Readers' Choice: The Top 25 Gay TV Characters Revealed!

Gay science fiction fans have long complained that their favorite shows — Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes — have failed to boldly go where other shows had already gone, namely including gay characters. But Torchwood, the Doctor Who spin-off, created by out writer Russell T Davies, finally did go there — and in a big way. Torchwood not only featured the first bisexual sci fi hero in Captain Jack Harkness, but the role was also played by out actor John Barrowman.

As played by Barrowman, Captain Jack is a dashing rake, fond of the gentlemen and the ladies as well as anything else extraterrestrial. He's the brave, dashing hero of the show able to be tough when needed and tender as well, something gay viewers were treated to in the episode "Captain Jack Harkness".

In that episode, Captain Jack traveled back in time to meet — and woo — his namesake in one of the most romantic episodes of television gay fans have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Even better? The show has been a huge hit, garnering record ratings for both BBC America (which broadcasts the show in the U.S.) and for BBC Three which initially aired the show in the U.K.

About the impact of playing the role of Captain Jack, Barrowman told AfterElton.com in an interview:

It is gratifying ... I was doing another kind of signing thing at a press conference where I was signing autographs and a little boy came up to me with his father. The father said do you want Captain Jack's autograph? The little boy [said] "Oh, yes, Daddy. I don't care if he likes boys or girls, he's my hero."

Coming in at number ten, Captain Jack is clearly one of our heroes as well.

The perennial boy next door and gay everyman, Michael Novotny (Hal Sparks) started out as Brian Kinney’s sidekick and grew into his own kind of hero by the time Queer as Folk filmed its final scene. He married HIV-positive Ben Bruckner in Canada, adopted an HIV-positive foster son, and had a close relationship with his wisecracking, PFLAG-member, diner waitress mother, played by Sharon Gless.

In contrast to best friend Brian, Michael chose marriage, family, and a house with a white picket fence. But after almost dying in an explosion at a gay political benefit, Michael demonstrated that his true colors included the whole rainbow of queer experience. Chosen to be a poster boy for an assimilationist gay rights organization, he went off script at a media event, pointing out that he wasn’t necessarily “just like” everyone else. “In many ways, my life is nothing like yours,” he said. “Why should it be? Do we all have to have the same lives to have the same rights?”