2015 was the first year history that one critic could not possibly watch every hour of every TV show featuring a queer female character — a far cry from the zero hours it took to watch all the queer female characters on primetime broadcast TV when I started doing this job back in 2008. Thanks to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, and a generation of voting-aged humans who started watching Glee out-gay itself week-after-week when they were in the sixth grade, the landscape of TV has been changed forever over the last few years.
The two most remarkable things about queer women on TV in 2015 were: 1) How unremarkable it was for a show to include a main character who was a lesbian or bisexual woman. Lesbian/bi women were dynamic main characters and boring supporting characters, they were virtuous heroes and they were dubious antiheroes, they were on broadcast TV and they were on cable TV. They were everywhere and it was no big deal. 2) How many of the very best queer characters were women of color, particularly black women. In fact, when we asked our TV writers to weigh in on their favorite TV characters of the year, women of color dominated our roundtable for the first time ever. It’s an exciting trend I hope continues to grow in exponential ways.
Things weren’t quite as universally revolutionary, however, for trans women on TV this year. Later today, we’ll look back at the year in trans TV, specifically, and parse out how the most trans women ever appeared on TV in the same year the most trans women ever were murdered in the United States. We’ve still got a long way to go with queer representation on TV, especially for trans characters.
Riese captured the state of queer TV perfectly earlier this year in her piece about GLAAD’s decision to drop its Network Responsibility Index.
Now the focus has shifted to misrepresentation and underrepresentation. Outside of ABC Family, we rarely see a lesbian or bisexual female character at the forefront of any particular cast (which is part of why Faking It is so precious to us), especially not on broadcast television. We don’t have our Jamal on Empire, Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family or our Cyrus on Scandal. Also, when it comes to lesbian representation: why must so many lesbian characters sleep with men? Will we ever see a diversity of gender presentation amongst female queer TV characters, or just a bunch of thin femmes? WHY SO MANY WHITE PEOPLE?
But mostly these days it’s not the simple existence of queer characters that we’re fighting for, it’s for screen time for those characters and their romances. It’s so tiring, this back-and-forth we play with the people who tell the loudest stories. This is what we want to look like! Stop making us look like [other thing]! Straight white men save so much time not worrying about that shit.
With that in mind, we’ve ranked every storyline on American TV this year featuring a queer female character. (We’re pretty sure we got them all, but if we missed any, let us know.) For the first time in a long time, I’m really excited about what the future of TV holds.
WARNING: Spoilers for every single TV show featuring a queer TV character this year, including major character deaths.
83. Big A is Charlotte DiLaurentis, Pretty Little Liars
I have confirmed with multiple sources that this story was three years in the making, which makes the egregious missteps even worse than I thought when I first watched the Big Reveal back in August. Every damaging trans trope you can imagine (topes that people in real life use to justify committing horrific violence against trans women) rolled into a single episode and amplified retroactively over five seasons of what was once my favorite show on TV. I’m still heartbroken about it.
82. Another Ryan Murphy shitshow, American Horror Story: Hotel
81. Sara Harvey is the ultimate deus ex machina, Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars brought on Sara Harvey at the last second to be the answer to a dozen questions, and tried to shoehorn her into a relationship with Emily to lend emotional impact to the reveal that she was every single faceless bad guy we’ve wondered about over the past five years. It was cheap and lazy, and her presence robbed us of Emily exploring a relationship that had the same emotional resonance as the other main (straight) characters. I’m mad at myself for how happy I was when Emily punched her in the face.
80. Rene Montoya disappears, Gotham
The fanboys couldn’t handle that a queer woman of color (and one of two most beloved lesbians in DC’s entire universe) was a legitimate romantic foil for Jim Gordon, so they canned her without explanation or apology.
79. Charlie gets stuffed in a refrigerator, Supernatural
This was some straight up ’90s-style bullshit storytelling: Violently killing one of the only women on the show (and definitely the only queer person on the show) to advance the plot of the straight white men. If I never see this trope again, it will be too soon.
78. A Very Special Trans Murder Episode, Law & Order: SVU
This episode had more problems than I can count. Mey Rude did the hard work and listed them for us.
77. Maya is every damaging trans trope, Bold & the Beautiful
She’s been lying about being trans her whole life to trick a rich man into marrying her. Every character misgenders her and misnames her repeatedly when they start to find out. Violence against her is justified because she’s deceitful and duplicitous. To make it even worse, Maya is the only trans character on daytime TV.
76. Mimi Whiteman takes over Empire, has horrible threesome, Empire
Come on, Ilene.
75. Barbara is a bisexual psychopath, Gotham
After writing off Rene Montoya, Gotham turned Barbara into a full-on sociopath. She had her own family murdered, tortured Jim’s new girlfriend, stalked Jim, was a co-conspirator in a plan to murder every police officer in Gotham city, and continued to be addicted to every pill known to man. It’s time to retire this played cliche too.
