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2007 Year in Review: Television

Although the number of regular lesbian characters on prime-time broadcast television fell from one to zero over the course of 2007, that bleak statistic does not reflect the generally positive and even groundbreaking ways that lesbian and bisexual women were represented on American television in the past year. From sex and dating to gender expression, lesbians and bi women came out of the closet this year as fully fledged individuals with romantic lives and political beliefs – whether you liked them or not.

Programs with regular lesbian/bi characters, such as Nip/Tuck, South of Nowhere and Degrassi: The Next Generation, aired story lines that made room for lesbian sexuality – a change from previous years when lesbian characters were largely celibate or sexuality was pushed off-screen. And joining The L Word in the category of scripted, lesbian-themed programming were several shows from the two gay TV channels, here! and Logo, AfterEllen.com’s parent company, bringing more lesbian romance and drama to television than ever before.

In unscripted or reality programs, lesbians and bisexual women continued to be represented in nearly every genre, from competitions such as Top Chef and The Amazing Race to docudramas such as Work Out. Most significantly, lesbian/bi women finally got their own reality dating show this year in MTV’s A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, a show that both featured stereotypes and smashed them.

As in 2006, the vast majority of lesbians on television in 2007 were traditionally feminine in appearance, but this year the gender envelope was pushed by several lesbian/bi women who had more androgynous looks. On A Shot at Love, Dani Campbell developed a major fan following in part because of her “futch” appearance, while programs including The Kill Point, The L Word, The Wire, Top Chef and I’m With Rolling Stone featured women with a more genderqueer appearance.

The number of lesbian-themed shows more than doubled this year, from two in 2006 (The L Word and Work Out) to five (with the addition of A Shot at Love, Curl Girls and Exes & Ohs), with other shows featuring prominent lesbian story lines (South of Nowhere, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Nip/Tuck) that were largely absent the year before. Though there is still plenty of room for improvement – particularly on broadcast TV – the low points of 2007 do not contradict the fact that lesbian/bi representation on TV this past year has increased and improved significantly. If there was one overarching theme in lesbian/bi story lines on scripted television in the past year, it would be romance. On shows from South of Nowhere to Exes & Ohs, dating and relationships – as well as on-screen lesbian sexuality – became the norm. This marks a major improvement from 2006, when one of the few dramas with regular lesbian characters, South of Nowhere, largely suppressed any signs of physical affection between its two lesbian characters. This year could even be called the Year of the Bachelorette.

The L Word: Progress and Problems

Showtime’s lesbian-themed drama ended its third season in 2006 on a sour note for many viewers when Dana (Erin Daniels) died of breast cancer, and Carmen (Sarah Shahi) was left at the altar by Shane (Kate Moennig). But Season 4, which aired in the first few months of 2007, improved in many areas, particularly in gender diversity and its transgender story line.

Though much of the fourth-season story line involving Max (Daniela Sea) resembled a public service announcement, it addressed several problems: Max’s use of under-the-table hormones in Season 3; transphobia in the workplace and in relationships; and discomfort within the lesbian community with female-to-male transfolk. By the end of the fourth season, Max began a sexual relationship with a woman who was quite supportive of him as a transgender man. Despite the fact that Max is not a fan favorite, these story lines humanized him and presented a more well-rounded picture of television’s only FTM character.

The L Word also incorporated more gender diversity in its cast in Season 4 with the character of Tasha Williams (Rose Rollins), an African-American soldier with an androgynous appearance and somewhat butch mannerisms. Tasha and Shane are not the stereotypical bull-dagger lesbians that many people associate with the term “butch,” but their masculine-of-center dress and physical presence have carved out a space – however slim – for more lesbians who are not traditionally feminine on television. Though Tasha contributed positively to racial diversity in the cast of The L Word, the show fared less well with its new Latina character, Papi (Janina Gavankar). Based on the racially charged stereotype of the Latin lover (right down to her unfortunate name), Papi was played by an actress of Indian and Dutch descent, Janina Gavankar. This marks the second time that The L Word has cast a non-Latina actress to play a Latina role that is largely based in stereotype (Sarah Shahi, who is of Persian descent, played Carmen de la Pica Morales, the epitome of a hot Latina babe), and it is the fourth season’s lowest moment. Thus, like every season that came before, the fourth season of The L Word was marked by both progress and problems. At least no lesbians got pregnant or became involved in child custody battles.

