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2003 was a particularly big year for Asian American lesbian and bisexual characters in Western entertainment. First, in Australia in May, the hit television drama The Secret Life Of Us (2003) introduced the first gay Asian female character on Australian TV—a confident and smart twentysomething Chinese Australian lesbian, Chloe (played by Nina Liu). Chloe establishes early on her desire to have a relationship with a woman who won't get cold feet about the relationship and being a lesbian, but she finds herself drawn to her friend Miranda, who is not yet comfortable with her sexuality. The requisite drama ensues as the two young women struggle against and finally embrace their attraction to one another, until the character of Miranda is eventually written off the show in a later season.

Chloe is an excellent role model for young Asian bisexual/lesbian viewers who are inundated with media portrayals of sexually confused women who cannot commit to a gender preference or a relationship.

In the fall of 2003, NBC’s short-lived television sitcom Coupling (2003) introduced the first Asian American bisexual character on American network TV; unfortunately, Jane (played by Lindsay Price, of Korean-German-Irish descent) was a psychotic and self-absorbed young woman who used her bisexuality to manipulate her boyfriend. The poor writing and lack of character development did little to add to the positive depiction of Asian bisexuals (or women, for that matter), but only a few episodes of the series made it on the air before the show was canceled so there was minimal damage done.

Later that same month, the movie Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) gave us a pregnant Korean lesbian, Patti (played by Sandra Oh), who is jilted by her partner and left to raise the child on her own with the help of her best friend (played by Diane Lane). Witty, independent, and a good friend and mother, Patti is one of the best Asian American female characters of any sexual orientation on U.S. film in a long time, and a tremendously identifiable character for the large number of straight women who have had to face raising a child alone.

In 2004, the HBO series The Wire debuted with Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs (played by Sonja Sohn). Greggs's race isn't explicitly stated on the show, but the fact that she is played by an African American/Korean American actress is still noteworthy. Cutting across race, culture, gender and sexual orientation, Sohn's multi-faceted character is extremely valuable in the struggle to positively and accurately reflect on television the diversity of its viewers, and a fabulously complex and interesting character to watch. As a strong butch lesbian of a racially diverse background, Greggs is arguably the most progressive female character on television today.

2004 is also the same year that American film brought us Ling Bai as a lesbian who sleeps with a man in the movie She Hate Me—but at least the film employed equal-opportunity lesbian stereotyping by depicting lesbians of all races through the lens of heterosexual male fantasy.

There is more good news on the horizon. The new lesbian romantic comedy Saving Face by first-time director (and lesbian) Alice Wu premiered to good reviews at this year's Toronto International Film Festival in September, and will debut in the U.S. at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Face tells the story of a successful New York surgeon (played by Michelle Krusiec) who tries to hide her girlfriend (played by Lynne Chen) from her mother (played by Joan Chen) when her mom shows up unexpectedly to live with her.

The fact that we can still count on two hands the number of queer Asian women in mainstream Western entertainment indicates how far we still have to go to achieve any real visibility. But the last few years have brought us more queer Asian characters than all the previous decades combined; let's hope the trend continues.

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