74. Kalinda exits on a green screen, The Good Wife
CGI? What CGI? There was a time when Kalinda Sharma was the most nuanced, exciting bisexual character on TV. Her last two seasons were rubbish, and her last episode was a joke.
73. Amy lies to sidestep Reagan’s biphobic ire, Faking It
Faking It really struggled with the biphobia this year, and Reagan was the original perpetrator, refusing to entertain the idea that she could be in a relationship with a woman who’d had sex with a man. And so, in typical Amy fashion, she just lied about it over and over until she and Reagan broke up about it. With Amy’s sexual orientation up in the air, Reagan became the only bona-fide lesbian character on the show, which made her biphobia even more egregious as it played into the stereotype that all lesbians are biphobic.
72. Nicky spends the whole season in max, Orange Is the New Black
We hardly got to see her knowing smirk at all this season!
71. Tamsin dies, Lost Girl
After being raped by Bo’s dad masquerading as Bo and having his baby, Tamisn died. And sure, she was never going to be Bo’s forever love, but she deserved so much better. She was one of the best queer sci-fi characters in TV history.
70. Sam is a “predatory lez,” Scream Queens
Just stop writing women, please, Ryan Murphy. Thank you.
69. Mulan comes back, Once Upon a Time
Mulan stopped by for her yearly five minutes of screentime on Once Upon a Time, and despite the producers’ promises that a gay relationship is going to happen this season for absolute sure no question don’t even worry about it, the only action Mulan got was Red sitting near her on the ground, breathlessly heaving her bosom for 15 seconds.
68. Mary and Nora have been together a thousand years, Vampire Diaries
It’s always nice to have a new couple to add to the canon of lesbian vampires.
67. Ellen and Liz Feldman get trapped in the ’90s, One Big Happy
Siiiigh. We wanted so much from this show. It wasn’t offensive or anything; it was just 15 years behind its time.
66. Lesbian directors are everywhere, BoJack Horseman
Lesbian director Kelsey Jannings, (most famous for her critically acclaimed indie drama Women Who Love Women Who Love Recycling) came back for a bigger role in season two; she was the director of BoJack’s Secretariat film, which paid her exactly one thousand dollars per minute.
65. Bird and Madison kiss, Finding Carter
Mandatory queer kiss on an MTV scripted show.
64. Jane directs Valerie’s new reality show, The Comeback
She is to Valerie what Kelsey Jennings is to BoJack Horseman: super talented, thirsty, misanthropic, and secretly shielding a marshmallow heart.
63. Cricket gets a girlfriend, Hart of Dixie
When Cricket came out at her wedding on Hart of Dixie, it was a truly shocking moment. Not because it was her wedding, but because everyone had always assumed her fiance was gay. The show didn’t do much with her before it was canned, but it did send her off with a girlfriend, even though they never did more than hold hands on-screen.
62. Mayfair’s ex is a lady, Blindspot
Mayfair’s storyline on Blindspot was indicative of how so many supporting queer storylines were treated this year: It added a layer to her characterization, made her more relatable to the audience, and ultimately was a non-issue.
61. Gail tries to adopt a kid, Rookie Blue
She also made out with her archnemesis at work; sadly, it happened off-screen.
60. Betty bakes a bun in her oven, Masters of Sex
I had higher hopes for Betty after she was made a series regular, but this season of Masters of Sex, overall, paled in comparison to the previous two seasons. Betty’s weak storyline was par for the course for all characters in season three.
59. Tituba has lesbian leanings, Salem
If you read my weekly TV round-ups in Boob(s In Your) Tube, you know I cannot watch gory shows, and Salem earns top marks in both of that area. Tituba did smooch on another lady this season, but I couldn’t bring myself to look for a screencap because it’s always so bloody. Luckily, this photo existed in WordPress when I searched “Salem.”
58. Lucy Lawless does it again and again, Salem and Ash vs. Evil Dead
Lucy Lawless has kissed more women on-screen now than I have ever (or will ever) kiss in my entire life. Four for you, Xena. You go, Xena.
57. Alex and Piper’s whole toxic deal, Orange Is the New Black
It’s not even sexy anymore, y’all. It’s time to move on to orange-er pastures.
56. Kay is a soft butch flannel queen, Marry Me
Marry Me had all the makings of a great comedy, but NBC pulled the plug on it before it really found its footing. The biggest travesty was that we lost Kay, one of a the very few main lesbian characters in broadcast TV sitcoms, and my favorite part of the show. And she’d just started dating Anna Ortiz!
55. Transphobia lands Sophia in max, Orange Is the New Black
Riese said it really well in her recap:
Here’s the thing, though: the Sophia we’ve followed through 2.5 seasons would’ve apologized to Gloria when she found out it was Michael’s fault the kids got in trouble, not Benny’s. Orange wants to tell a story about violence against trans women in prison, and so here it is, but the thing about violence against trans women in prison is that it doesn’t need a reason, it happens all the time for no reason. Trans women get beat up and raped in prison just for being trans women.