South of Nowhere and Degrassi: Teen Drama

In contrast to the second season of The N’s South of Nowhere, in which Spencer (Gabrielle Christian) and Ashley’s (Mandy Musgrave) relationship was largely devoid of physical affection, the third season showed a marked increase in the amount of same-sex physical affection that aired. This positive development finally placed their same-sex relationship on a par with the heterosexual ones of South of Nowhere. In addition, although Spencer and Ashley’s relationship faltered during the third season episodes that aired in 2007, Spencer did not falter in her identity as a gay teen. She even dated another girl, Carmen, and went to Gay Pride with her family. The last episode of the first half of Season 3 showed Spencer going to visit Ashley and strongly implied that the two girls were renewing their relationship.

Although the Spencer/Ashley story line is still in progress, South of Nowhere‘s producers appear to be committed to their romantic arc, a promising sign for the second half of Season 3, which is scheduled to begin in April 2008. The same cannot be said for Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which also airs on The N in the United States.

During Degrassi‘s sixth season this year, a complex and mostly positive relationship developed between Alex (Deanna Casaluce) and Paige (Lauren Collins), incorporating issues of class differences in addition to typical teenage angst. But at the end of the season, the pair abruptly split up – and did so by behaving quite out of character. The end of their relationship was not entirely unexpected, due to Casaluce’s decision to leave the show, but the manner in which their relationship ended appeared to toss aside years of character development – something that has happened on other shows with lesbian characters, from The O.C. to All My Children.

When so few lesbian couples are shown on television, it is even more important that their relationships end – if they do end – on a more positive, or at least understandable, note. Otherwise, these kinds of abrupt, confusing endings simply reinforce the idea that lesbian relationships are doomed.

Nip/Tuck: Sex and Violence

FX’s buzzed-about drama, created by out writer-producer Ryan Murphy, has included lesbians since its first season. But this year during the show’s fifth season, lesbian characters have finally been given equal footing with the men – at last they get to have sex.

Julia (Joely Richardson), the ex-wife of Dr. Sean MacNamara and the on-again, off-again love interest for Dr. Christian Troy, revealed at the beginning of this season that she had fallen in love with a woman, Olivia, played by out actress Portia de Rossi. The two are portrayed on the series in intimate situations, and are often shown being physically affectionate with one another. In the first five episodes in which Olivia appears, she presents a strong, proud identity as an out lesbian. When Julia expresses discomfort with public displays of affection and uncertainty about whether she can handle being out, Olivia both understands and encourages her, telling her that “it takes a strong individual to be gay in this world,” and praising her for being strong.

Their story line takes a controversial turn when they are mugged and robbed in Episode 5.7, “Dr. Joshua Lee,” and are forced at gunpoint to drive into a rural area. While Olivia breaks down into tears and cannot stop whimpering, Julia – who has been the publicly weaker one so far – becomes the stronger, more forceful one. Their abductor tells them to stop their car in a remote location, and when they get out of the car, Olivia is so upset that he tells Julia to “comfort her” and “hug her.” Seeing the two women embracing, he then commands Julia to kiss Olivia and orders them to undress and have sex. But when Julia refuses to obey and he threatens to kill them, she screams angrily, “Then just do it already!” Nonplussed, he tells them to turn around, but instead of shooting them, he drives away and leaves them alone in the woods.

The entire scene, as played out in the hyper-real world of Nip/Tuck, is a magnification of the straight male gaze. In an earlier episode, “Damien Sands,” in which a reality show called Plastic Fantastic is shot based on Christian and Sean’s plastic surgery clinic, the show-within-a-show’s publicist gushes about how viewers love lesbians and their drama: “Three lesbians fighting over their turf is ratings gold.”

During the abduction, when Julia and Olivia are held at gunpoint by their male attacker, the symbolic nature of the attack is brutally clear. The male gaze, in this instance, is physically violent: He forces the two women to perform sexually as lesbians so that he can watch. This scene can be read as a searing indictment of the way that lesbians have been used on television (and in the media in general) as titillation for straight male viewers.

The scene could also be read as exploitative, but that does not take into account the show’s over-the-top manner of using physicality – particularly the bloody reality of plastic surgery – to punctuate story lines about inner lives. How the show deals with the aftermath of the attack remains to be seen in 2008, but so far, Nip/Tuck has turned lesbian exploitation on its head this year.

Gay Fantasy: Logo and here!

Following in the footsteps of Ellen, The Ellen Show and Friends, Logo’s lesbian-themed situation comedy Exes & Ohs provided a lighthearted look at lesbian dating and friendships. Set in a Seattle coffeehouse that seemed a bit stuck in the late ’90s, the show nonetheless provided what many lesbian viewers have long been seeking: a fun, humorous world in which being a lesbian is the norm.

