True Blood is the most
gay-friendly scripted program on television, a new Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) report says.
The
15th annual “Where We Are On TV” report released
Tuesday found that the HBO vampire drama included the most gay
characters on television.
“Thanks to its large cast, HBO's True
Blood is the most inclusive program currently on television,
featuring six regular and recurring LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender) characters,” the survey says.
Overall, the 2010-2011 network season
has 23 LGBT primetime characters, five more than last year. Cablers
have added gay characters at a faster pace this year. After
declining to a low of 25 characters last year, cable networks
rebounded to 35 in the upcoming season. But that's a lower number
than in 2007, when cablers regularly featured 40 gay characters
during primetime.
Among the networks, ABC again topped
the list with 11 gay characters out of 152 (7.2%), followed by Fox
with 5 (5%), CW with 3 (4.5%), and NBC with 3 (2.1%). CBS, which has
previously promised to increase its diversity, came in last with 1
(0.8%).
“The increase in lesbian, gay and
bisexual characters on primetime television not only reflects the
shift in American culture towards greater awareness and understanding
of our community, but also a new industry standard that a growing
number of creators and networks are adopting,” Jarrett Barrios,
president of GLAAD, said. “The recent critical and commercial
success of shows like Modern Family and Glee clearly
indicate that mainstream audiences embrace gay characters and want to
see well-crafted stories about our lives.”