Last November, Glaad released the results of its annual inquiry into LGBTQ representation on TV, finding that the number of queer characters increased to all-time highs across broadcast, cable and streaming series. On broadcast television, there are now 86 regular or recurring characters identifying as gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual or transexual, a lowly but ascendant 6.4%; on cable, there are 173, and on streaming services, 70. Predictably, these characters remain overwhelmingly male, white, and cis-gendered. While the study didn’t account for series premiering in 2018 or currently in development, many of them should make the breakdown of queer representation more equitable across racial and ethnic lines.
The year started with Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the second installment of his American Crime Story anthology series. We justifiably expected the show to focus on its titular couturier but it ended up doing something different and more interesting, charting a vast spectrum of queer experiences in the post-Aids 90s through the lens of Andrew Cunanan, Versace’s admirer-cum-assassin and the killer of four other men, three of whom were gay. In a series of bottle episodes the show zeroes in on the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and Versace’s own public coming-out in a way that seems novel and historically sound.
As Queer Eye gets a reboot, television enjoys a wealth of gay perspectives
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