A new Mexican telenovela is the first in the country’s history to feature a gay couple as leading characters.

Juntos, El Corazon Nunca se Equivoca, which translates “Together, the Heart is Never Wrong”, premiered on Sunday (June 23) is about teen couple Aristóteles “Aris” Córcega and Cuauhtémoc “Temo” López moving to Mexico City to start university.

The characters originally appeared in another telenovela — Mi Marido Tiene Mas Familia (My Husband Has More Family) — and this show will be a spin-off focusing on the gay teens’ relationship.

This means that the couple already have a fandom, who use the “ship” name Aristemo for the pair. The hashtag #RegresoAristemo, meaning “Aristemo returns” has been filling tweets about the show.SPONSORED CONTENT

Mexican telenovelas are hugely popular, and are often responsible for shifting attitudes towards social issues in the country.

One of the writers for both the original show and the spinoff, Santiago Pineda, told Reuters: “It shows that there are a lot of people, and a lot of young people of different ages who are interested in being able to connect with this kind of story.”

Mi Marido Tiene Mas Familia was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for its portrayal of the couple.

The telenovela wanted to show gay characters “beyond their sexual orientation”

“We wanted it to be a friendlier approach so that everyone could see that Aristoteles and Temo, beyond their sexual orientation, were both people with dreams, goals, fears and aspirations,” Pineda continued.

Alex Orue, head of the Mexican branch of LGBT+ support It Gets Better, also told Reuters: “For people of my generation, a lot of us had to have a delayed adolescence, because at that age, it was unimaginable to show affection or even think of having a romantic relationship.”

Actors Emilio Osorio, who plays Aristoteles, and Joaquin Bondoni, who plays Temo, told E!News that their portrayal of the couple would “help to be brave many people who fear to say who they really are,” and “you have only to be free.”