54. Callie moves on with Penny, Grey’s Anatomy
We hates Penny. WE HATES HER PRECIOUS.
53. STELLLAAAA, Orange Is the New Black
It’s always good on a queer woman’s eyeballs to see Ruby Rose on-screen, but that’s as deep as my interest in Stella went. I’d trade ten Stellas for one Nicky, coming home from max.
52. Pippy and TMI exist, Rosewood
The most boring lesbian couple on television, which is pretty damn revolutionary.
51. Another Annalise, Grandfathered
John Stamons’ right hand woman is a lesbian restaurant manager named Annalise. She doesn’t have much to do, and hasn’t had a love interest yet, but she’s the only woman of color on the show and easily one of the best and funniest parts.
50. Dr. Pineda has a living girlfriend and dying ex-girlfriend, Code Black
Another casual mention of lesbianism and no protests or bloodshed or trigger warnings before the episode aired. It’s like networks have finally figured out that if you’ve got a group of five super smart women hanging out together, at least one of them is going to be gay.
49. Tara lives, scores a lady kiss, The Walking Dead
Not all lesbians die in the zombie apocalypse!
48. Audrey is a final girl, Scream
She’s also maybe the ultimate bad guy; only time will tell! At least she’s an interesting queer killer on a show about killers. The lesbians are always the first to go in horror stories.
47. Karma and Amy stay trapped in their kissing-confusion loop, Faking It
After which Amy finally drove away.
46. Ben’s sister comes out as a trans woman, Grey’s Anatomy
The story was handled with a lot of heart, and definitely came down on the side of Rosalind and not Ben, but it had the trappings of: a cis man playing a trans woman, Bailey outing a trans woman to her family, and focusing on Ben’s feelings about the whole thing and not his sister’s. I hope Rosalind comes back around this season. She needs more!
45. Jessica’s favorite hangout is a lesbian bar, Fresh off the Boat
Jessica not knowing that her favorite place to chill out is a girl bar is one of the funniest gags on one of the funniest shows on TV. The stereotyping is gentle, and played as if lesbian viewers are in on the joke.
44. Sara comes back to life, Arrow
I was excited about this at like a five, and then I found out she’s going to romance Ali “Betty McRae” Liebert on Legends of Tomorrow, and now I’m at like a nine and half.
43. Faith is a secret queer lady, UNreal
This show was the opposite of its name: It was one of the most real things on TV in 2015, and Faith realizing she’s gay but being coaxed into staying silent about it for ratings was a huge part of that realness.
42. Piper becomes Walter White, Orange Is the New Black
Of course Piper would become the white person exploiting women of color to make a buck, and getting off the whole time on how brilliant she is. Of course that’s who she was destined to be. I’m done with her, though. Her story, I mean. I’m ready for Suzanne to become the centerpiece of this show.
41. Talia comes out, kisses Emily, is married to a man, Pretty Little Liars
Emily Fields’ game makes Shane McCuteheon look like she’s a little league rookie. How has she not made the other three Liars completely homosexual by now?
40. Gretchen is the vigilante we deserve, Complications
USA axed Complications after only one summer, which is a real shame; Gretchen was halfway to becoming Batman when the first season ended.
39. Margot and Alana scissor inside a kaleidoscope, Hannibal
They also made the very wise decision to hire armored guards to helicopter them the fuck out of this story universe when they realized they were in danger. Every queer women on television should take note!
38. Sarah and Tammy get married, breakup, Transparent
It was almost too real.
37. Jordan comes out as a trans girl, The Carmichael Show
While this episode isn’t exactly perfect (they misgender Jordan a lot), I do think it was maybe the most slept on piece of trans media of the year. What I really love about it is that it’s pretty real. It doesn’t pretend that Jerrod’s family, or Jerrod himself, are perfect when it comes to understanding trans people. But they do try, and they do learn, and they do accept Jordan. Honestly, this is a really funny episode, and they made a bunch of jokes about trans people, and they made them mostly without putting trans people down or being transphobic.
36. Lena kisses Monty and never tells Stef, The Fosters
Monty was such a fascinating character, and her stupid chemistry with Lena was stupid good, but she needs to take her recently awakened sapphic tendencies to another charter school in another city, far away from Stef and Lena.
35. Pima tries to get into Peggy’s pants, Mad Men
No man on Mad Men was ever good enough for Peggy, and for a hot second, it looked like Pima was going to turn her head. Goodness, she tried. Peggy was flattered, but she turned her down. If she were going to be with a woman, it would have been Joyce anyway.
34. Maggie is TV Land’s first lesbian character, Younger
Holler for a middle aged lesbian for a change!
33. Ilana sleeps with her doppelgänger, Broad City
Obviously she was practing for Abbi, but it was still (very) good fun.