Although the straight world and homophobia do insert themselves at times into the world of Exes & Ohs (through Sam’s father and Crutch’s encounter with the conservative minister), those moments only serve to further support and bolster the comfortable gay community of the sitcom. The fact that Exes & Ohs airs on a gay TV channel, Logo, likely has something to do with the show’s gay-from-the-beginning feel. Unlike Showtime’s The L Word, which launched in 2004 with a story line about a heretofore straight woman discovering her homosexuality, characters on Exes & Ohs – and on other scripted shows on Logo and here! – do not need to provide a straight character to serve as the straight viewer’s tour guide.

In fact, Logo and here!, much more than The L Word, deliver a gay fantasy that, despite its sometimes clumsy presentation, is something that many LGBT viewers have been waiting all their lives to see.

On here! TV’s Dante’s Cove, a supernatural soap opera populated only with gay or extremely gay-friendly characters, queer sexuality is the norm. Somehow even Grace (Tracy Scoggins), a straight woman whose husband cheated on her with a man, has come to seem queer – she is a gay diva through and through, even when she sleeps with a man. In addition, Dante’s Cove has made a clear effort to cast out actors as lesbians; this year, Jill Bennett and Jenny Shimizu joined Michelle Wolff on the series, significantly increasing the show’s lesbian content. Humor has also been a mainstay of the new gay television. Logo’s animated series Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World pokes fun at potentially explosive stereotypes within the gay community, including a butch/femme lesbian couple who are trying to get pregnant. Although some of the lesbian jokes fall flat because they seem so familiar and tired, the series gives the gay community another dimension by lampooning it with an insider’s eye.

Similarly, The Big Gay Sketch Show, a sketch comedy show on Logo featuring a mixed cast of straight and gay men and women, satirizes gay stereotypes and simultaneously bolsters gay and lesbian identity and community. By providing spaces in which being gay is the norm, these television shows do a greater service to the LGBT community than merely providing entertaining diversions from real life. They not only reflect LGBT life but also create a world in which equality is not merely a possibility – it is a reality.

A Very Special Episode

Several television shows aired single episodes devoted to lesbian story lines this year, and by and large the results were extremely positive.

The Sarah Silverman Show laughed with lesbians on the March 1 episode “The Muffin Man,” in which Silverman decides that she’s gay after meeting a butch lesbian cop. On the second season premiere of The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, Jackie (Laura Kightlinger) and her best friend Tara (Nicholle Tom) are mistaken for a lesbian couple, and they continue to play gay in order to attempt to break into the Hollywood elite. A March episode of South Park titled “D-Yikes” also made fun of the lesbian community while showing that the show’s producers understand us. The animated lesbians may have been mulleted and flannel-wearing, but the story – about a lesbian bar being bought out by Persians – reflected a reality (the struggle for lesbian bars to stay in business) combined with sharp political humor. The crude sexual jokes in “D-Yikes” are not for everyone, but do fall in line with the Borat mentality prevalent in comedy today.

In addition to insider humor about lesbians, 2007 also featured a few more typical special episodes about lesbians. In July, the Kyle XY episode titled “Free To Be You and Me” tackled same-sex dating in high school when two girls, whom school administrators assume are a lesbian couple, are denied tickets to the school dance. Though the episode takes a few missteps, including a stunt same-sex kiss and the girls’ declaration that they hate men, overall it oozed gay pride and acceptance.

Similarly, Lifetime’s State of Mind featured a lesbian custody story line in August titled “Helpy Helperpants” in which one half of a divorcing lesbian couple is initially stereotyped as butch and un-motherly, but ultimately winds up being the better parent. Though the actress behind the role didn’t successfully embody the butch character, the moral of the story was ultimately positive.

Finally, Battlestar Galactica: Razor, a two-hour movie spin-off of the Sci Fi series that aired in November, included a same-sex relationship between a lead character, Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes) and Cylon Number Six (Tricia Helfer). Though their relationship ended in tragedy, it was one of the most complicated and unique stories told this year.

Supporting Characters

Lesbian and bisexual characters showed up in many other largely heterosexual television shows this year as supporting characters. One of the best examples of a solid, positive lesbian supporting character was delivered by BBC America’s Jekyll, which featured not one but two lesbian detectives as crucial elements of the story.

