According to GLAAD’s latest report, which looked at series airing in primetime, or scheduled to air between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023, for which casting has been announced, 596 regular and recurring characters were counted across these platforms compared to 637 last year, which equates to a 6.44% drop year on year.
For GLAAD, this decrease is largely due to the cancellations of numerous series including “Batwoman,” “Charmed,” “DC’s Legend of Tomorrow,” “Legacies,” “Naomi,” “The Big Leap,” “Ordinary Joe,” “Killing Eve,” “Astrid and Lilly Save the World,” “Claws,” “Dickinson,” “The Wilds,” “Genera+ion,” “Search Party,” “Y : The Last Man,” “Dear White People,” “Feel Good,” “Gentefied,” “Q-Force” and “Saved by the Bell.”
“In this year’s report, which includes series that premiered a season between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023, there have already been 54 LGBTQ-inclusive series cancellations, eliminating a whopping 140 LGBTQ characters from our TV screens.
That’s 24% of all LGBTQ characters counted in the tally as of the publication of this report.
An additional 35 LGBTQ characters counted here will not be returning due to a character leaving the series or an anthology or miniseries format,” the study explains.
Specifically, there are 101 LGBTQ characters on national television, 139 on cable and 356 on streaming services Apple TV+, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock and Paramount+.
On television, LGBTQ characters represent 10.6% of all characters. This is down 1.3% from last year.
Of the new LGBTQ characters counted this year, 31 appeared in a series broadcast on a national network (compared to 49 last year), 53 on cable (two more than last year) and 117 on streaming sites.
Varying rates of representation
Regarding the different identities, of the 596 LGBTQ characters counted across all platforms, 35% are gay men, 30% lesbians, 25% bisexuals, 4% queer, 2% heterosexual transgender, 2% transgender and non-binary characters whose sexual orientation is not determined and 1% asexual.
Nevertheless, GLAAD’s study determined that more than half of LGBTQ characters (52%) were female, compared to 44% male and 4% non-binary.
The representation of the bisexual community on television unfortunately still falls short of their presence in the LGBTQ community.
According to Gallup, of Americans who identify as LGBTQ, 57% identify as bisexual, or 4.2% of American adults.
HBO leads the way among cable networks as the channel with the most LGBTQ characters with 26 roles. These include characters on “The Last of Us,” “Somebody Somewhere” and “The White Lotus.”
Netflix tops the list of streaming platforms with 183 LGBTQ characters on screen, compared to 43 on Prime Video, 37 on Hulu, 34 on HBO Max, 14 on Disney+, 11 on Apple TV+ and 10 on Paramount+.