32. Lesley is Eileen Myles, Transparent
This fictional relationship worked out pretty dang well for real life Eileen Myles and Transparent creator Jill Soloway.
31. Clarke and Lexa smooch a little bit, The 100
Juliet and Juliet for the post-apocalyptic Hunger Games crowd.
Next page: The top 30!
30. Arizona finds a new wingman, Grey’s Anatomy
Arizona is extra cute on this season of Grey’s Anatomy, especially when she revealed to Webber that she brought him out to a lesbian bar to help her get over her fear of dating again.
29. Luisa is a beautiful mess, Jane the Virgin
Jane the Virgin was my favorite TV show of 2015, and Luisa was one of the best parts of it. She’s an absolute wreck and has been duped now by two crime lords, but gosh, I love her.
28. Cosima and Shay fall in like, Orphan Black
Bringing on a beloved Canadian sci-fi actor to play Cosima’s new love interest was a brilliant move by Orphan Black‘s writers. Delphine and Cosima will always be my favorite couple on this show, but I don’t mind watching these two flirt and get their smooch on while I wait for Delphine to be resurrected.
27. Max sets sail with Anne, Black Sails
I’ll always have a soft spot for Eleanor, but Max needs her millions and Anne Bonney is just the pirate to take her where she needs to go to collect that treasure.
26. Root and Shaw smooch with their mouths, Person of Interest
Person of Interest is one of the very few shows in American TV history that decided to focus on the female characters because they’re better, and also let two of them kiss just because their on-screen chemistry is so good. And on CBS, no less!
25. Bo and Lauren are endgame, Lost Girl
Suck it, Dyson.
24. Surprise! Tiana is queer, Empire
Though the storyline didn’t really go anywhere, it was an awesome shock when we found out that Hakeem’s new girlfriend also had a girlfriend. I hear Freda Gatz is in the market for a new love.
23. Real friendship between trans women, Transparent
I feel like this is the kind of trans TV we’ve been waiting for. It’s finally here. From going dancing together, making lasagna, to teaching Maura all about Yaaas Queen and getting cunt, these three showed trans women just being themselves among themselves. And Davina, oh, Davina. There’s this thing she says to Maura in Episode 7 that’s my favorite line in the entire show since “My whole life I’ve been pretending I was a woman.” Davina, you have my whole heart. Ah, and Shea! he’s so wonderful and there’s a really wonderful conversation she has with Maura in Episode 8 that made me just want to hug her. I’m just so in love with these characters and their relationships with each other.
22. Paige McCullers bounces up out of Rosewood, Pretty Little Liars
Paige McCullers: The only human with a functioning brain in Rosewood, PA. You were too good for that town, McCullers. If staying away means staying alive, I’ll miss you forever, but do it, girl. See the world, fingerbang your way up the PCH, get married barefoot on the beach at sunset to a woman who deserves you. We’ll always have coconut cupcakes. I hated to see her go (HATED IT), but her sendoff was a triumph worthy of her character.
21. Nomi and Amanita are so in love, Sense8
It was a year of never-before-seen queer romances on TV, and Nomi and Amanita were one of our favorites. A transgender character played by a transgender actor in an interracial lesbian relationship! It was sweet and sexy and fun, and we really do need more of it.
20. Jeri Hogarth is an evil power lesbian, Jessica Jones
As long as queer characters aren’t evil because they’re queer (a trope as old as time), I am a-okay with them. Take Jeri Hogarth, the ultimate antihero. She was one of the most compelling lesbians on TV this year, on a show with two other marvelously dynamic female characters. There’s no telling how much she’s going to ramp up the bad guy hijinks next season, now that she’s basically started making Horcruxes out of her dead wife’s things.
19. Denise is the best, Master of None
A masculine of center black lesbian character played by a real life masculine of center black lesbian comic? Yes, please. More of that, please.
18. Delphine sacrifices herself for Cosima, Orphan Black
Nobody wants to see a queer character die, but if she’s got to go (because she has signed on to headline her own TV show), let her go out like a Slytherin HBIC who’s doing it all for the love of her life, am I right? (And hey, maybe she’s not dead. We never saw a body.)
17. Stef and Lena get their shit together, The Fosters
It was a rough season for our favorite lesbian moms, but they worked it out in the end, like they always do. It was a relief, I’ll tell ya; I never want to see their lips on other people’s lips as long as I live.
16. Marceline and PB grow old together, Adventure Time
Finally! Bubbeline is canon on-screen!
15. Soso and Poussey hold hands like sea otters, Orange Is the New Black
After battling terrible depression all season long, Poussey and Soso found a moment of comfort and understanding with each other in the show’s final minutes. Much deserved!
14. Shelly and Maura’s relationship, Transparent
I think this is the first time this story has ever been told on TV!
