I never thought I'd ship a couple more than Oz and Willow. Then Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) magics her way into Willow's heart (and mine), and Oz is like that nostalgic first love whose photos you pull out, smile warmly at, then tuck away again.
Willow's relationship with a woman is woven so seamlessly into the plot that I didn't even blink at it. This is pretty significant, considering the fact that it was 1999, I was just 11, I was from a very conservative background, and I hadn't even met a member of the LGBTQ community (that I knew of) at that time.
I firmly believe, to this day, that if it weren't for this show and the way that Tara and Willow's relationship was portrayed (as in, no differently than any other relationship on the show), I wouldn't be the person I am today. Their relationship taught me — when no one else in my life was even willing to talk about it — that all forms of love are love. Because of BTVS, I accepted my own sexuality from an early age, and when I began to have experiences with women after only having them with men previously, it felt as if this came to me more naturally than I believe it ever could have (considering my background and where I lived growing up) had I not already gone through the same process with Willow on screen.
In a milestone still referenced 20 years later, Willow and Tara shared one of TV's first onscreen kisses between lesbians. True to Buffy form, however, the kiss wasn't sensationalized or overdone. Rather, it came at such a moment of grief and loss in the highly praised episode "The Body" that to not have included it would have actually felt like a disservice to the characters and their relationship. It's one of the most moving moments I've ever seen on TV.
