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2012: The Year in Lesbian/Bi TV

2012 was a remarkable year for LGBT people in the United States. We re-elected a president who spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage, who refused to continue defending DOMA, and who overturned “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” We elected our first openly gay senator. And all four states that put marriage equality on their ballots in November voted in favor of gay rights. It should come as no surprise, then, that 2012 was also a revolutionary year for lesbian and bisexual women in terms of positive representation on TV. After all, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about queer visibility over the years, it’s that social change and television are locked in a perpetual symbiosis. Including guest appearances, there were over 50 lesbian and bisexual characters on American TV in 2012 – a record-breaking number. Even during the heyday of The L Word, gay lady visibility never came close to those heights, and even if it had, the lesbian and bisexual characters would have been clumped together on one show on a premium channel. But this year’s 50+ queer female characters were spread across broadcast and cable, daytime and primetime, shows aimed at tweens and shows aimed at middle-age-ers.

And the characters were as diverse as the networks on which they appeared: a bisexual succubi for the fantasy nerds among us, a lesbian EMT for the heroes in the crowd, a lezzy-married couple for the procedural crew, a Canadian Rosie the Riveter for the queer feminist historian, a tortured lesbian journalist for horror buffs, an hilarious grieving widow for poignant comedy fans, a private detective, a late-in-life come-er out-er, two soldiers, two singers, two vampires, and one Little Liar – just to name a few.

Equally as encouraging were the positive portrayals of lesbian and bisexual women on reality TV. It wasn’t that long ago, when “lesbian” and “reality TV” were synonymous with fame-whoring hijinks and drunken Cherry Chapstick make-outs of Katy Perry proportions. It also wasn’t that long ago when Fox producers forced Adam Lambert to keep his dude lovin’ to himself because they didn’t think the world was ready for a gay American Idol. But this year we saw several out-and-proud lesbian and bisexual contenders on vocal competitions, like The Voice and The Glee Project. We were also given queer female contestants on fashion shows like Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model. 2012 gave us lesbian Sasquatch hunters and lesbian makeup artists. And that, my fellow homos, is what we call diversity.

But perhaps nothing is as indicative of the changing TV tide as the real-life gay ladies who ruled the airwaves from atop their televisual thrones this year. Yes, I’m talking about Ellen DeGeneres, who kicked off the tenth season of her talk show with the best ratings since its inaugural season. But I’m also talking about Rachel Maddow and Sally Kohn and Stephanie Miller and Kate McKinnon and Fortune Feimster and Sara Gilbert and Suze Orman and Jane Valez-Mitchell and the openly gay ladies of the London Olympics.

LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL CHARACTERS ON SCRIPTED TV

Plenty of AfterEllen favorites made the return to our small screens this year. Among them were Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins, Grey’s Anatomy‘s resident lesbian couple. Last year, they boasted the first ever lesbian wedding on primetime TV between two lead characters. A happy day indeed! But anyone familiar with showrunner Shonda Rhimes knows that adversity always follows triumph for her characters, and this year it took the form of a catastrophic wilderness plane crash that left us wondering if Arizona was even going to survive between seasons. She did, but she lost a leg during the hiatus. On the downside, well, no leg. But on the upside, we’ve seen her relationship with Callie and their daughter grow even stronger as they’ve learned to face the adversity together.

Also returning in 2012 was Rosewood, PA’s resident lesbian super-sleuth Emily Fields. It was a rough year for our favorite Pretty Little Liar. She lost another girlfriend to death when Maya St. Germain was murdered by her drug camp stalker in the season two finale. Season three saw Emily mourning the loss of Maya, investigating her murder, and falling – re-falling? – in love with Paige McCullers, her former swim team nemesis whose coming out story was explored in further detail this season through flashbacks. Paige’s struggles in coming to terms with her sexuality, her social clumsiness, and her battle to beat down her insecurities endeared her to scores of lesbian fans. In fact, she is the only non-lead character to ever be nominated for an AfterEllen Visibility Award for Best Lesbian/Bi TV Character.

Brittany S. Pierce and Santana Lopez made their way back to us in 2012, and despite the somewhat antagonistic relationship between Glee‘s creators and its lesbian fan base, they remain one of the most beloved lesbian couples of all time. This year, the two shared their first onscreen kiss in the Valentine’s Day episode. It wasn’t all canoodles at Breadstix, though. They broke up after Santana graduated and moved to college, because “scissor Skype-ing” wasn’t fulfilling either of them emotionally. Unfortunately, Glee‘s long-bemoaned double standard reared its ugly head shortly after their breakup. While it took Santana and Brittany over 30 episodes to share an onscreen kiss after they announced that they were sleeping together in season one, it took Brittany and Sam half an episode to share an onscreen kiss after they admitted their romantic feelings this season. In the next episode, they agreed to get married. According to rumors from Glee‘s creators, Sanatana will soon be joining Kurt and Rachel in New York, which should lead to more screentime for her and more smiles for us.