13. M-Chuck visits a plantation, Survivor’s Remorse
Survivor’s Remorse is criminally under-watched (probably because Starz makes it nearly impossible to view its shows). This season, M-Chuck visited a plantation in south Georgia that paid actors to re-create a pre-Civil War atmosphere for tourists. She was outraged, but not outraged enough to keep her from sleeping with one of the actors, the white woman who was playing the plantation owner’s daughter, in the plantation’s master bedroom. Few things on TV surprise me in a delightful way, but this thing sure did.
12. Jill is Annalise’s BFF, How to Get Away With Murder
There was no shocking reveal [that Jill is trans], no discussion by the show’s main characters on whether or not they should respect her identity, no tragic end, no tragic beginning. Instead, Jill was treated with respect by all the characters that mattered. The only people who were transphobic jerks were portrayed as transphobic jerks, Jill wasn’t murdered and the show talked about real trans issues like transmisogyny in the police and court system and the way men who sleep with trans women often mistreat the women they’re sleeping with.
11. Unique returns triumphant with an entire trans choir, Glee
Glee never, ever, ever treated Unique right, and this scene had all the makings of the “magical black woman” trope, where she arrives on the scene to guide a white man through his tough times to a place of enlightenment, but damn, it was just so good to see Unique return and SHINE like the star she always was.
10. Brenna will not let her bisexuality be erased, Chasing Life
Brenna was one of the few bisexual characters on TV to actually label her sexuality and say the word “bisexual” every time someone tried to call her gay or straight. She even threw down in a GSA meeting at her new school, addressing all kinds of bi stereotypes in a way we never get to see on TV, and coming out triumphant. I’m still mourning the fact that ABC Family Freeform cancelled this gem of a show.
9. Raven comes out, Black-ish
One of the best queer standalone episodes of 2015 was Raven playing Dre’s gay sister on Black-ish. It was funny and sweet and so true to life. When she came out and revealed that her live-in mechanic was actually her girlfriend, her family refused to believe her, but they came around by the episode’s end.
8. Lauren comes out to defend Hester High, Faking It
Faking It has 99 problems, but Lauren Cooper ain’t one. After keeping it a secret for a season and a half, she came out as intersex in front of all her peers to save Hester High. She continues to be the highlight of this show, one of our favorite TV characters, and the hero Texas deserves.
7. Freda Gatz arrives to take over the world, Empire
Season two of Empire has caused a lot of frustration among viewers, but one thing we can all agree on is that Freda Gatz is the truth. If only she can stay out from under Lucious’ thumb!
6. Big Boo gets a backstory, Orange Is the New Black
We hardly ever get to see masculine of center women on TV, but OITNB gave us Big Boo’s story from the very beginning and it resonated deeply with us.
5. Ali and Syd fall in love, breakup, Transparent
There were more ladies falling in love with ladies stories on TV than ever before in 2015, but Syd and Ali’s felt the most real to us. Carrie Brownstein crushed it.
4. Brittany and Santana get married, Glee
2009: “Sex isn’t dating. If it were, Santana and I would be dating.”
2015: “I would have suffered it all, just for the tiny chance that I’d be up here, marrying you.”
3. Garnet is really Ruby and Sapphire, Steven Universe
When Garnet revealed that she is actually two gems fused together in a lesbian marriage, my heart nearly exploded out of my chest. It was so romantic and it was the first animated series in America to really, really go there in a way that required no interpretation of subtext. Truly, Steven Universe is one of the best written and most feminist shows on TV; and this moment was revolutionary in ways we’ll be talking about for a long time.
2. Annalise and Eve sitting in a tree (K-I-S-S-I-N-G), How to Get Away With Murder
Oh, you know, just Viola Davis playing a bisexual antihero on the most watched night of TV in the United States for a role that made her the first black woman to ever receive an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama. No big deal. (Just kidding, this is an ENORMOUS deal.)
1. Suzanne’s genius is finally revealed, Orange Is the New Black
The first two seasons of OITNB were brutal for Suzanne, but she finally got a little bit of respite in season three, as she became a celebrity for of her Time Hump Chronicles novel, and she found love in a very sweet new inmate/super fan. There’s a reason Uzo Aduba keeps getting nominated for every acting award on the planet, and it’s because she breathing life into a character we have never see on our TVs before.
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You left out Zoe discovering her feelings for Grace during the season finale of “Degrassi”!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQUapyh6aU
Also, in keeping with “Degrassi”, there was also the wrapping up of Imogen’s relationship with Jack, this season.
YES! Since Zoe and Grace’s storyline is so prominent this season, I hope Autostraddle will be covering it more.
#66, WHUT?
The friend I’ve drudged through the first eps of the last season with is coming by tonight.
She’ll be happy to hear that our further Lost Girl TV dates have been canceled in favor of HTGAWM.
