When Law and Order's Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn was fired on this week's episode of the long-running NBC drama Law and Order, no one was surprised: the news of actress Elizabeth Rohm's impending departure from the series after four years had been announced months before.

But almost no one was prepared for her final scene, in which Southerlyn came out as a lesbian.

Elisabeth Rohm (Angel, One Life to Live) joined the cast of Law and Order in 2001 as ADA Serena Southerlyn, and quickly became one of the show's more disliked characters for what was perceived by many to be her cold and robotic personality.

But she did have some fans, including many lesbian viewers who had their suspicions about Southerlyn's sexuality. Since the writers have offered few personal details about Southerlyn (or most of the other characters), this was only conjecture--until last night.

In the final scene of the January 12, 2005 episode ("Ain't No Love"), District Attorney Branch (Fred Thompson) fired Southerlyn for being too passionate and personally involved with her work, telling her she would be better suited for advocacy work than criminal law. Southerlyn asked "Is it because I'm a lesbian?" Branch replied "No," and Southerlyn responded "Good...good" before the screen faded to black and the credits began to roll.

That was the end of the episode, and Southerlyn's career on Law and Order.

Law and Order is one of the most-watched series on television, garnering millions of viewers every week on primetime and in syndication. The series is also credited with launching the popularity of the procedural drama on TV, spawning a number of imitators in the last decade including two Law & Order spinoffs, which have also gone on to do very well in the ratings.

The series has been criticized, however, for its lack of openly gay and lesbian characters in the last fifteen years. There have been plenty of lesbian guest characters--either as victims, witnesses, or perpetrators--but no lesbians among its cast. Then rumors began to circulate last year that one of the ADAs would be outed, and we hoped we might finally get a lesbian on Law and Order--although not quite like this.