GLAAD has released the findings of its annual “Where We Are on TV” report—and results show a record-high percentage of LGBTQ regular characters on broadcast television.
“Where We Are on TV” analyzes the overall diversity of primetime scripted series regulars on broadcast networks and assesses the number of LGBTQ characters on cable networks and original scripted streaming series on the services Amazon, Hulu and Netflix for the 2018-2019 TV season. This marks the 23rd year that GLAAD has tracked the presence of LGBTQ characters on television.
The 2018 report revealed a record-high percentage of LGBTQ series regulars on broadcast television, at 8.8 percent of all series regulars—up from last year’s 6.4 percent (another record-high), and the highest GLAAD has found since the organization expanded to count all broadcast series regulars 14 years ago.
Also, for the first time, there are more LGBTQ people of color (50 percent) than white LGBTQ people (49 percent) on broadcast television.
Among other findings:
—Netflix counted the highest number of LGBTQ characters across streaming services and FX counted the highest number of LGBTQ characters across cable networks;
The number of regular LGBTQ characters counted on scripted primetime cable increased to 120 and recurring characters increased to 88, for a total of 208 LGBTQ characters on cable. This is up from 173 in the previous report; and
—More LGBTQ characters are in leading roles than ever before with shows like The Red Line, Charmed, Vida, Tales of the City and more putting LGBTQ characters front and center.
The full report is at www.glaad.org/whereweareontv.