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LGBT Themes, Stories And Characters On TV


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Two recurring female characters had a torrid liaison on "American Housewife" this week. I mention it because it was completely normalized, there wasn't even a shred of scandal around it, and it smashed one of my personal pet peeves by NOT portraying woman/woman sex as tepid and ladylike. Gone are the days of shy longing gazes followed by fade to black and then light breezes stirring the curtains of an open window the next morning.

Even mediocre shows are giving us some representation.

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On 3/9/2018 at 1:05 AM, JBC344 said:

Still to this day one of my favorite performances ever by an actor, his portrayal as Calpernia is just perfection.

My god though, could you imagine the incessant bitching this performance would get now even though Calpernia herself gave her blessing? Ugh. I get wanting to see actual transgender actors playing transgender characters, but I always think about this very sensitive, obviously researched performance when I watch videos where people slam cisgender actors playing transgender characters.I read somewhere that a screening of Boys Don't Cry got cancelled because protestors didn't like having a cisgender actress playing Brandon Teena.

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33 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

My god though, could you imagine the incessant bitching this performance would get now even though Calpernia herself gave her blessing? Ugh. I get wanting to see actual transgender actors playing transgender characters, but I always think about this very sensitive, obviously researched performance when I watch videos where people slam cisgender actors playing transgender characters.I read somewhere that a screening of Boys Don't Cry got cancelled because protestors didn't like having a cisgender actress playing Brandon Teena.

Nobody seems to mind cisgender actors doing Hedwig.  At least, not that I've heard.

21 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Nobody seems to mind cisgender actors doing Hedwig.  At least, not that I've heard.

Maybe (and I could be remembering wrong) it's because Hedwig had always identified with the gender (s)he was assigned at birth and only got the surgery to use the mom's passport.  Like, if that soldier had never come along, Hansel would have lived the rest of his life as a cis man.

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John Constantine is joining Legends of Tomorrow as a cast regular for season 4. I think this might make him the first male bisexual superhero regular on TV. Legends previously had Citizen Cold, who is gay, guest star. He was played by out actor Wentworth Miller. Miller previously played another version of the character, Captain Cold. Captain Cold's sexuality was unknown; however, he did have an unrequited crush on a female teammate. 

Arrow already has Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific who is gay, but has been largely sexless for almost 2 seasons. The Flash had Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper who is gay guest occasionally, but he hasn't been seen for 2 seasons.

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1 hour ago, HunterHunted said:

John Constantine is joining Legends of Tomorrow as a cast regular for season 4. I think this might make him the first male bisexual superhero regular on TV. Legends previously had Citizen Cold, who is gay, guest star. He was played by out actor Wentworth Miller. Miller previously played another version of the character, Captain Cold. Captain Cold's sexuality was unknown; however, he did have an unrequited crush on a female teammate. 

Arrow already has Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific who is gay, but has been largely sexless for almost 2 seasons. The Flash had Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper who is gay guest occasionally, but he hasn't been seen for 2 seasons.

Arrow, if not all the DC Comics shows, also had the very openly gay Scottish-American actor/singer John Barrowman (MBE) as Malcolm Merlyn. I don't think the character was gay, though. I don't/didn't watch Arrow, but I know about this because I'm a fan of John Barrowman's from other stuff he's done (& his social media videos, especially on his Facebook, are a hoot).

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16 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Arrow, if not all the DC Comics shows, also had the very openly gay Scottish-American actor/singer John Barrowman (MBE) as Malcolm Merlyn. I don't think the character was gay, though. I don't/didn't watch Arrow, but I know about this because I'm a fan of John Barrowman's from other stuff he's done (& his social media videos, especially on his Facebook, are a hoot).

The character was straight. Barrowman's Merlyn was a villain on season 2 of Legends. Victor Garber, an out actor, played a straight character who originated on the Flash, but jumped over to Legends of Tomorrow. Garber left Legends this season to pursue opportunities on Broadway. The show just added Kid Flash played by Keiynan Lonsdale who is bisexual actor.

Legends is probably the queerest of the Arrowverse shows. They have bisexual Sarah Lance; she's the captain and has romances across time with women and men. Sarah's antagonist turned girlfriend, Ava. Citizen Cold who is gay and has a boyfriend in a parallel universe (The Ray--he has a series on CW Seed), played by Russell Tovey. And now bisexual warlock John Constantine.

