For the fifth year in a row, POPSUGAR is dedicating the month of June to recognising LGBTQIA+ voices, having honest conversations about sexuality and gender, and honouring individuality, through personal essays and allyship guidance. A roster of contributors along with the POPSUGAR team are sharing these stories throughout the month, so be sure to find all our pieces here.
June 1st marked the beginning of Pride Month 2021 — a time to celebrate our beautiful LGBTQIA+ communities and reflect on how we can be better allies to them all year round.
The annual event is now in its 52nd year and while it can be said that we have made progress in terms of equality and representation for LGBTQIA+ people, there are also still many strides to be made.
Of course, the entertainment industry has a huge part to play in how we positively view people who identify as LGBTQIA+ and, thankfully, we are seeing some improvement on that front.
Gay and bisexual characters are no longer being relegated to playing minor roles or being the “punchline” in TV sitcoms and are now being represented as complex, three-dimensional characters who can and should be integral to the narrative.
We’ve also seen better representation for the transgender community too, with groundbreaking shows such as Pose giving visibility to a group who have been unforgivably overlooked in the past.
To celebrate Pride Month, and the shows that have waved the rainbow and blue and pink flags successfully, here are our favourite LGBTQIA+ characters from TV.
CNBC/POP
David Rose and Patrick Brewer, Schitt’s Creek
David (Dan Levy) and Patrick (Noah Reid) are basically television royalty and we will forever be grateful to Schitt’s Creek for bringing us such a beautiful relationship that was celebrated so sensitively.
The series, which was created by Dan Levy and his father Eugene, has been held up as a paragon of inclusion for the way it portrayed the entire town of Schitt’s Creek as being so accepting and, refreshingly, unfazed by David and Patrick’s romance.
Darren Star Productions/Stan
Lauren Heller, Younger
Molly Bernard, who plays the hilarious Lauren Heller on Younger, has previously told The Latch that she was grateful for the fact the show’s producers didn’t tokenise her sexuality.
“I think the kind of representation that Lauren is, specifically as a queer person, is crucial. She is a non-traumatised, self-loving pansexual and you know what? It’s much like my sexuality, it’s the least interesting thing about her.”
We also loved that her relationship with Maggie (Debi Mazar) was portrayed in such a healthy, joyful way. When the two decided to separate, it was done so maturely and with the understanding that they would remain friends, which they absolutely have.
NBC Universal
Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
In the Heights star Stephanie Beatriz plays Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine — which will sadly be ending in 2021 with its eighth season — and her coming out was, in part, inspired by Beatriz’s own revelation that she is bisexual and her desire for people who identify that way to have their truth celebrated instead of villainised on screen.
In the Season Five episode ‘Game Night’ Detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) confesses to her Nine-Nine family that she is bisexual, and is immediately embraced by the crew, particularly by Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) who is gay himself and represents another LGBTQIA+ character we absolutely adore.
FX
The Entire Cast of Pose
Pose — which was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals — has been lauded for its groundbreaking on and offscreen representation and features the largest cast of transgender actors ever to appear as series regulars on a scripted show, including Indya Moore as Angel, MJ Rodriguez as Blanca Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson as Elektra Abundance, Hailie Sahar as Lulu Abundance, and Angelica Ross as Candy Abundance.
Billy Porter — who plays HIV positive ball host Pray Tell — also stars in the series and became the first openly gay man to win the lead actor Emmy in 2019 for that role.
Showtime
Taylor Mason, Billions
As Taylor, Asia Kate Dillion represents the first non-binary actor with a starring role on American TV.
In an interview with NBC News in 2019, Dillion explained what drew them to the role, saying, “I would have never wanted to play Taylor if it had been a one-off episode and in that episode, it would have been all about their gender identity.”
“If it hadn’t been a fully fleshed-out character, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it, because that representation is old hat, frankly, and not interesting. Non-binary people are multi-dimensional human beings.”
Warner Bros. Television
Carol and Susan, Friends
Friends has copped some criticism in recent years because it wasn’t exactly diverse and the frequent jokes about Chandler’s sexuality were, in short, lazy and problematic.
However, the iconic sitcom did feature the wedding of two women — Carol Willick and Susan Bunch — which was considered groundbreaking at the time. One of the show’s creators, Kevin Bright, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he was still surprised — and thrilled — that he and his colleagues were able to get away with the episode.
“I would have figured that NBC would have been so pressured by the middle of the country that they would have shut it down — and they didn’t,” he said.
Co-creator David Crane did have one regret about the nuptials however and that was that the wedding wasn’t more from Carol and Susan’s point of view.
“Our mantra was always that the show was about the six of them,” Crane said. “And so many of the stories happened off-screen and the six would come back together at the apartment of the coffee house and they’d talk about what just happened. I wish we had violated that rule in that case.”
CBS Television/Jax Media/3 Arts Entertainment
Ilana Wexler, Broad City
We love llana from Broad City for so many reasons — she’s flaky, fabulous and freaking funny, after all — and one of those reasons is that she is a wonderful representation of a TV character whose sexuality is not their only trait.
Yes, Ilana is polyamorous and bisexual, but she is also a truly intersectional feminist who is just unapologetically, refreshingly all about the pursuit of doing what feels good and standing up for worthy causes along the way.
