","dateModified":"2019-09-23","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/dyanabagby\/#Person","name":"Dyana Bagby","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/dyanabagby\/","identifier":6804,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6113dc70f8e9f2874f060d5614918858f6d7357006a1352bd763ab372ca336f9?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6113dc70f8e9f2874f060d5614918858f6d7357006a1352bd763ab372ca336f9?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Equally Wed","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","url":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","width":218,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/demi-burnett-kristian-haggerty-bachelor-same-sex-proposal.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/demi-burnett-kristian-haggerty-bachelor-same-sex-proposal.jpg","height":608,"width":760},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/abc-bachelor-tv-franchise-makes-history-with-first-same-sex-engagement\/","about":["Celebrities","Celebrity News","News"],"wordCount":965,"keywords":["Bachelor","news","same-sex engagement","TV "],"articleBody":"When Demi Burnett got down on one knee and asked Kristian Haggerty to marry her during the season finale of ABC\u2019s \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d the two women made Bachelor Nation TV franchise history.\u201cI came here to find myself. But I found myself in you,\u201d Burnett said before asking Haggerty, \u201cWill you marry me?\u201dAn emotional Haggerty answered, \u201cOf course I will.\u201d She then knelt down and embraced Burnett.Later during this month\u2019s three-hour finale that included a cast reunion, Haggerty followed up with her own proposal to Burnett to cheers from a studio audience. The seasonal finale boasted approximately 4.4 million viewers.Bachelor Nation in the U.S., for those who may not know, encompasses the worlds of ABC\u2019s elimination-style reality TV shows \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d and \u201cBachelor in Paradise.\u201d The formats for all shows bring together men and women in search of their soul mates and invite them to find that true love among, until now, only opposite sex contestants.\u201cThe Bachelor\u201d debuted in 2002 followed by \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d in 2003. \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d premiered in 2014 as a spinoff of these two shows with casts of some their former fan-favorite contestants. Combined, the three shows have aired for 44 seasons.That\u2019s a lot of TV shows where heterosexual couples are celebrated and often become mainstream celebrities. The shows have been derided by LGBTQ+ advocates for not including same-sex couples in the mix, especially since other \u201cBachelor\u201d-style shows in Vietnam and Australia (after the season ended, however) \u00a0have already reached the milestone.Burnett, 24, first hinted at a same-sex angle for this season of \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d by tweeting in July, \u201cSpoiler alert: I\u2019m a queer queen.\u201dSpoiler alert: I\u2019m a queer queen \ud83d\udc78\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc95\ud83c\udf08 #BachelorInParadise\u2014 Demi Burnett (@demi_burnett) July 23, 2019When the show debuted, Burnett told friend and former \u201cBachelorette\u201d Hannah Brown that she had been in a relationship with a woman in Los Angeles before filming in Mexico.“I have been kind of seeing someone,\u201d Burnett said.\u201cOf course\u2014plot twist\u2014it happens to be a woman,” she added. “It’s not something that I need to label, so I feel like I don’t have to proclaim that I am gay, I am straight, I am bisexual, I am this. I just like who I like. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, it’s the person.”BIP producers saw their chance to perhaps silence their critics and flew Haggerty, 25, to Mexico to be on the show to explore the U.S. franchise\u2019s first same-sex relationship.Host Chris Harrison said they decided to \u201cbend the rules\u201d by bringing in Haggerty, a franchise outsider, because the time was right.“I\u2019m not exactly sure how we would have embraced Demi\u2019s situation in years past,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cBut with the way we do the show now, we let it come to us,” he said. “When this situation presented itself to us with somebody we really love and care about in Demi, I think our initial instinct was the right one: ‘Let\u2019s lean into it. Let\u2019s go there. Let\u2019s explore this.’“We\u2019re a microcosm of what\u2019s happening in the world,\u201d Harrison added. \u201cWe\u2019re all evolving and getting more intelligent, and our eyes are opening in a lot of ways.\u201dBurnett told The Hollywood Reporter she was fearful about coming out as sexually fluid on TV and did not think \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d would even consider inviting Haggerty to be on the show.“I had been suppressing the whole coming out thing for a while,” she said. “It\u2019s the same concerns that any person in the LGBTQ community goes through: fear of judgment, people not understanding or, just because you don\u2019t like the same thing they like, people seeing you differently because of that. That\u2019s the concern.”Burnett and Haggerty had their challenges during the season, but when it came time on the finale to make a decision about whether to stay together\u2013traditionally portrayed by the giving of a red rose \u2013 Burnett reached past the rose for a small black box.“I know that this has been really hard. I’ve put you through struggles and you were always there for me regardless of how much I didn’t deserve it at the time,” Burnett told Haggerty during her proposal.\u201cI never knew that someone could be that patient. There were a lot of things that came between us, mostly myself and my own struggles,\u201d Burnett added. \u201cLike you said, I came here to find myself. But I found myself in you.”Burnett said her decision to ask Haggerty to marry her was not intended to be historic, but instead to be about love.“I know it\u2019s a big deal that it was the first same-sex [engagement] on this franchise in the U.S., but we weren\u2019t thinking of the significance of that at the time,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was just about us loving each other and that\u2019s really what the focus was.”\u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d received praise from GLAAD, an organization that focuses on how LGBTQ+ people are portrayed in the media.“Seeing two women get engaged on Bachelor in Paradise is a groundbreaking step forward towards including LGBTQ couples across reality television. Reality TV is finally moving towards storylines that LGBTQ audiences and allies have been craving for quite some time,\u201d GLAAD President and CEO Sara Kate Ellis said in a tweet.“Seeing two women get engaged on Bachelor in Paradise is a groundbreaking step forward towards including LGBTQ couples across reality television. Reality TV is finally moving towards storylines that LGBTQ audiences and allies have been craving for quite some time” @sarahkateellis https:\/\/t.co\/Z5Av3qdQnZ\u2014 GLAAD (@glaad) September 18, 2019"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ABC\u2019s \u2018Bachelor\u2019 TV franchise makes history with first same-sex engagement","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/abc-bachelor-tv-franchise-makes-history-with-first-same-sex-engagement\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]