GLAAD Reports GLBT Diversity Up for Broadcast, Down Dramatically for Cable This Fall

GLAAD has found the main gays on TV.

Today GLAAD released their 14^th Annual Diversity report, previewing the 2009-2010 television season. Using a slightly different methodology than their recent post-mortem, the Network Responsibility Index on representation released over the summer, it paints a mixed picture of what GLBT viewers can expect when they turn on their televisions this fall.

For the purposes of this study, GLAAD breaks down television into broadcast, cable, reality and animation. Then the 600 characters on primetime are broken down further into six primary groups: Drama Lead/Supporting, Drama Recurring, Comedy Lead/Supporting, Comedy Recurring, Animated, and Reality.

This differs from their other report which tracked appearances across aired hours by simply tracking the character’s future existence.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios

The short summary is that broadcast networks are gaining representation, but that cable actually took a major hit on the number of characters, largely due to the end of The L Word.  Still, strides are being made according GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios:

It’s promising to see not only an increase in the quantity of LGBT characters but that storylines about the LGBT community are becoming more reflective of current issues impacting our lives. Americans now have the opportunity see LGBT couples marrying on shows like Brothers & Sisters, raising children on Modern Family and LGBT youth coming out on Glee. As more and more Americans see fair and accurate images of our community and the issues impacting our lives reflected on the small screen, they come to accept and better understand their LGBT family members and neighbors.

The report notes that all the representation is overwhelmingly white, with only four GLBT people of color on appearing on broadcast shows and thirteen on cable.

Next page! The five broadcast networks!