Just how well are us LGBTs portrayed on television & film? Here are 9 of our favourite TV characters.
1. Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor)
Transparent. A sensitive and moving portrait of a trans-woman struggling to come to terms with her gender identity and having to come out to her family as transgender. Transparent depicts the struggles that families go through when a loved one comes out with a secret like this. Luckily the series doesn’t sensationalise the issue, nor does it become offensive of the portrayal of Maura, who says the most wonderful line “All my life, my whole life I’ve been dressing up like a man, this is me” Definitely worth a watch.
2. Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres)
Ellen. In 1997 The Puppy Episode the character of Ellen loudly announced to a whole airport terminal she was gay and made television history in the process. DeGeneres herself came out on the same day to Oprah (who had guest starred in the episode) and the show took a light-hearted comedic approach to the character who’s sexuality had always been a source of speculation. However, after the episode aired ratings started to decline and criticisms were aimed at the writers for concentrating too much on the gay aspect of a character and the show was cancelled a year later.