The show also has some ho yay ships that they tease from time to time--Ray/the Atom and Mick/Heatwave and in season 1, Rip Hunter and Jonah Hex.

Edited by HunterHunted
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The GLAAD Media Awards happened last night

Some of the winners include This Is Us, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and an episode of Master of None.

Honestly, I'm scratching my head at the This Is Us win for best drama. They've only had one bisexual character that they introduced the plot for about two episodes in season 1 and then no queer characters in season 2. I'm perplexed that this show won over Sense8, or Wynonna Earp, or even Shadowhunters. 

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9 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Honestly, I'm scratching my head at the This Is Us win for best drama. They've only had one bisexual character that they introduced the plot for about two episodes in season 1 and then no queer characters in season 2. I'm perplexed that this show won over Sense8, or Wynonna Earp, or even Shadowhunters. 

Yeah, I was perplexed by the This is Us win as well,  I honestly had forgotten about William being bisexual and thought that there was a plot that had happened after I dropped the show mid-season.  I would hardly call it in the midst of things when it comes to LGBTQ representation.

On 4/13/2018 at 9:36 AM, Lady Calypso said:

Honestly, I'm scratching my head at the This Is Us win for best drama. They've only had one bisexual character that they introduced the plot for about two episodes in season 1 and then no queer characters in season 2. I'm perplexed that this show won over Sense8, or Wynonna Earp, or even Shadowhunters. 

I believe the eligibility date of this award was calendar year last year.  So a good chunk of Season 1 would have been included in their deliberation.

As far as the judging, I think it depends on what criteria or rubric they use when deciding what makes for a best drama?  Given the TIU win, I would imagine that simply the number of LGBTQ characters in a show or even the face time of said characters may not be all that is weighed when deciding.   William as a whole person, who just happens to be LGBTQ, was a great and very rich representation.  He was a poet, a drug addict, a father, an artist, and a  sensitive soul.  And his story, as told through present day and flashbacks was a really strong character study.  The 'Memphis ' episode alone was fantastic. It could be they loved the idea that a story told about an LGBTQ character didn't need to center his sexuality to be meaningful and worthy of the award.  And that alone was what made it impactful?

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7 hours ago, Miss Dee said:

Between Sara, Constantine, Leo and Ava - all of who have stories that use their orientations without reducing the characters solely to that - I'm surprised Legends of Tomorrow wouldn't be considered a contender for any of the GLAAD awards. Maybe I just don't understand how the awards work.

I think it's just because Legends of Tomorrow is a little watched superhero show on the CW that they are overlooked with these type of awards. It's not a prestige cable drama, a network hit, or a buzzy zeitgeisty show. My big fear is that Jay and Alexei's garbage storyline from this season of UnReal will end up being nominated or winning next year.

Can we talk about what a mess this storyline is? Jay is a producer of the show within the show, Everlasting a Bachelor type competitive dating show. This season they have guys vying for the hand of the suitress aka Bachelorette. One of the guys, Alexei, has been willing to blow Jay in order to get cocaine. Jay has somehow caught feelings for Alexei even though Jay started the season with a boyfriend, has attempted to rebuff the blow jobs, and has even been depicted as being disgusted with himself for getting this with the contestant. However, one episode later he's trying to throw a romantic picnic for the two if them even though Jay has never previously shown himself to be into Alexei. Of course, Alexei snaps that he's not gay and only wanted cocaine, which devastates Jay. I seriously don't know how or why Jay would be devastated. The writing on the show has been abysmal since Marti Noxon left.

Edited by HunterHunted

Normally i don’t notice these sort of things but since I watched all three and I am pretty  pissed off at all three cancellations I will put it out there.  Netflix has cancelled three shows this year with LGBT characters in the last 2 years.  One of them within days of it dropping.  

Gypsy

Sense 8

Everything Sucks  

 

You can can make points about quality of all of them.  Gypsy was incredibly slow burn and had an unlikeable  lead  but it was also cancelled days after it dropped.  It is highly controversial depending where you look.  IMDB has it at 7/10 rotten tomatoes has it at 36% but Netflix itself has it at 3 to 4 stars.  

