GLAAD’s annual report on diversity in television show LGBT characters up slightly on network TV, down on cable

When you think of such recent things as Kevin and Scotty discussing having kids together on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, Kurt coming out to his classmates on FOX’s Glee and a gay couple bringing home their adopted baby on ABC’s Modern Family and you can get the impression that LGBT folks are now well-represented on television.

Then The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s annual “Where We Are On TV” report on diversity in television comes out and it’s like a bucket of cold water is thrown in your face.

GLAAD’s report, released today, shows an overall steady rise of LGBT characters on television but they still account for a lackluster 3 percent of all regular characters on network prime-time shows – up from 2.6 percent last year.

ABC leads the way, once again, with eight LGBT regulars while CBS has ZERO.

Cable, which has traditionally been a bigger home for LGBT characters with such past series as Queer as Folk, The L Word, Six Feet Under, saw a drop to 25 characters compared to 32 the year before and 40 in 2007.

To come up with the network figures, GLAAD looked at 79 scripted comedies and dramas from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW set to air during the 2009-10 television season. Of a total of 600 series regulars, 18 are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios sounds encouraged: “It is promising to see not only an increase in the quantity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender television characters but that storylines about the LGBT community are becoming more reflective of current issues impacting our lives. Americans now see LGBT couples marrying, raising families and contributing to their communities. As more and more Americans see these fair and accurate images of our community reflected on the small screen, they come to accept and better understand their LGBT family members and neighbors.”

Here’s how the networks break down:

ABC: This network puts the others to shame in this regard with eight LGBT characters out of 168 total series regular characters (5 percent), the highest number and percentage of LGBT characters of any network for the season. ABC has not suffered for including Scotty and Kevin and Saul on Brothers & Sisters or Andrew or Marc on Ugly Betty or Callie and Arizona to Grey’s Anatomy and now Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family. On Desperate Housewives, Bob and Lee are recurring and sadly, Andrew Van de Kamp has been reduced from regular to guest star.

FOX: Just two years ago, FOX was dead last with no LGBT regulars but has gone from zero to four out of 105 characters for a total of 4 percent. Amiong them is Glee’s wonderful Kurt played by Chris Colfer and bisexual women on Bones and House.

NBC: The Peacock Network has three series regular LGBT characters (3 percent) out of a total of 126 including the gay cop John Cooper played by Michael Cudlitz on Southland and a paramedic on Trauma played by Kevin Rankin. On The Office, there is the gay character of Oscar played by Oscar Nunez.

CW: The Melrose Place redo has bisexual lead character Ella Simms and had gay male Simon Lockridge on A Beautiful Life but that show was axed last week after just two episodes. Melrose also has the recurring gay character of Caleb Brewer and Gossip Girl has the recurring but underused Eric Van der Woodsen. The CW got marks from GLAAD for showing gradual improvement. That’s two LGBT series regular characters out of 69 (3 percent).

CBS: Zero. Not one regular LGBT character on any of its scripted shows. No one is gay on any of the CSI’s, not one of the NCIS’s, not on Cold Case or The Mentalist or on the comedies New Adventures of Old Christine and How I Met Your Mother on whicb famously out stars Wanda Sykes and Neil Parick Harris play straight characters. The only LGBT representation CBS has is Orlando Jones’ recurring gay part on the sitcom Rules of Engagement.

“Our analysis also shows where there’s still work to be done,” Barrios said. “This past year, we’ve seen real progress from many networks toward making their scripted programming more LGBT inclusive. At the same time, we continue to advocate that other networks including CBS follow suit and that networks across the board better reflect the diversity of the LGBT community.”

Cable’s numbers are down with gay networks Here! and LOGO with such shows as The Lair, Dante’s Cove, Paradise Falls and Rick and Steve giving them a huge boost. Some of the more significant LGBT characters on cable include Jack Harkness on Dr. Who, Liz Cruz and Julia McNamara on Nip/Tuck, Calvin on GREEK, and Lafayette Reynolds on True Blood.

To see the complete study by GLAAD, click HERE. For a complete list of gay characters on the four networks that have them, click HERE. For a full list of cable characters, click HERE.