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“The Red Line,” “Jane the Virgin” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” are among the series that have raised the bar for diversity on network television this season, according to a report released by Glaad, an organization that tracks representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the media.
The annual study, released Thursday, looked at original scripted prime-time programs across cable networks, broadcast television and streaming.
It found that 8.8 percent of series regulars on broadcast television in the 2018-19 season are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer characters, a record high since Glaad’s reporting expanded to count all broadcast series regulars 14 years ago. It is also a significant increase from 6.4 percent last year. Men and women are equally represented among those characters, whereas men made up 55 percent of the characters last year.
The report also found that, for the first time, L.G.B.T.Q. characters currently include more people of color (50 percent) than white people (49 percent). Strides have been made in the number of bisexual, transgender and H.I.V.-positive characters as well.
“Not only do stories that explore the rich lives and identities of L.G.B.T.Q. people move the needle forward culturally, but they pay off in ratings,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of Glaad. “Shows like ‘Will & Grace,’ ‘Supergirl,’ ‘Empire’ and ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ all attract millions of viewers weekly and demonstrate that audiences are hungry for new stories and perspectives.”
The CW ranks as the most inclusive broadcast network, while FX tops the cable networks in this regard. The report highlights FX’s “Pose,” which features the largest number of transgender series regulars on an American scripted series, and the CW’s “Supergirl,” which introduced Dreamer (Nicole Maines), television’s first transgender superhero, in Season 4.
Broadcast television can (sort of) pat itself on the back for improvements in terms of race: The percentage of black characters has risen to 22 percent from 18 percent since the previous year, while the percentage of Asian-Pacific Islander characters climbed to 8 percent from 7 percent. The amount of Latino characters has remained steady at 8 percent.
The most improvement can be seen on streaming services. The total number of L.G.B.T.Q. characters on Amazon, Netflix and Hulu has more than doubled, growing to 112 from 65. Of the three platforms, Netflix is home to the most of these characters.
Though people with disabilities remain tremendously underrepresented, the percentage of characters has inched to 2.1 percent from 1.8 percent.
Amid this progress, the representation of women has continued to fall behind: They make up 43 percent of regular characters on broadcast prime-time television, while accounting for about 51 percent of the United States population, according to the Census Bureau.
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