# Out LGBT television characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079 "2005-03-24T19:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/1 "2005-03-24T19:44:14Z")
Help me compile a list of television characters (not real people) who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. I’m primarily interested in major featured or recurring characters, not just one-episode “very special guest stars.” And I’d prefer to avoid speculating, I’m looking for characters who have made open declarations of their preferences. Thus characters like Uncle Arthur and Miss Drysdale wouldn’t make the list, no matter how “obvious it seems.” (I will make one exception - for Smithers on “the Simpsons”, since the big running joke with him is that he is the _only_ person in Springfield who thinks he’s still in the closet.) Anyway, the list- Will Truman - “Will & Grace” Jack McCartland - “Will & Grace” Willow Rosenberg - “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Tara (last name?) - “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Kennedy - “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Jodie Dallas - “Soap” Dennis Phipps - “Soap” David Fisher - “Six Feet Under” Keith Charles - “Six Feet Under” Beverly La Salle - “All In The Family” Jack McPhee - “Dawson’s Creek” Officer Zitelli - “Barney Miller” Serena Southerland - “Law & Order” Billy Douglas - “One Life To Live” Michael Delaney - “All My Children” Kevin Sheperd - “All My Children” Bianca Montgomery - “All My Children” C.J. Lamb - “L.A. Law” Ellen Morgan - “Ellen” Ellen Richmond - “the Ellen Show” Androgynous Pat - “Saturday Night Live” the ‘Men on Film’ (what were their individual names?) - “In Living Colour” the Ambiguously Gay Duo - “Saturday Night Live” Waylon Smithers - “the Simpsons” Selma Beavier Terwilliger Hutz McClure - “the Simpsons” But I know there must be more. Who did I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/2 "2005-03-24T19:47:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Jack McCartland - “Will & Grace” /nitpick Jack McFarland ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/3 "2005-03-24T19:50:54Z")
Well, also on **Will & Grace** , there are a few recurring characters. Rob and Larry are their gay friends, who have appeared in a number of episodes in multiple seasons. I don’t know if they are “recurring enough” to fit into what you were looking for. Also, Vince (Will’s recent boyfriend) has appeared in about 10 episodes, so that’s another recurring character. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/4 "2005-03-24T20:23:22Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Well, also on **Will & Grace** , there are a few recurring characters. > Rob and Larry are their gay friends, who have appeared in a number of episodes in multiple seasons. I don’t know if they are “recurring enough” to fit into what you were looking for. > > Also, Vince (Will’s recent boyfriend) has appeared in about 10 episodes, so that’s another recurring character. Yeah, they all count. Although Rob & Larry are such background characters that I’d completely forgotten them, I guess they’ve been around long enough to count as major recurring characters. I didn’t know Will had a boyfriend. I don’t see the first-run episodes of “Will & Grace” since I’m at work when they’re on. I only see it in late night re-runs which are usually a year or two behind the current episodes. So, all three count. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/5 "2005-03-24T20:24:08Z")
> [@Art](#): > > Selma Beavier Terwilliger Hutz McClure - “the Simpsons” Patty is gay, not Selma. And I believe it’s spelled “Bouvier.” Here’s a [list](http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wyatt/tv-characters.html). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/6 "2005-03-24T20:29:20Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > Miss Drysdale wouldn’t make the list, no matter how “obvious it seems.” (I will make one exception > > Tara (last name?) - “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” > > Androgynous Pat - “Saturday Night Live” I think you mean Miss Jane Hathaway, and while I’m pretty sure Nancy Culp was lesbian (tho I’ve never heard it confirmed), the character of Miss Hathaway had too much of a crush on Jethro to be fully gay. Maybe it’s like Rosie O’Donnell’s crush on Tom Cruise or Melissa Etheridge’s on Brad Pitt. Tara’s last name is Maclay. Since we don’t know what Pat or Chris are, Pat could be a raving straighty AFAWK. I’m sure there must be more for your list but darned if I can think of any. Of course, on KING OF THE HILL, according to Dale Gribble, John Redcorn is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/7 "2005-03-24T20:32:00Z")
Sidney Shorr on Love, Sidney - I don’t think it was ever actually said or shown that he was gay, but I remember him saying that he was “that way”. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/8 "2005-03-24T20:32:20Z")
I’ll add Doug Leery under dawson’s creek… he was a long-running recurring character, and the series finale put him definitely out of the closet, since he was Jack’s boyfriend in that one. (Personally, I always thought he was straight and Pacey was pulling all the subtext out of his ass until then. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/9 "2005-03-24T20:34:19Z")
ABC’s short-lived show _It’s All Relative_ featured a gay couple as parents, Philip (John Benjamin Hickey) and his life partner, Simon (Christopher Sieber). ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/10 "2005-03-24T20:36:07Z")
Sorry, that should be Doug Witter, shouldn’t it?? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/11 "2005-03-24T20:38:32Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Sidney Shorr on Love, Sidney - I don’t think it was ever actually said or shown that he was gay, but I remember him saying that he was “that way”. In the TV movie that served as the show’s pilot, it was clearly noted that Sidney was gay. By the time the actual show premiered, Sidney’s sexual orientation was left undefined. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/12 "2005-03-24T20:40:56Z")
Damn you, **Otto**! You beat me to the list! **Art** , that list covers everything under the sun until 2002. It doesn’t include The L Word or Queer Eye or poor one-line Serena, but it’s pretty current through Six Feet Under and all the various Queers as Folk. The only quibble is that Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess are now officially out. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/13 "2005-03-24T20:41:13Z")
Now that I’ve noticed you’ve included HBO shows, you might as well include Showtime shows, which would give you most of the main characters of _Queer As Folk_ and _The L Word_. _QaF_ Brian Kinney Michael Novotny Justin Talor Emmett Honeycutt Ted Schmidt Ben Bruckner Lindsay Peterson Melanie Marcus You can look up the others. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/14 "2005-03-24T20:51:34Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > The only quibble is that Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess are now officially out. Do you have a cite for that? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/15 "2005-03-24T21:05:01Z")
Wasn’t there a regular supporting character on Roseanne who was a lesbian? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/16 "2005-03-24T21:10:17Z")
Inara Serra from _Firefly._ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/17 "2005-03-24T21:14:10Z")
I’m pretty sure that it was Roseanne’s mom who came out as a lesbian. I know that Roseanne’s annoying boss at the diner, played by Martin Mull, was gay. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/18 "2005-03-24T21:14:21Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Since we don’t know what Pat or Chris are, Pat could be a raving straighty AFAWK. In fact, I remember a sketch in which Pat said explicitly that she’s not sexually attracted to people of the same sex. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/19 "2005-03-24T21:14:30Z")
> [@Lesbian News...](#): > > When asked…how she would characterize the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, [Lucy] Lawless is quick and simple in her reply to Lesbian News: “Gay. Gay,” she says. “Definitely.” [Cite](http://www.lesbiannews.com/archives/03_01.html). This was the major post-FIN interview, which has been reinforced by the various Xena DVD commentaries where writers Joel Metzger, Katherine Fugate, and R.J Stewart have discussed writing the romance in Season 6, especially in regards to Return of the Valkyries and When Fates Collide. If you’re interested, I can…blather excessively on the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079/20 "2005-03-24T21:21:32Z")
Ross’s ex-wife on _Friends._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-lgbt-television-characters/296079.md?page=2)