I don’t think I could get drunk enough for the second half of that show anymore..:-(
P.S.: I thought for legit,that “Salem” was a spin off centered around the cat from Sabrina,the Teenage Witch,when I saw the picture and was totally cheering for that, before I read the description.
I wish I could say that this was my last “blonde” moment of the year, but, if we’re being honest, it very probably wasn’t.
That said, I really need to get on that second season of Transparent,stat.
I totally thought that too, I was trying to work out how I could have missed a Sabrina spin off.
ME TOO I WAS LIKE, SALEM GOT A SPINOFF AND THERE ARE GAY LADIES ON IT
Also apparently carrots
I mean cheetos
Argh, OUAT!!!! So glad I quit that show a long time ago.
I saw a comment in AE, by CallistosDarkSide, that was so on point:
“The first 10 seconds of the new The 100 trailer had more lesbian content/intensity than all of Once Upon a Time’s season 5a.”
OMG someone recognised Tamsin as the BOSS she is (was *sob*). My favorite TV character in years, we need a prequel of all her past lives.
Love your list but for me The 100 should be higher :)
I remember some years ago spending hours looking for queer characters and ending up watching many terrible terrible shows just for the hope to see my experience (or my possible future) being represented in some way. I’m glad that I don’t have to do that anymore. I can now watch shows that I actually like! With good queer storylines! And good queer female characters! Finally.
My 2015 favourites:
– Annalise Keating on HTGAWM and Clarke on The 100 because BADASS BISEXUAL LEADS
– Nomi and Amanita on Sense8
– Root and Shaw on PoI
2015 is the year I allowed myself to become picky. I once would’ve settled for the nonsense in Gotham and AHS. Now I can demand the kind of representation seen in Transparent, Orphan Black, Sense8, HTGAWM, OITNB, and other proven successes with diverse and complex queer storylines. Here’s hoping 2016 will be even gayer.
And, failing that, I’ll just sit through several more screenings of Carol.
oh man what a great year for television!! I LOVED Maura, Davina, and Shea’s friendship. easily my favorite part of Transparent. And HTGAWM blew me away this season. I only want to see Annalise with her hair wrapped up kissing a pretty lady in the mornings for the rest of my life.
The fact that, at some point in the night, Anna got up to wrap her hair, and Eve thought nothing of it, makes me happy. Its such a little thing but so true to us natural folks rolling deep in curl patterns.
Me too! I think the Annalise – Eve storyline is excellent
I only know about half these characters, I don’t know which show to chose first!
Allow me to help you out:
Orange is the New Black, Orphan Black, Transparent, Sense 8, Faking It, Jane the Virgin, The 100, Person of Interest, Jessica Jones and the How to Get Away With Murder and Steve Universe that just exploded onto the top of my list.
If you’re into superheroes (and only then) and after the above are completed, Arrow (and maybe Flash), to get into the game for The Legends of Tomorrow, which will feature the White Canary, a bisexual lead in an ensemble cast, making it bisexual lead Thursday (with The 100) on the CW starting January 21st, if I’m not altogether mistaken.
Whatever you watch, I wish you great enjoyment and a Happy New Year!
To further elucidate, Samantha, White Canary was the original Canary on “Arrow”. She had a girlfriend, Nyssa, on that show too.
Thanks! The only ones I haven’t seen from your list are the 100, person of interest, sense 8 and Steve universe. I’m watching Jessica Jones just now and loving it! Unfortunately I don’t live in America so have to actively seek out the arrow and flash but I’ll definitely give them a try after I’ve watched all the rest. Happy new year to you as well! I spent mine watching the first 5 episodes of transparent season 2.
This year I have seen more MOC queer woman than I have ever seen in the movies and TV shows that I love and goddamnit if it doesn’t make me feel more comfortable in this skin I thought so foriegn.
I’m not crying, Jill Soloway, you are crying.
I hated the Denise character in master of none. He made a whole episode about asian stereotypes in television and then had a lesbian character whose only function was to talk about cunnilingus. I think her only function was to be his (only) gay, black, and female friend for diversity points without having too big of a cast.
(And why isn’t Cosima higher? That relationship involved Cosima. Automatic top ten.)
I agree! I kept reading about what a well rounded amazing character Denise was… but got to the end of the season and just didn’t see it.
His male BFFs both got a background story episode but all we got was Denise being a womaniser. We know nothing about her the way we know about Brian’s father’s emigration story and the white dude’s grandfather.
I am glad that there is a rise in MOC women representation but why do they always have to be misogynistic womanizers? Sick of that trope. Boo was less so this season. Maybe next season we will see more depth to Denise.
And at least we see nothing quite so ridiculous as Shane McCutcheon seducing an entire heterosexual bridal party. You know what, I won’t mention any more of that. The L word was fantasy. Glorious fantasy. Deeply flawed fantasy, but I dove into its depths and adored that world in which every single character was homonormative. But nowadays Shane doesn’t even seem butch compared to the representation there is now. She’s more hard femme to me. That was butch in 2004 or whatever. I’m old. Wah.
