{"id":278213,"date":"2025-11-26T14:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/?p=278213"},"modified":"2025-11-26T14:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:52:14","slug":"queer-characters-on-tv-glaad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/video\/queer-characters-on-tv-glaad-278213","title":{"rendered":"Nearly half of all queer characters on TV will disappear next year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-article-kik\">An uptick in series endings and cancellations is bad news for queer and trans representation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nearly half of all queer characters on TV will disappear next year | Xtra Magazine\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X_JhsdU7XQw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">LGBTQ2S+ representation on television has slightly improved in the last year\u2014but nearly half of the medium\u2019s queer characters won\u2019t be returning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s according to the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/glaad-releases-20th-annual-where-we-are-on-tv-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Where We Are on TV<\/em> report<\/a> from GLAAD, which documents and analyzes the number of queer characters on the small screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between June 2024 and May 2025, GLAAD identified 489 LGBTQ2S+ regular or recurring characters across scripted broadcast, cable and streaming shows. But 41 percent of them have exited their shows\u2014or were on series that were cancelled or ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On streaming, <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/whereweareontv24\/summary-of-streaming-findings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">120 queer characters won\u2019t return<\/a> because of series cancellations and endings, including Hulu\u2019s <em>Mid-Century Modern<\/em>, Netflix\u2019s <em>Arcane<\/em>, Prime Video\u2019s <em>Harlem<\/em> and Peacock\u2019s <em>Laid<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alarmingly, while GLAAD identified 33 trans characters on TV this year, only four of them were on shows <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/whereweareontv24\/representation-of-transgender-characters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that have officially been renewed.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the study, representation of LGBTQ2S+ characters of colour slightly increased, but some demographics, <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/whereweareontv24\/representation-of-indigenous-characters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">like Indigenous characters,<\/a> saw alarming decreases. GLAAD also found that bisexual representation on TV has decreased <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/whereweareontv24\/representation-of-bisexual-characters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">for the third year in a row,<\/a> and that there was only one LGBTQ2S+ character <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/whereweareontv24\/representation-of-characters-living-with-hiv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">living with HIV depicted on scripted television.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end\">These stats echo findings in Canadian media. A similar report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinktrianglepress.com\/advocacy\/ptp-pink-paper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Xtra\u2019s <\/em>parent company Pink Triangle Press<\/a> found that Two-Spirit, trans and gender-diverse characters are far underrepresented across film, TV and streaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An uptick in series endings and cancellations is bad news for queer and trans representation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1224,"featured_media":278216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"editorial_slug":"10","_editorial_slug":"10","exclude_from_latest_block":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,6,4,10],"contributors":[3053],"topic":[70,75,114,141],"clients":[],"series":[],"timeliness":[60],"editorial_format":[2088],"type-of-work":[2536],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278227,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278213\/revisions\/278227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributors?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"clients","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/clients?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"timeliness","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/timeliness?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"editorial_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_format?post=278213"},{"taxonomy":"type-of-work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-of-work?post=278213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}