Sense 8 has a rabid fan base an international rabid fan base but it is an incredibly expensive show to make.  But I would also say it is nearly an HBO quality show so this is exactly the kind of show Netflix should keep and not cancel.

Everything Sucks....has its issues.  I think Netflix was hoping it would be the next teenage period peice but it just didn’t get the ratings.  Still it is a beautiful coming of age show that should be given a second chance.

Edited by Chaos Theory
Auto correct is Not my friend
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1 minute ago, Chaos Theory said:

Normally o don’t notice these sort of things but since I watched all three and I am pretty lidded af all three cancellations I will put it out there.  Netflix has cancelled three shows this year with LGBT characters in the last 2 years.  One of them within days of it dropping.  

Gypsy

Sense 8

Everything Sucks  

I fucking love Sense8. It took me a while to watch it, because I'm in the habit of adding stuff to my Netflix queue and procrastinating instead of sitting down to watch. But when I did, I inhaled the first season over two days, and the second even quicker, when it aired. And it's not just a TV show. I'm a straight, white dude and, while I consider myself pretty enlightened and socially liberal, watching the show was an eye-opening experience for me on some issues I'd never really thought about, or was actually a little uncomfortable with.

But I understand Netflix's reasoning, in that it was really expensive, it was logistically complicated, and not enough people watched it or talked about it. It sucks, but I'm just happy they're giving us a finale.

As for Everything Sucks, that's another I was going to watch, but hadn't got round to yet. Now it's been cancelled, I don't know if I want to, in case I really like it.

In case it's not been mentioned here, people should watch Runaways on Hulu, to see a positive, uncritical portrayal of a teenage girl realising she's gay, and possibly embarking on her first relationship.

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3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Everything Sucks....has its issues.  I think Netflix was hoping it would be the next teenage period peice but it just didn’t get the ratings.  Still it is a beautiful coming of age show that should be given a second chance.

90's themed shows for whatever reason don't do well. The only one I can think of that has actually lasted is Fresh Off the Boat, which does have a teen lesbian character that was once the crush of the main character.

Honestly, Everything Sucks just kind of looked like a Degrassi wannabe, just set in 1990's America.

Supergirl are adding a transgender character next season: https://tvline.com/2018/06/14/supergirl-season-4-transgender-character-spoilers/

 

Quote

I hear producers are engaged in a worldwide casting search for an actress to play the new transgender character that’s being added to the show next season. As you probably heard, the newbie’s name is (tentatively) Nia Nal and she’ll be joining the Catco investigative reporting squad.

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6 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

It got horrible crustal reviews but insatiable over on Netflix had some LBGTQ themes.  Like I said it got really bad reviews and some people are getting offended by the lead wearing a fat suit but i am not sure what other options considering the theme of the show.   i enjoyed the show.  

It wasn't the fat suit that offended me, it was the lead falling in love with a guy accused of being a pedophile (he wasn't) and talking rapturously about since she's a teenager, she has a good shot with him.

Not to mention the murder stuff.

2 hours ago, Miss Dee said:

Don't know if it was mentioned earlier, but I just discovered David Rose and his boyfriend [redacted] in Season 3 of Schitt's Creek, and I'm utterly enchanted. One of the slowest and sweetest developments of a relationship I've ever seen on TV.

Luv them. It's also really sweet that David misses nearly every clue that Patrick is into him because David has a long history of dating jerks. The build up of David and Patrick is very slow and sweet. It's simply the best.

I also like that the inability to recognize sincere affection is actually a familial Rose issue. We see it play out with David's sister, Alexis, who realizes too late that the nice guy really did care for her and she felt the same for him. We see this also play out David and Alexis' parents. It takes them a long time to recognize that the residents of this small town really like the Roses.

