Report: Gay characters hit record high on network TV

LOS ANGELES — A record number of gay characters are featured on broadcast series, but small-screen shows overall can be deadly for the female ones, according to a study released Thursday.

More than 25 lesbian and bisexual female characters died on scripted broadcast, cable and streaming series this year, the media advocacy group GLAAD found in its report on small-screen diversity.

While TV remains far ahead of film in gay representations, the medium “failed queer women this year” by continuing the “harmful ‘bury your gays’ trope,” the report said.

The violent deaths included characters Poussey Washington (played by Samira Wiley on “Orange is the New Black”) and Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack on “Wentworth”).

It’s part of a decade-long pattern in which gay or transgender characters are killed to further a straight character’s story line, GLAAD said, sending what it called the “dangerous” message that gay people are disposable.

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For its annual report titled “Where We Are on TV,” researchers tallied the LGBTQ characters seen or set to be portrayed in the period from June 2016 to May 2017. Counts were based on series airing or announced and for which casting has been confirmed.

The study, which in 2005 began examining other aspects of diversity on TV, found record percentages of people of colour and people with disabilities depicted on broadcast shows.

Among the detailed findings:

— Broadcast TV includes the highest percentage of regularly appearing gay characters — 4.8 per cent — since Gay rights organization GLAAD began its count 21 years ago. Among nearly 900 series regular characters on ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC, 43 characters are LGBTQ, up from 35 last season.

— Streamed shows included 65 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters, up six from last season. Lesbians, including characters on “One Mississippi” and “Orange is the New Black,” account for the majority of characters, 43 per cent, a far higher share than on broadcast or cable.

— Cable series held steady with 142 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters, with a 5 per cent increase in the number of gay men but a 2 per cent drop in the number of lesbian characters depicted.

— The number of transgender characters in regular or recurring appearances on all platforms has more than doubled from last season, from seven to 16.

— Characters with a disability represented 1.7 per cent of all regularly seen broadcast characters, up from 0.9 per cent last season. Each platform has at least one LGBTQ character that’s HIV-positive, with only one such character a regular (Oliver on “How to Get Away with Murder”).

— African-Americans will be 20 per cent (180) of regularly seen characters on prime-time broadcast shows this season, the highest share yet found by GLAAD. But black women are underrepresented at 38 per cent of the total, or 69 characters.

— The percentage of regularly appearing Asian-Pacific Islanders on broadcast TV hit 6 per cent, the highest tally found by GLAAD and slightly more than the group’s U.S. population percentage. Contributing to the increase are the Asian-American family shows “Fresh Off the Boat” and “Dr. Ken.”

— Latino characters rose a point to 8 per cent, equaling the highest representation found two seasons ago by GLAAD. That differs sharply from the 17 per cent Latino representation in the U.S. population as measured by the Census Bureau, the report said.

Lynn Elber, The Associated Press