LGBT TV Appreciation (and Celebration)

[AndrewCrossett]

How could you forget Lost Girl?

Yep, that would be my favorite current show with an LGBT lead.

To the timeline you could also add:

1985 - Terry Sweeney becomes the first openly gay cast member of Saturday Night Live

2003 - First lesbian love scene on network TV, between Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Kennedy (Iyari Limon) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

[Kieran_Frost]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

I'm assuming the Ellen DeGeneres Show I voted for was her talkshow. I love her talkshow, her style of observational humor is one I like and her interview skills are good.

You are correct.

Fraiser was a smart series. I like the reruns better than Cheers It was also pretty gay behind the scenes with Niles, Bulldog, Gil Chesterton and I believe Martin all played by gay actors. And with the jokes about Frasier seeming a little too cultured to be straight came gay guest characters but not in a demeaning way. He always worried about letting them down easy and didn't get all "ew" about it.

LOVE Frasier; and they have so many gay centred episodes. My favourite is "the Doctor is Out" where Frasier is mistakenly outed on air, and then accidentally starts dating a famed Opera director (played by Sir Patrick Stewart, basing his performance on Sir Ian McKellan). It was HILARIOUS!

Golden Girls may be the first time I saw a gay character and one deal with coming out, Blanch's brother Clayton came out to her and later married a cop. They also had a friend of Dorthy (no pun intended) who was a lesbian that had a crush on Rose and in another episode they're backing a man for office who claims to have had an affair with Blanch to boost his image as he's so closed off to people because he's hiding the fact that he was a trans-man (Sophia new he was hiding something- "He's Italian"). Dorthy also had a cross-dressing brother, Phil.

That's a really good question; I'd love to know everyone's answer.

How could you forget Lost Girl?

Apologies, but I've actually never heard of the show. Apologies. From the sound of it (where the lead character is openly bisexual), it would have been a good one to include.

To the timeline you could also add:

1985 - Terry Sweeney becomes the first openly gay cast member of Saturday Night Live

2003 - First lesbian love scene on network TV, between Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Kennedy (Iyari Limon) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Added, cheers.

[harashkupo]

The new show Mr Robot surprised me this season. The antagonist plans on seducing an assistant to gain some information. He picks up the young man at the club and they actually show them having sex instead of cutting to scene of them lying next to each other implying that they've just finished. I can't really remember when a network like USA showed something like this.

[Starter Set]

Queer as Folk (UK) cause, well, that's actually the only show from the list that i have watched. (some episode of Will & Grace here and then too)

And i enjoyed it fine. A bit stereotypical at times maybe but that's entertaining to watch.

[harashkupo]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

If actual people from reality TV counts then I would say Pedro Zamora from The Real World. As a kid in a christian home, the whole "moral" argument rang hollow when seeing two good people whose love just happened to manifest itself differently than mine.

[America / Bucky / Russia]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

I'm fairly sure Captain Jack introduced my 10 year old self to the fact LGBT people exist.

[wonderlad]

So finally catching up with Penny Dreadful (Season 2) and Episode 5 is bold indeed in terms of LGBT. Wow! I love Dorian Gray.

[numberthirty]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

Enrique Vasquez.

Obviously, Richard Katimski is a very close second.

[numberthirty]

As for creator intentions(as opposed to what viewers want to read in) -

We established [in the episode “The Little Things”] that [math teacher] Mr. Kowchevsky was gay, but we didn’t end up using that scene. I loved that storyline and was looking forward to playing with that, having it get out.

http://www.vanityfair.com/unchanged/...eaks-and-geeks

[Iron Fist]

Sense8 for me, the other shows either make being gay a punchline or go far far far out of their way to make gay issues the central issues.

Sense8 has gay characters who get their due but they also have much more going on than "they're gay, dealing with gay problems".

Orange is the New Black is a close second.

American Horror Story doesn't even deserve to be on the poll, every gay character in that show gets murdered (usually in a bondage scenario) or tortured and raped.

[t hedge coke]

Revolutionary Girl Utena has my real allegiance. I enjoy a good number of these series, or have enjoyed them, but there's a lot of tedium that goes along with the series as well as the good stuff. Utena, on the other hand, stays strong and beautiful and funny and exciting and weird all day, all night long.

[AndrewCrossett]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

Billy Crystal's character on "Soap" is the first openly gay character I can remember seeing on television. But I would have to say my answer to this question is Mr. Humphries from "Are You Being Served."

His sexuality was never referenced explicitly, but even as a grade-school kid watching the show on PBS in the 70's, I knew what was what.

[Lucy-chan]

Currently enjoying the sit-com 'boy meets girl' here in the uk.

Stars trans-actress rachal root, who plays a trans-woman who starts dating a much younger man...

[Lucy-chan]

QUESTION: who was the first gay character you remember seeing on TV that made an impact with you?

For me it was Hayley cropper from, long running British soap-opera. Coronation street. She was first trans-women I ever saw on tv, she really had me question who I am....

[The_Greatest_Username]

American Horror Story doesn't even deserve to be on the poll, every gay character in that show gets murdered (usually in a bondage scenario) or tortured and raped.

Uh, it's American Horror Story, just about everyone gets maimed at some point on that show. The second season/series was lead by a lesbian character, so I'd say it counts.