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If you're looking for a new LGBT-themed show to binge and can get into a soap opera/telenovela scenario, check out the Netflix Spanish-language series La Casa de las Flores (The House of Flowers). It stars Mexican TV stalwart Veronica Castro as the matriarch of a seemingly-perfect family trying to maintain the facade while secrets and lies are exposed left and right. It features gay, bi and trans (and arguably lesbian) characters, and shows them living their lives as complex, fallible human beings exactly like the straight characters. For those that are familiar with the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune, this reminds me of a telenovela version of that highly entertaining show. There are 13 episodes in Season 1, and Netflix has already renewed the show for Seasons 2 and 3. Here's the trailer:

Edited by giovannif7
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It looks like The Magicians might make Quentin and Eliot endgame.  Quentin’s predominately shown to be interested in women while Eliot predominately attracted to men.  They’ve forged a strong friendship and the chemistry has been amazing.  I wasn’t sure if they were a real possibility as the show’s OTP but season 4 is going there.  In season one, 

Spoiler

Quentin, Eliot, and Margo had a threesome as an after effect from battle magic which damaged Quentin’s relationship with his girlfriend Alice.  So they hooked up but since magic was involved it didn’t necessarily mean that they would be a couple.  Then, in Season 3 there was an episode where Quentin and Eliot are stuck in the past and Quentin kisses Eliot who reciprocates.  Then it goes into this lovely montage where Quentin marries this woman has a son and he, his wife and Eliot are a family unit.  It’s unclear if this was a polyarmous arrangement where Q is with his wife and Eliot but it’s implied. They spend 50 years together and are happy.

Then, they return to the current timeline and eventually remember the other lifetime they spent together.  In Season 4, we find out there was a moment in Season 3 we never saw where after getting the memories of the other timeline Quentin suggests he and Eliot should have a relationship in the current timeline but Eliot rejects him.  We find out that this moment is Eliot’s biggest regret and painful memory.  At the moment Eliot’s body is being possed by a monster and Quentin believing Eliot was dead was going to kill him but Eliot temporarily gained control of his body and referenced Quentin’s Season 3 offer of a romantic relationship to convince Quentin he was alive.  So Quentin abandoned the plan to kill the monster.  So it seems that once Eliot gets his body back he intends to pursue Quentin romantically but Q has been through alot since the monster has been using Eliot’s body to terriozie him and his friends.   Plus, it’s a bit of a triangle because the monster is jealous of Q’s friendship with Eliot.   

Season 1 - Magic hangover threesome

Season 3- alternate timeline

Season 4  - Quentin wants the monster to return Eliot

Season 4 - Eliot relives his biggest regret in order to find a way to get past the monster and communicate with Quentin

Edited by Luckylyn
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John Constantine has joined Legends of Tomorrow. He's a jaded perennial loner and a wizard who joins the team because he's recently screwed up some recent wizarding. He had met a guy. What started as casual hook ups turns into love and an actual relationship. And because a Constantine has gotta Constantine, he's accidentally sent someone completely undeserving to hell. This time it's his lover. He joins the Legends in order to hijack their time ship and save the man he loves. Because it's Legends, it has been thoughtful, ridiculous, and hilarious. There's a great two-part episode where Constantine breaks time trying to save the man he loves to hilarious and disastrous results. The season isn't over so we don't know the actual resolution of things. I'd recommend it to people, but I love Legends.

Siren on Freeform is back for Season 2. It seems that the show is fairly adamant that the Ben/Ryn/Maddie thruple is going to happen. After closing out episode 4 with all 3 making out, episode 5 opens with them in bed together. They begin talking about sex. Ben and Maddie admit that they didn't want to move too fast or pressure Ryn. Ryn is certain that she wants to have sex with Ben and Maddie. I feel pretty confident that it'll happen as long as mermaid power struggles don't back burner it.

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9 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

Because it's Legends, it has been thoughtful, ridiculous, and hilarious. There's a great two-part episode where Constantine breaks time trying to save the man he loves to hilarious and disastrous results.

I found interesting that the kiss that broke the spell was between two men and it was treated the same way you’d show any curse breaking kiss - swelling music, a burst of light, etc (someone in the writers room has been watching OUAT). (ETA: This is an interracial gay couple. It’s such a nonissue that it slipped my mind, but I figured it was still worth mentioning). 

Also, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone ever mention Black Lightning, featuring TV’s first black lesbian superhero. Her parents are perfectly accepting of her which is a little less common with black families on TV.

