GLAAD Presents Its Yearly Report on Portrayals of LGBT Characters in the 2013-2014 TV Season
GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has taken to the airwaves, observing the amount of LGBT characters being or set to be portrayed on television in the upcoming season and compiling all the statistics into their annual Where We Are on TV Report. Since 2005 the report has overseen the small screen medium’s depiction of characters in regards to sexual orientation, as well as encompassing gender identity and race/ethnicity.
On the broadcast front, an estimated 3.3% of series regulars on the scripted primetime broadcast television schedule will be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender characters. This is down from last year’s season which saw 4.4%, but still up from 2011’s 2.9% estimation.
Among the 796 series regulars counted across the 109 primetime programs on the five broadcast networks, a total of 26 are LGBT characters. Of the networks, ABC and FOX were the only networks to demonstrate improvement over last year, with each having LGBT characters make up 5.4% of the series regulars on their shows. On the other end of the spectrum, NBC has the lowest percentage, dropping from having 4.2% last year to 1%.
Cable television proved much more fruitful in regards to LGBT characterizations, with the number of out regular characters increasing from 35 last year to 42, in addition to 24 recurring characters. HBO will be the most inclusive cable network, with a total of 11 regular or occurring characters expected its slew of new shows.
On the overall topic of gender, the percentage of male to female series regulars on broadcast networks came out to 57% and 43%, respectively. Upon examining race and ethnicity on broadcast networks, GLAAD found 77% of series regulars to be white, 11% to be black, 6% to be Asian, 5% to be Latino/a, and the remaining 2% belonging to the “other” category.
For more information and to get the full report, head over to GLAAD’s website.
