Favorite LGBT TV Characters Thread

[Deck Rickard]

I was going to create a thread for this but I thought I should do a search first and lo and behold, I unearthed this Hype artifact. Some great ones already listed here!

Sense 8: Nomi, Neets, Lito, Hernando and Wolfgang

Black Sails: James McGraw, Max, Eleanor, Anne

Game of Thrones: Oberyn, Illaria

True Blood: Russel Edgington, Lafayette, Tara, Pam

Hollywood: Archie Coleman

The Umbrella Academy: Klaus, Vanya

Schitt’s Creek: David, Patrick

The L Word: Alice, Shane, Bette, Tina, Jenny, Carmen

The Politician: Peyton, McAfee, Astrid, Alice, James

Broad City: Ilana, Abby

I Am Not Okay With This: Syd

Crazy Ex Girlfriend: Valencia, White Josh, Darrel

How To Get Away With Murder: Annalise, Tegan, Connor, Oliver

Six Feet Under: David, Keith

Sex Education: Eric, Ola, Lily

Euphoria: Rue, Jules, Nate

Jessica Jones: Jeryn Hogarth

Pose: Blanca, Angel, Pray Tell, Damon

Always Sunny: Mac, Country Mac

Killing Eve: Villanelle, Eve

My So-Called Life: Ricky

Kimmy Schmidt: Titus

 

[Silvermoth]

That’s cool! I think right now my favourite lgbt character in tv is Electra from Pose. She’s so fierce and wonderful and such an excellent rebuff to always portraying trans people as victims or monsters

 

[Kev4000]

Bojack Horseman: Todd Chavez

 

[Flash525]

The Umbrella Academy: Klaus, Vanya

Eek, that's kinda a spoiler for me (I'm behind) however knowing that Ellen Page is a lesbian in real life, I've been waiting for her to find an attraction to another woman in the show. Was bound to happen eventually.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Eek, that's kinda a spoiler for me (I'm behind) however knowing that Ellen Page is a lesbian in real life, I've been waiting for her to find an attraction to another woman in the show. Was bound to happen eventually.

Argh, sorry! I guess I should have spoiler-tagged that. That's kinda why I referred to one character in Black Sails by a name they don't usually use on the show because their queer revelation is a bit of a surprise. But I guess with Vanya (because Ellen is such a great LGBTQ advocate in real life and because the show just seems to have a more fluid outlook on sexuality given the way Klaus is portrayed) I figured it would be okay.

 

[Deck Rickard]

That’s cool! I think right now my favourite lgbt character in tv is Electra from Pose. She’s so fierce and wonderful and such an excellent rebuff to always portraying trans people as victims or monsters

Agreed; I feel like shows like Pose, Transparent and, to a lesser extent, Sense 8 and OITNB have really broken down walls for trans people in terms of content. There's still a long way to go though.

 

[Flash525]

Argh, sorry! I guess I should have spoiler-tagged that. That's kinda why I referred to one character in Black Sails by a name they don't usually use on the show because their queer revelation is a bit of a surprise. But I guess with Vanya (because Ellen is such a great LGBTQ advocate in real life and because the show just seems to have a more fluid outlook on sexuality given the way Klaus is portrayed) I figured it would be okay.

No harm done pal, I was kinda expecting it with the scenes I've seen between her and a woman who's thinking of leaving her husband (Episode 1/2 of Season 2) so it's fair to say that Vanya's turnaround can be seen miles off.

 

[Sithborg]

Just the whole freaking show, on that last one...

EDIT: New clip.

 

[Silvermoth]

Agreed; I feel like shows like Pose, Transparent and, to a lesser extent, Sense 8 and OITNB have really broken down walls for trans people in terms of content. There's still a long way to go though.

agreed, I didn’t even know about trans issues until orange is the new black. Before that the only time trans people were mentioned was in pretty horrible circumstances, you know, a bloke drinks too much and has a relationship with a trans person and the recorded laughter goes “ew” and some laughter. Pretty horrible considering they’re humans too and also because of their role in history including stonewall

 

[Deck Rickard]

agreed, I didn’t even know about trans issues until orange is the new black. Before that the only time trans people were mentioned was in pretty horrible circumstances, you know, a bloke drinks too much and has a relationship with a trans person and the recorded laughter goes “ew” and some laughter. Pretty horrible considering they’re humans too and also because of their role in history including stonewall

For sure. I hope someone makes a film or a TV series about Stonewall that’s actually good (i.e., not that Roland Emmerich bull****) that focuses on Marsha P. Johnson and the other heroes of that era.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I really do love all the characters on Pose and am desperately waiting for that show to return. It's actually hard for me to pick out a standout, but if I had to it would probably be Elektra only because I found her evolution as a character to be really interesting from Season 1 to Season 2. Klaus from The Umbrella Academy and Uncle Clifford from P-Valley are quickly becoming some of my favorites as well and I did really like Archie Coleman in Hollywood.