Our favorite bisexual PI and perpetual Emmy-generator, Kalinda Sharma (The Good Wife), was back in a big way this year. During the back half of season three, she finally brought her relationship with Lana out from behind that pesky garage door. The two shared a steamy sex scene that earned them a place on our Hottest Hookup poll. Season four, however, has been more complicated with Kalinda. She found herself tangled up in an unhealthy relationship with her former husband that – by opinion of lesbian recappers and many mainstream TV critics alike – went on way too long for comfort. The polarizing story finally gave us some answers about Kalinda’s past, but it also made Kalinda a bit unsympathetic to a many viewers. That is, until her ex-husband threatened BFF Alicia, and Kalinda got rid of him for good.

During 2011’s TV review, I wrote off True Blood‘s Tara Thornton as another lesbian casualty, which was a real bummer as she was just settling into a real relationship with Naomi. But 2011 didn’t actually end in Tara’s demise; it only resulted in her genesis as a vampire. Not only did she survive; she thrived with her new heightened senses and superhuman abilities. She also took her flirtatiousness with Pam De Beaufort to entirely new heights. The two engaged in wickedly hilarious leather-clad banter all season before finally making out in the finale when Tara rescued Pam from captivity. Sookie responded with a bewildered, “Oh. OK” while Jessica shouted, “I knew it!” We knew it too, Jessica. Well, we hoped it.

And finally, Teen Nick continued to give young viewers queer characters to believe in. Bisxual Imogen Moreno and lesbian Fiona Coyne kicked off a sweet and timid relationship last year on Degrassi, but 2012 found them moving full steam ahead as Imogen worked to come to terms with a public declaration of love for her Sapphic sweetheart and Fiona worked to fit in with Imogen’s family. As Degrassi sails past its 300th episode – an impressive feat for any type of TV show – it shows no signs of fatigue in exploring the diverse lives of this generation of teenagers. The show also features the much beloved Adam Torres, a female-to-male transgender student whose story has been handled with more nuance and maturity than most “adult” shows that boast transgender characters.

At this point in my annual TV review, I usually start listing off the lesbian and bisexual characters we lost during the year, but 2012 proved an exception to that rule, as America’s cable and broadcast networks picked up seven new shows that featured 10 new leading lesbian and bisexual characters, as well as an old family favorite that introduced a new lesbian couple.

Two new fan favorite queer-centric shows in 2012 were Canadian imports Lost Girl and Bomb Girls, which were picked up by American networks Syfy and Reelz, respectively. Some gay viewers were already familiar with the shows as they’d scrambled to find ways to watch online after the lesbian and bisexual characters made waves in internet communities in 2011. But 2012 was the first year American viewers could watch the shows legally.

Lost Girl was such a hit with American audiences that Syfy aired both completed seasons back-to-back and TiVo declared it the show most-watched by Americans before going to bed. The series featured bisexual succubus Bo who teamed up with a ragtag band of humans and Fae folk to create a supernatural detective agency. Bo also found herself caught in a love triangle with lupine shapeshifter Dyson and human doctor Lauren Lewis. Lost Girl‘s depiction of bisexuality was heralded by the queer community, as Bo broke down the walls of stereotype and cliche and proved herself as a complicated character who would fall in love with a person, not a gender. What’s more, the show’s creative team gave equal time to both pairings and did not shy away from showing as much physical intimacy between Lauren and Bo as they did with Dyson and Bo.

Meanwhile, Bomb Girls, which was originally slated as a six-part mini-series on Canadian TV, was given a full-series order when American and UK networks signed on to help produce the series. The show, which follows the lives of a group of World War II factory workers, gave us a plucky, irreverent lesbian character named Betty McRae, who, in typical gay lady fashion, made herself a champion for social justice and underdogs everywhere when participated in the suggestion box system at Victory Munitions and promptly fell in love with Kate Andrews, the daughter of an abusive street preacher. A heart of gold and swagger we could believe in. Oh, Canada.

