Anything good on TV?

I haven't owned a TV in about 8 years. Which means that I haven't been exposed to most cable television programs either. I do have a computer though, and I have been catching up on many shows (e.g. I binge-watched all 7 seasons of True Blood earlier this year) that Bear downloads for me. I signed up for Netflix, and I have been watching other series that I missed in the past number of years. I've noticed that more and more TV shows include LGBTQ2 characters, and that has been encouraging! GLAAD's 'Where are we Now on TV' report notes that in 2016:

"Of the 895 series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast primetime scripted programming in the coming year, 43 (4.8%) were identified as LGBTQ. There were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters. This is the highest percentage of LGBTQ regular characters GLAAD has ever counted on primetime scripted broadcast programming. The five broadcast networks are ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and The CW."  (emphasis, mine) 

Autostraddle's guide to LGBTQ2 Women on TV. 

I recall the first LGBTQ2 person I saw on a TV show was "Rickie" from My So Called Life (1994). He originally tells his friends that he is bi, but it is clear that for him, bi was a stepping stone for his character to find safety while deepening into his gay orientation. He even tries taking out a girl from his high school class, "Dellia," in the hopes of living a "normal" life. I have experienced similar feelings before:

Sigh - the desire for "normalcy" is strong in the LGBTQ2 community. Internalized homophobia :(

Rickie's story followed a similar arc to what many LGBTQ2 teens experience - being kicked out during the holidays because of his orientation, abuse, homelessness, and trying to find allies and friends in order to survive. Unfortunately for me (and other teens in the 90's), My So Called Life was cancelled not long after the Christmas episode. I was heart-broken at 13. I wanted so badly to see other queer characters on TV. However, queer characters tended to be secondary or missing from many plot-lines in the later 90s and early 2000's. (Here's a link to a Wiki page listing all LGBT themes/characters on TV from 1990-1997, should you want to fall down that particular internet rabbit-hole).  It wasn't until Ellen came out on prime-time TV in 1997 that things really started to shift towards more primary characters being queer, and more queer themes being explored.

Rickie's experience of abuse and homelessness haunted me as a teen. It made me scared to share my orientation, and I wondered how often something like this happened in the real world. I started to notice negative outcomes or stereotypical portrayals of queer characters on TV over the years, each time I felt more dejected and angry. For some reason, 2016 seemed to be the year where many lesbian and bisexual characters were killed off in various shows. This is nothing new, and in a sad way, it reflects the reality of abuse and violence the LGBTQ2 community continues to face in the real world. The TV 'death' of the character "Lexa" from The 100 this year elicited an outcry from LGBTQ2 viewers to stop the unnecessary killing-off of LGBTQ2 characters in television, especially if that character's death was a plot device to move a straight character's story forward.

"Lexa' billboards. They speak for themselves, I think.

Earlier this autumn, I came across a show on Netflix called Dance Academy that featured a bi/gay/questioning character named Sammy. I have a shameless love for ballet shows/movies, and I was glad to see that Sammy was a real character, not just a caricature of a queer teen. The main character, Tara, is a bit vapid (as you can tell by the trailer in the link) and she states when Sammy comes out as 'questioning,' that she's "always wanted a gay best friend!!!" Ugh. And then, right at the end of season 2, the show kills off Sammy, all as a plot motivator for Tara to learn how to dance the "Red Shoes' solo with the true agony of someone who has faced loss. I was furious. I tried to watch the first episode of season 3, but I just can't do it anymore.

And then, Orange is the New Black broke my heart again (SPOILER ALERT if you haven't finished watching season 4) this year when they killed off my favourite character on the show, Poussey. I started to cry, and then to RAGE. Enough is enough already!

As shown in recent surveys, past blog posts I've written, and media - there is significant violence directed at the LGBTQ2 community. Seeing it reinforced on dramatic TV shows doesn't do anyone a service. I challenge any TV show writers, producers, etc that may be reading this blog, actually anyone writing about LGBTQ2 themes to take on the Lexa Pledge. We deserve better representation on TV and other media, and we deserve to have positive plot-lines and character arcs developed for LGBTQ2 folks. Get on it!