A new GLAAD report finds LGBTQ+ characters on American television have fallen by nearly a quarter, even as queer-inclusive shows attract attention. The sharpest drop is among transgender characters, while streaming now accounts for most of those still represented. The figures offer a snapshot of a changing industry, and a reminder that popular stories don't automatically mean broader visibility.
Essential Takeaways
- Representation is down: GLAAD counted 369 LGBTQ+ characters across scripted broadcast, cable and selected streaming programmes, 120 fewer than the previous year.
- Trans representation fell sharply: The count dropped from 33 characters to seven.
- Streaming carries most of the remaining visibility: The lead report says streaming platforms accounted for roughly three-quarters of LGBTQ+ characters.
- Andrew Scott reflects on the past: His role in Elsinore has prompted discussion of the pressures gay actors faced to hide their identities.
- The wider LGBTQ+ news picture is varied: It also includes a fatal shooting at a Washington DC gym and T-Pain's new reality dating series about consensual non-monogamy.
The numbers have fallen, despite popular queer stories
The clearest finding in GLAAD's latest Where We Are on TV study is a steep drop: the organisation counted 369 LGBTQ+ characters in the 2025-26 television season, down from 489 the year before. That's a fall of nearly 25 per cent, even as queer-inclusive programmes continue to find audiences.
The decline is especially stark for transgender characters. GLAAD counted seven, compared with 33 in its previous report. The proportion of LGBTQ+ characters of colour also fell, from 50 per cent to 44 per cent, its lowest share since 2018.
The study tracked scripted programmes on broadcast, cable and selected streaming services between 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026. GLAAD argues that audience interest in LGBTQ+ stories has not translated into more characters on screen, and points to cancellations, fewer premieres and a changing television industry as factors in the decline.
Streaming now does most of the representing
Traditional broadcast and cable television reached their lowest levels of LGBTQ+ representation in more than a decade, according to the lead report. Streaming platforms, meanwhile, accounted for roughly three-quarters of the characters counted.
That contrast matters. A popular queer drama can make a splash, but the overall picture depends on what gets commissioned, renewed and made available across the industry. As established programmes end, new commissions become increasingly important to whether representation holds steady or slips further.
Andrew Scott's role brings an older struggle into focus
Andrew Scott's forthcoming film Elsinore looks back to Scottish actor Ian Charleson's acclaimed performance as Hamlet at London's National Theatre in 1989. Charleson was living with AIDS and died in 1990, aged 40; the film centres on his final months and the circumstances surrounding that production.
Speaking to Vogue, Scott said being a gay actor shouldn't be treated as remarkable, while recognising that earlier performers faced a very different professional climate. Them, reporting on his comments, describes how gay actors could be offered opportunities on the implied condition that they conceal an important part of themselves.
It's a pointed contrast: greater openness for many actors today doesn't erase the compromises and exclusions of the past. Elsinore was scheduled for a limited US cinema release on 20 November 2026, followed by a wider release on 4 December.
A Washington DC gym shooting leaves five people shot
A shooting at and around VIDA Fitness in Washington DC's Logan Circle neighbourhood left one person dead and four others injured on 12 November. The Associated Press reported that a building manager was killed inside the gym, while CBS News reported that the suspect later died after barricading himself in an apartment.
The gym has longstanding connections with Washington's LGBTQ+ community, but authorities had not confirmed that the attack was motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hatred. That distinction matters: the community connection is part of the story, but it isn't evidence of a motive.
VIDA Fitness said its Logan Circle premises would remain closed until further notice. The investigation was still developing in the reports provided.
T-Pain's new dating show explores a relationship of three
T-Pain's Searching for a Third follows singer Shonte Renee and music producer DJ Montay, a married couple looking for another partner to join their relationship. Them reports that the first two episodes premiered on YouTube on 12 November, with the series produced through T-Pain's Nappy Boy Productions.
The show puts trust, commitment and the conversations involved in consensual non-monogamy at the centre of its dating format. It joins other television projects exploring polyamorous relationships, including Couple to Throuple and This Is Poly.
Polyamory isn't itself an LGBTQ+ identity, but the series touches on questions of intimacy and relationship structures that are also discussed in queer communities. For viewers, that makes the premise more than a dating-show twist: it brings a less conventional relationship model into the mainstream format.
The report's most sobering lesson is that visibility can be popular and still fragile.
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