I would like to dispute the realism of that situation. Totally possible. Such a stud.
Personally, I would have moved Root and Shaw about 20 spots higher, but otherwise, A+ list. I’m so excited to see what happens with all of these storylines (and new ones) next year!
1. Soso and Brooke “holding hands like sea otters” made me very happy
2. Ryan Murphy: Stop making television
3. The Big A reveal in PLL was a really good reminder for me that even smart queer women we trust to tell our stories (L. Marlene King is a lesbian right? Am I mixing her up with someone else?) can completely and utterly fuck up when they try to tell trans stories, and I mean, they should stop doing that, because it’s just not that hard to NOT fail that spectacularly, but also maybe we need more trans people telling us stories please? So can everyone, like, let them?
4. Nomi and Almanita forever. Can someone edit Sense8 for me so it’s just them? And while you’re at it, edit Game of Thrones so it’s just Khaleesi?
I was going to say that perhaps the brevity of The 100’s queer content kept it out of the top 30, then I realised that some of these other moments/storylines were just as brief.
Seriously, the main character just happening to be bisexual, revealed with absolutely no fuss, no big deal, then making out with the gorgeously scary HBIC…and that’s not even taking into account the sexual tension that had been burning up the episodes prior to that.
In previous years, one or both of Clarke and Lexa’s characters would have been male. And even with both being female, ordinarily their relationship would only have come to fruition through the overactive imaginations of fanfic writers. It’s a big deal.
I love the 100 with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, so I agree with all of these things. But I also love scifi in general and loved the show even before the kiss. Which has made me notice that the people who already watched the show and thought it was amazing loved how small and no big deal the Clexa relationship was because it fit the show and the world so perfectly, while people who watched the show just because they heard it had a bisexual lead and a relationship were disappointed that they sat through it all for about 30 seconds of screen time. So while for me it was in my top ten or even top five queer lady storylines of the year, I can understand why some people placed it lower. I think they’re crazy, but I do theoretically understand.
For sure. I actually don’t understand Autostraddle’s “blink and you miss it” summary of the Clarke/Lexa relationship at all? Their storyline is a huge part of the second half of the season, not just a random 30 second kiss. I get that in this year’s TV landscape The 100 really isn’t doing anything groundbreaking in terms of LGBT representation, but watching Clarke Griffin Bisexual try to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders is the most invested I’ve been in a television show in years.
(Not to argue with the list– you guys are great! I just want more people to watch The 100.)
This!
I agree, and I really hope that people didn’t take it as a reason not to watch the show, because the relationship between Clarke and Lexa rives the whole second season. It just doesn’t get openly sexual til the end. I actually thought the most sexually fraught moment of the whole show isn’t when they kiss, but when Clarke backs her up against the table and Lexa, who normally doesn’t take shit from anyone suddenly gets so nervous and clearly distracted. That was the moment when I was went, oh my god, is this real and not just my shipper heart?
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE 100 SEASON 2 below!!!!
I also thought the relationship added so much depth the betrayal, and actually made it make more sense why Lexa did it. She was so intent on not letting her emotions overrule her judgement and endanger her people that she made a really bad logical decision. Betraying your allies is not a great way to get people to trust and look up to you. Not taking the chance to destroy your ruthless enemies who see you as less than human and now have the ability to go outside is also not a great choice. But she was so worried that she was doing it for Clarke that she had to prove to herself she was still an impartial leader, and by doing that f*cked everything up. So yeah, the blink and you’ll miss it summary does seem an unfair assessment of the show, but if you are looking for a gooey, old school CW type romance this is not going to scratch that itch.
I really like that theory!
Great comments. I agree wholeheartedly. I’m a huge sci-fi fan and The 100 is one of the best (if not the best) sci-fi shows on TV right now. I understand that this list is about queer content, but I think merely passing off that queer content as ‘Clarke and Lexa smooch for a little bit’ does the show a disservice.
Why did I look at this article?! I just got so many spoilers! (I take full responsibility, though)
Right there with ya.
I didn’t know Tamsin died! I stopped watching the episode she was raped (not because of that, I just got busy and haven’t gone back yet), so I was already spoiled about Lauren and Bo when the show ended (yeah ok I peaked when I saw the pictures of them on articles).
I was just about to make this exact comment! At the first spoiler I saw I felt immediate regret followed closely by “wow I’m dumb of course there would be spoilers in this.”
Same. But, oh well.
I never saw the show before, but I did when I saw a commercial that the TV show Royal Pains had a trans girl character. It was done mostly well if I remember correctly. A few days later I found out the actress playing the trans girl was in fact trans and not a cis, which made it all the better! I’m was Autostraddle never mentioned it. http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/television/2015/06/18/trans-teen-nicole-mainess-acting-debut-royal-pains-has-impo
I like that I’m quoted so much in this. I definitely did not realize that i write about tv that much.