Edited by BaggythePanther
Wanted to acknowledge another aspect of Constantine’s relationship.
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The Magicians is doing such a good job dealing with the sexuality of their characters. They're not just saying okay, here's your gay or bisexual character, diversity, yay! They are writing good complex stories for them. Things I haven't seen much on TV before.  I'm just really impressed with the writing for this show. It makes me wish that the people/writers doing the show would get a hold of the rights for Tanya Huff's Smoke book trilogy. For those that haven't read them they have a gay wizard character, the 'straight' guy he crushes on, and a 500 year old bisexual vampire. I think they could do those books justice. Oh and they're about the people that work on a fictional vampire detective show that is kind of like Angel. It's also set in Vancouver so it would be such an easy series to do since every genre show seems like it films there anyway. (I love those books sooo much. I'll never stop hoping they get the TV treatment someday.)

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On 2/21/2019 at 7:49 AM, Luckylyn said:

Season 4 - Eliot relives his biggest regret in order to find a way to get past the monster and communicate with Quentin

The way The Magicians has handled Elliot and Quentin's story has been so organic and well written, its really a wonder to witness, especially when so many times shows will start out with some queer content, but put it in the background, or back off at the last minute with a big "no homo guys!" and head back to hetero land. I think so many people expected that even the non ambiguous moments between them (who have been super close friends since basically day one of the show when they met) like when they had a magic based three way between them and their friend Margo, and when they lived a whole life, and even raised a child together, in an alternate timeline that they both still remember, that they would back off at that last minute have Quentin go back to his original heterosexual love interest, but now? Now that we know that Quentin asked Elliot to try being with him again in the "original" timeline of the show, and Elliot panicking and saying no is his biggest regret in his whole life? Oh lord, we are heading to endgame, at least from the looks of it. It feels so...earned. 

On 2/23/2019 at 4:58 PM, HunterHunted said:

The season isn't over so we don't know the actual resolution of things. I'd recommend it to people, but I love Legends.

Legends is so great, I will never stop singing its wacky but lovable praises. The show also has Sara, who is the closest thing the show has to a main character, who is bisexual (she even had a one time hook up with the aforementioned Constantine) and is in a relationship with a woman, which has been a reoccurring plot element throughout the last few seasons. Her girlfriend Ava has also had some good development to, and has become a pretty full fleshed out character as well, not just a token or a main characters girlfriend. 

Really, genre TV has been doing some really interesting things with LGBTQ stories, and its so great to see. 

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I found it interesting that both The Simpsons and Family Guy had an episode of a character posing as transgender this season.  Marge posed as a drag queen selling tupperware (or something like that) and kept up the charade because she was so popular as a drag queen, and Peter posed as transgender so he could reap all the "benefits" provided at his job.

Both episodes were pretty tacky.  But Family Guy writers at least had the sense to have Quagmire's dad, a real transgender character, call Peter out, informing him that he and other transgender people went through a real struggle to come to terms with their identity and themselves, while Peter just fell into it accidentally.  Peter realizes what he did was wrong and properly apologizes.

Would have been nice if The Simpsons had done something like that and TRIED to handle it sensitively, but nope.  Homer accidentally outs Marge's scam and she blames him for everything, while most of her new drag queen friends instantly forgive her, saying they knew a long, and the transgender storyline becomes another stupid "Homer and Marge's marriage is in trouble" storyline.  Which really pisses me off, because Marge was just as guilty as using the LGBTQ culture for her own gain as Peter was, and yet she's never called out on it.

Edited by Spartan Girl
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5 hours ago, janie jones said:

Don't get me wrong; the description sounds shitty, but is it possible the reason the drag queens were okay with what Marge was doing was because there are female female impersonators?  Did anyone say anything about that?

No, that doesn't come up. If it had, maybe I wouldn't have been so annoyed. But what really bothered me was how the writers squandered a real opportunity for growth in addressing LGBT issues. Instead of having Marge realize the struggle that transgender/drag queens go through and maybe look at her own inherit prejudices and assumptions, the writers ONCE AGAIN use the trite formula of "Homer screws up, Marge is a big victim, Homer makes a grand gesture to make things right" bullshit, sweeping the LGBT storyline aside.

But what can you expect from a show so tone deaf their default response to everything is, "Quit your whining, we make fun of everything."

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