NBC’s new medical/firefighter procedural Chicago Fire also proved to be a big hit with queer viewers this year. One of the main characters in the ensemble cast is Leslie Shay, a lesbian paramedic who revealed her sexuality when her firefighting pals tricked a new recruit into hitting on her. “Are you gay?” she asked him. “Because I am.” Leslie had a complicated relationship with former girlfriend Clarice, who left her and married/had a child with a man. Leslie was involved in a car crash during the midseason finale of the show; hopefully it’s just a ratings-grabber, and I won’t have to add Shay to my list of 2013 casualties.

MTV’s new scripted show Underemployed didn’t receive the kind of fan support as some of this season’s other new shows, but its lesbian character, Sophia Swanson, was easily one of the most likeable young adult lesbian characters in cable TV canon. Remarkably, Sophia was the main character of the show; all of the other characters’ lives revolved around her orbit, and as an aspiring author, she narrated their stories to the audience. In only one short season, she fell in love with another girl – her first – and come out to her friends. MTV has had mixed success with its scripted programming. The US incarnation of Skins was a ratings flop. And it took a full season for the now wildly popular Teen Wolf to find ratings traction. Here’s hoping MTV will make a second season investment into Underemployed so it can find its way into the hearts of lesbian and bisexual viewers.

Another surprisingly resonant comedic lesbian character appeared in NBC’s new comedy, Go On. The single camera sitcom explores the life of a grief support group that boasts a diverse and eclectic group of mourners. Among them is Anne, a lesbian mom and widow whose wife died while texting and driving. Anne was portrayed as the coolest, most “normal” member of the group, something she reminded Matthew Perry‘s character about regularly. As Anne struggled with the death of her partner, she also worked hard to open herself up to new life experiences, including dating a new women. Finding potential suitors wasn’t a struggle, however. Not only was Anne a catch on her own, the show played out a running gag that when he wears glasses, Matthew Perry looks an awful lot like Rachel Maddow.

For lesbian and bisexual TV viewers who like their stories with a side of blood-curdling gore and nightmares, American Horror Story: Asylum aimed to terrify. The season kicked off with lesbian couple Wendy and Lana in a happy, albeit closeted, relationship. Lana, a journalist, checked herself into a local asylum, hoping to uncover the truth about serial killer Bloodyface, but instead, she found herself a victim of rape and torture while Shelley found herself a victim of murder. Taken at face value, it’s not what I’d call positive lesbian visibility, but my horror buff colleagues assure me that it’s actually quite progressive for the most sympathetic character in slasher flick to be a lesbian.

For a few weeks this year, we also had another primetime lesbian doctor to root for on Emily Owens M.D. Unfortunately, we barely got to know Tyra before The CW pulled the plug on the show.

And finally, long-running daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful offered up its first lesbian couple this year in the form of long-beloved fan favorite Karen Spencer and her new (to the audience) wife, Danielle. The couple’s debut mirrored actor Joanna Johnson‘s own coming out. She opened up about her own sexuality when the show announced its plan to make her character gay.

But that’s not all! In addition to all of those main characters, we also saw over 20 supporting, recurring, and guest starring lesbian and bisexual characters in 2012.

When ABC’s breakout comedy Happy Endings premiered last year, entertainment reporters kept asking creator David Caspe why he made Max gay, and his repeated answer was that when you have a group of six friends in an urban setting in real life, at least one of them is going to be gay. It would be intellectually dishonest, then, to set a six-person sitcom in Chicago and make all of the characters straight. Following that (completely valid) train of thought, every ensemble show should feature at least one gay character who gets main billing, a lesbian Rachel for every straight Monica, if you will. We’re not there yet, but TV creatives do finally seem to be cottoning onto the idea that straight main characters need, at the very least, supporting gay characters in their orbit if a show is going to stay grounded in reality.

Enter Jackie’s bisxual best friend Dr. Elanor O’Hara on Nurse Jackie, Peggy’s lesbian best friend Joyce Ramsey on Mad Men, Jess’ lesbian best friend Sadie on New Girl, David and Bryan’s lesbian best friends Victoria and Tiffany on The New Normal. Of course, lesbian and bisexual women also make great sidekicks, like Diana Barrigan on White Collar, and Angela Montenegro on Bones, and Emily on Being Human. We even enjoyed a couple of Very Special Episodes this year, as Army Wives tackled DADT with its lesbian couple Nicole and Charlie. The Secret Life of the American Teenager tackled coming out later in life when Anne revealed that she was in a lesbian relationship. Lesbian and bisexual characters were also counted this year in Archer, Shameless, Upstairs Downstairs, The Simpsons and even Two and Half Men.

LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL WOMEN ON REALITY TV

The most-watched lesbian-specific reality show of 2012 was, once again, The Real L Word, and this season it split its time between West Hollywood and New York. The highlights of season three included the much-hyped wedding planning of Whitney and Sara, Kacy and Cori‘s attempt to get pregnant, Romi‘s foray into bisexuality, and Lauren finally finding love.

2012 also provided plenty of reality TV entertainment for the, um, less voyeuristic lesbian and bisexual viewer. The Voice gave us De’Borah, Erin Martin, and Sarah Golden. The Glee Project gave us Dani Shay, who announced via music video after the competition that she’d fallen in love and started a relationship with Ali Stroker while on the show.

America’s Next Top Model gave us AzMarie Livingston and Laura LaFrate. Survivor gave us Dana Lambert, MTV’s The Challenge gave us Sam McGinn.

And, of course, lesbian mythical monster hunter Ranae Holland hosted Finding Bigfoot.

REAL LIFE LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL WOMEN ON TV

No discussion of lesbian TV visibility would be complete without a look at the scores of openly the queer women that Americans invited into their living rooms every day of the week in 2012. Ellen DeGeneres tops that list, of course. When she pitched a talk show to Warner Brothers a decade ago, they worried that the type of women who watch daytime TV were not the type of women who would embrace the most famous lesbian in the world. How wrong they were. When Ellen’s tenth season premiered this year, she was the top-rated daytime program among all women ages 18 – 54, and the top-rated daytime program among all adults ages 25 – 54. These days, Ellen talks easily about her life as a lesbian on her show, chatting to guests about wife Portia de Rossi and even having her on the show from time to time to promote her projects and just generally be adorable. This year, Ellen even became the spokesperson for JC Penny, and when the homophobic group One Million Moms – which, incidentally, is made up of less than one percent that many moms – protested, JC Penny responded with a print ad campaign that celebrated gay and straight families and parents.

And then there was Rachel Maddow, who anchored election year at MSNBC and became the go-to progressive pundit on late night TV and beltway news shows. In fact, MSNBC put her front and center for every major political event of 2012. It was so much fun to watch, it’s hard to remember what a revolutionary thing it was for the butchy, brainy lesbian to be surrounded by a gaggle of men waiting to be asked by her to share their opinions.

Other openly gay news anchors made waves this year, as well. Fox News commentator and out-and-proud lesbian Sally Kohn voiced her liberal beliefs on the most conservative news network in the history of space and time, and even penned the most viral op-ed from the Republican National Convention, a piece of fact-checking that called out vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan on the innumerable lies he told during his RNC speech. Stephanie Miller left the radio game for a spot at Current TV. And Jane Valez-Mitchell continued to host her nightly news show on HLN.

Funny ladies (and former AfterEllen vloggers) Kate McKinnon and Fortune Feimster also took the TV by storm this year. McKinnon barely had time to field all the entertainment reporter questions about whether or not she was the next Kristen Wiig, the next Tina Fey, or the next Amy Poehler because she was too busy starring in nearly every skit on Saturday Night Live. Feimster, meanwhile, continued to bring the guffaws on Chelsea Lately, so much so that she’s in talks to write and star in her own sitcom in 2013.

Sara Gilbert continued to delight us on The Talk and Suze Orman continued to terrify us into saving money on The Suze Orman Show.

The London Olympics boasted a record 23 openly gay Olympians, the majority of them women, and nearly all of them saw primetime TV coverage this summer. While soccer star Megan Rapinoe and newly married Seimone Augustus were favorites among Americans, the Netherlands field hockey team seemed to be made up entirely of gay ladies!

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

When I started writing for AfterEllen five years ago, we worked hard to scrape together enough lesbian-centric content to fill up one gay-specific column that ran on Fridays. We were lucky to shake more than 15 lesbian entertainment news items out of the internet on any given week. These days, we work around the clock to try to keep up with the dozens and dozens of stories that fly at us on any given day.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

But while we celebrate the strides we made in 2012, it’s important to remember that we’ve still got a long way to go. While lesbian and bisexual visibility – and the quality of that visibility – has increased dramatically, we are still rather underrepresented on scripted television. We also need to continue advocate for more diversity among our lesbian and bisexual characters. Queer women need to see themselves reflected in all shapes and sizes and ethnicities and forms of gender presentation.

As goes TV, so goes social change. Here’s to another year of sweeping victories on both fronts.

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