Where We Are on TV Report: 2019-2020

GLAAD is calling on the industry to make sure that 20 percent of series regular characters on primetime scripted broadcast series are LGBTQ by 2025. Further, we would challenge all platforms – broadcast, cable, and streaming – that within the next two years, at least half of LGBTQ characters on each platform are also people of color. This is an important next step towards ensuring that our entertainment reflects the world in which it is created and the audience consuming it.

Below are some of the most remarkable points GLAAD found in its research this year, download the full report now to read more.

• Of the 879 regular characters expected to appear on broadcast scripted primetime programming this season, 90 (10.2%) were identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. This is the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the fifteen years this report has counted all broadcast series regulars. There were an additional 30 recurring LGBTQ characters.
• The number of regular LGBTQ characters counted on scripted primetime cable increased to 121, while recurring characters increased to 94, making for 215 characters.
• There were 109 LGBTQ regular characters counted in original scripted series on the streaming services Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix as well as 44 recurring characters, for a total of 153 LGBTQ characters.
• Bisexual+ characters make up 26 percent of the LGBTQ characters tracked across all platforms (broadcast, cable, streaming originals), a slight decrease in percentage from last year, but up to 128 characters from 117 in the previous report. The numbers still skew toward women, though there was an increase in bi+ men this year (90 women, 36 men, and two non-binary characters).
• This year, there are 38 regular and recurring transgender characters tracked across all three platforms, up from 26 last year. Of those, 21 are trans women, 12 are trans men, and five are non-binary characters.
• Racial diversity of LGBTQ characters increased on broadcast and cable, but decreased on streaming originals. For the second year in a row, LGBTQ characters of color outnumber white LGBTQ characters on broadcast television, 52 percent to 48 percent. 47 percent of all series regulars on broadcast scripted television are people of color, a three percent increase from the previous report and a record-high. 
• Only one asexual character was counted in this report, Todd Chavez on Netflix’s BoJack Horseman. No additional asexual characters have been added, and BoJack Horseman is set to air its final episodes in this reporting period.
• Broadcast hit another record high with 46 percent of series regular characters counted on broadcast scripted primetime television being women, a three point increase from the previous year. This still underrepresents that women are estimated to be 51 percent of the U.S. population.
• The amount of regular primetime broadcast characters counted who have a disability has increased to 3.1 percent, which is a record-high percentage but that number still vastly underrepresents the actualities of Americans with disabilities. There are nine characters across all three platforms tracked (broadcast, cable, streaming) who are HIV-positive.
• Netflix counts the highest number of LGBTQ characters on all streaming services, and Showtime counts the highest number on cable networks. The CW boasts the highest percentage of LGBTQ series regular characters of the five broadcast networks. 

However, storytellers often make glaring, yet easy to avoid, errors when covering our community. The purpose of the toolkit is to help entertainment professionals who wish to ensure they are as inclusive of people with disabilities as possible. The creation of this toolkit would not have been possible without the financial support of California Endowment.