Per #23: Although I’m glad two trans actors found employment through this (very small) arc in Transparent, I’ve never found Maura’s relationship with these two realistic in the least. In my experience, there tends to be very little connection between trans people who came up through the gay community and those who came up from what were viewed as straight relationships… especially older transitioners. I find the age difference between these 3 even less credible… there are huge generational gulfs within the trans community. That Shea (or Divina for that matter) would ever be caught dead in public with someone like Maura just isn’t credible. What is it about Transparent that they couldn’t just show Maura having friendships with other ‘non-passing’ older transitioners… too embarrassing, not sexy enough, not believably women enough?
“How has she (Emily) not made the other three Liars completely homosexual by now?”
Because she knows if Hanna kissed her, then Mona would kill her. Not torture her. Not psychologically mess with her. Just flat out kill her. And we all know who Spencer and Aria have eyes for.
This is perfect hahaha!
Too many harry potter references, does not compute. But it was a good year. 2016 be get better.
“31. Clarke and Lexa smooch a little bit, The 100”
I have the feeling that they’re gonna do a lot more than kiss a little bit in S3. They’re shown together in the S3 trailer, and in those 5 seconds alone Clarke seems to go from wanting to cut Lexa to wanting to take her to bed. It’s awesome. And it looked like that was just their first meeting since S2.
“To make it even worse, Maya is the first and only trans character on daytime TV.”
I don’t know if even she was the first trans character on daytime TV, but All My Children had transwoman Zoe *eons* ago.
HEATHER YOU HAD ME SO EXCITED THAT SALEM THE CAT GOT HIS OWN 2015 SPINOFF SHOW AND THEN I FIND OUT IT’S A LIE!
I really appreciated how Annalise and Eve’s relationship was handled in HTGAWM. It was actually relationship and not meant to be salacious or a stereotype. In the plot, it served to show a softer side of Annalise.
The Hulu series Casual ended with the brother character’s bisexual girlfriend sleeping with his sister. The betrayal was disappointing and even though the girlfriend character was already up front about being polyamorous, it relied on the trope that bisexuals have no morals.
And, Lena Waithe as Denise on Master of None was my favorite lesbian character of the year! She wasn’t pigeon-holed as a stereotype and her sexuality didn’t dictate her story arc. And she’d bust out hilarious comments, like “Look, I don’t have time to explain lesbian shit to you, okay?” Ha!
“Delphine and Cosima will always be my favorite couple on this show, but I don’t mind watching these two flirt and get their smooch on while I wait for Delphine to be resurrected.”
Bless this.
*Throws resurrection stone at Delphine*
WE DIDN’T SEE A DEAD BODY.
#teamcophine
I love that Suzanne got the top spot! I have to say that while I was reading I was wondering where on the list Suzanne and her new love interest would be – but having her and her fanfic in top place is even better!
2015 was a good year. I hope that in 2016, we will see more women of color with *each other*
steven universe for ever and ever amen
What you said about trading ten Stellas for one Nicky YES. YES YES YES.
I just finished watching all of Person of Interest season 4 during the holidays , and I’m pretty annoyed at #26. Because Shaw aka Carmen dela pica morales got shot by Samaritan goons right after! Come on!
Eh but no one gets a happy love life in that show.
No one.
Silver lining? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Could anyone else not get to page 2/Top 30?? Have I done something weird? Is it not out yet? I’M SO CONFUSED.
Nevermind I figured it out!
I know this is an American list but there’s been some fantastic stuff on British TV in 2015 too. Call the Midwife; and Cucumber & Banana come to mind.
PLL has left such a hole in my life and my heart – having said that – I’m watching it with great trepidation next week when it comes back with the Time Jump – Heather, I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who is going to help me make any sense of it whatsoever.
BTW I never got the Delphine thing. I never trusted her.
Aaah Steven U is the best show on CN?!!!
hi all,
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for the work you’re doing with this website and this community. television is what brought me here in the first place – I found it thanks to Riese’s L word recaps – and I’m very happy for that. I think this site actually has served the same function as that show for me, namely to offer a sense of belonging in a queer space at a time when I had few queer friends of my own. plus it’s the only website I know where I thouroughly enjoy reading the comment section. so once again, thank you, all of you! <3
No Rose from Scandal?
How come Angelique from Penny Dreadful is on the Violence and Visibility/Transgender Women On TV in 2015 list but not this one~? Surely she counts?
I mean, I’m actually so mad about her storyline I’m put off watching the show for the indefinite future (SO MAD), but I absolutely love love loved her :(
Yeah, you’re totally right. What happened, actually, was that this piece was done and scheduled before we finished the trans TV piece, so I actually didn’t know about her until after this was up and since it was the height of holiday bustle I just forgot to go back and add her. I will do that, though; thank you for the reminder.