More LGBTQ characters on TV

TV series are including more LGBTQ characters and adding gender-nonconforming ones, but there’s a need for richer, more complex stories about them, according to the media advocacy group GLAAD.

LGBTQ depictions increased in the current season across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, the group’s annual Where We Are on TV study released Thursday found.

Shows contributing to the change include NBC’s reboot of Will & Grace and The Deuce on HBO.

“While we’re pleased to see numbers on the rise, consideration of how LGBTQ characters are woven into storylines and whose stories are making it to screen is crucial for judging progress of the industry. And there is still work to be done,” Megan Townsend, GLAAD’s entertainment research and analysis director, said in a statement.

Of the 901characters to appear regularly on prime-time network series in the 2017-18 season, 6.4 per cent are identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer.

That’s the biggest percentage on network shows found in the study’s 22 years, topping last year’s record high of 4.8 per cent. The numbers also are up on cable and streaming series, although the study found fewer depictions of LGBTQ characters of colour on streaming as well as broadcast.

The study also looked at how women fare on TV and found it wanting. While women make up an estimated 51 per cent of the U.S. population, they’re 43 per cent of the regularly appearing characters on broadcast TV, a1per cent drop from last season.