 

[Teelie]

Sarah Lance, John Constantine, Willow, Jack Harkness, Lafayette, Xena/Gabrielle, Mac, David, a few more eluding me.*

*I might have lifted some from previous posts as a reminder.


Will post more as I remember some names.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Man, Matt Ryan is so perfect as Constantine. He deserves a better show. I wish the writing (and other actors) on his Constantine show had been up to par. I know he’s on Legends of Tomorrow but by the time that had happened, I had kinda checked out of the CW shows.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Thought of a few more:

The Wire: Omar Little

Hap & Leonard: Leonard Pine

Parks & Rec: Craig Middlebrooks, Leslie Knope (come on, we all know she's in love with Ann)

Drawn Together: Xandir, Captain Hero

The Killing: Bullet

 

[Lip]

I'm going to say Will from Watchmen because it was a representation I've been longing for a really long time.

Will's entire existence does not revolve around his sexuality, coming out or struggling with acceptance. He's just a person who happens to be queer. He's much bigger than just being "the gay character".

Also Will has such an interesting and different journey that we rarely see queers characters having.

I want more queer characters like that.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Doh!

I can’t believe I forgot about Will in Watchmen. Brilliant performances by both Lou Gossett and Jovan Adepo and fantastically written. And I agree, his main story arc doesn’t revolve around his queerness; he just happens to be queer. Watchmen was fantastic TV and a worthy sequel to the classic graphic novel.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Yeah Will from Watchmen was a great character and played beautifully by Louis Gosset Jr. and Jovan Adepo. I'm still mad Jovan didn't get any awards recognition for his killer performance in "This Extraordinary Being". The Emmy's really messed up with that one IMO.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, I’m glad Watchmen got a lot of love but Jovan definitely deserved a nom in the guest category. That episode was flat out spectacular.

 

[Lip]

Jovan Adepo was nominated for best supporting actor. Him, Gosset Jr and Abdul-Mateen II.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Oh he was? LOL, I guess I should have actually watched the Emmys instead of just looking at the list of winners.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Few more...

Ragnarok: Isolde

Veep: Catherine Meyer, Marjorie Palmiotti

Stranger Things:

Spoiler

Robin

Dead to Me:

Spoiler

Judy, Michelle

Castlevania:

Spoiler

Alucard

 

[Deck Rickard]

Glad to keep having new names to add to this thread.


The Flight Attendant: Shane, Davey


Lovecraft Country: Montrose Freeman


Feel Good: Lava, Mae, George


The Fall: Stella Gibson


Never Have I Ever: Fabiola


The Good Place: Eleanor

 

[Persona]

Disclaimer that I'm straight so take my opinion for what little it's worth on this subject.

But a couple people have mentioned Omar from The Wire and I can only co-sign. One of the all-time great characters.

I also wanted to mention Thomas from Downton Abbey. He starts off a bit one-dimensional and too much of an Iago but I thought the show did a great job of developing his character over the course of its entire run. That's not something I can say about most of the other Downton characters, who seemed to get the bulk of their development from certain seasons or events; from beginning to end, Thomas gradually evolves until you sort of just realize in his final moment how much he has changed from the desperate schemer in that first episode.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Agreed; Omar is one of the best characters of all time. I would have watched a whole show centered on him.

 

[NotNickFury]

Off the top of my head:

Pray Tell on Pose
Omar, Kima on The Wire
Captain Holt on Brooklyn Nine Nine
Smithers
Marshall on United States of Tara
Aaron, Yumiko, and Magna on The Walking Dead
Cosima, Felix on Orphan Black
I would say Victoria Hand because I really like that character, in particular during Dark Avengers, but a. I never really kept up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and b. do they ever even really hint at her being a lesbian on that show?
EDIT: Also, Marjorie and Catherine on Veep