The two women, Miranda (Meera Syal) and Min (Fenella Woolgar), are a couple who are expecting a baby, but despite the clichéd pregnancy (which series producer Steven Moffat insisted was an accident due to Woolgar’s real-life pregnancy), the two women provide a calm, civilizing counterpoint to the bloody and monstrous Jekyll/Hyde character. Miranda and Min could not differ more from another pair of supporting lesbian/bi characters, Garbo (Carly Pope) and Julia (Laura Allen), on FX’s Dirt, which focuses on a tabloid publisher (Courteney Cox) and the nasty rumors she digs up in Hollywood. Garbo is a lesbian drug dealer who is comfortably open about her sexuality, and does not hesitate to have a threesome with Julia and her boyfriend when Julia is high on drugs she supplies. One could argue that no one in Dirt is a positive role model, but the threesome scene – a tired cliché – openly panders to straight male viewers. Dirt also did its best to profit off exploitation of lesbianism this year by the stunt casting of Jennifer Aniston as a lesbian publisher who is in competition with Cox’s character. Though Aniston’s character was interesting and her relationship with Cox’s character had some history, the over-hyped kiss between the two of them did nothing more than fan the flames of sweeps lesbianism. The scene was capped off by a male character ogling the two women – another low point for lesbians on television.

Meaningless same-sex kisses between women continued to be scattered throughout television this year, including inexplicable but largely harmless kisses between straight women on Las Vegas and ER, as well as an unfortunate Veronica Mars episode in which two girls kiss each other to taunt the boy they are both dating. Even crime drama Life got in on the action with a December episode in which Sarah Shahi’s character is unexpectedly kissed by a woman during an investigation. Bisexuality was referenced on television in offhand ways as well, from The Class (CBS), in which one woman mistakenly believes another is interested in her and is egged on by her boyfriend to engage in a threesome (she doesn’t), to a fun moment in Bones (Fox) when a private investigator reminds Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin) of a girl named Roxy “whose heart you broke in second year art school.”

Lesbian characters appeared on several crime shows in 2007 with mixed results. On Bones, a closeted lesbian publicist was a murder victim; on Crossing Jordan, a lesbian was initially suspected of murdering her partner and stealing their baby, but was exonerated in the end; and an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent featured a lesbian who was a sexual harasser, blackmailer and murderer. No crime show this year included a regular or recurring detective or police officer who is lesbian or bisexual.

Series with positive flash-in-the-pan lesbian moments this year included Shark, in which a lesbian attorney openly flirts with a straight woman who is flattered and even a bit turned on by the exchange; Mad Men, when a woman expresses her attraction, obliquely, to her roommate but is gently rebuffed – an understated and realistic reflection of the time period in which the series is set; and Friday Night Lights, when the town mayor invites Coach Taylor and his wife to her home for dinner, with her partner. These moments, though short, were positive in different ways. They showed a straight woman who was very accepting of another woman’s attentions, and they placed lesbianism in two settings where it would not normally be expected – 1960 and a conservative small Texas town – with a minimum of fanfare and a maximum of subtlety and realism.

Unscripted television continues to be one of the primary genres in which lesbians and bisexual women can be found on the small screen, from ABC’s Fat March to CBS’ Pirate Master and WE’s American Princess. In fact, in many cases, lesbian/bi women are much more stable, positive individuals than their heterosexual counterparts.

Lesbian couple Pepper and Judy Lane encountered blatant homophobia on Fox’s Trading Spouses when Pepper spent a week with Julie Chase, and Julie’s husband, Charlie, spent a week with Judy. Julie Chase turned out to be a hatred-spewing bigot who characterized homosexuality as a birth defect, but her homophobia made Pepper and Judy, in comparison, seem like ideal parents.

On The Amazing Race this fall, Episcopal ministers Kate Lewis and Pat Hendrickson, a lesbian couple that CBS described as “married ministers,” only made it through the first two episodes, but were one of the most stable and loving couples on the show. Not only did they give a face to older lesbians, but they also showed that religion is not just the territory of conservatives. African-American lesbians were represented on unscripted TV in BET’s College Hill: Interns, which featured out and proud Kathy Harris, who even took home the series’ MVP award for her hard work and leadership skills. On MTV’s I’m From Rolling Stone, butch lesbian Tika Milan was one of the series’ early standouts. On Sci Fi’s quirky Who Wants To Be a Superhero?, Paula Thomas’ character, Whip-Snap, made it through five episodes before being eliminated.

Lesbians were also featured in somewhat salacious reality-style documentaries in 2007. WE’s Secret Lives of Women: Lipstick Lesbians took a look at feminine lesbians from a slightly skewed heterosexual perspective, but also managed to present several loving lesbian couples, including a butch/femme couple, Melissa and Amanda. (Amanda later showed up as a butch-hating lipstick lesbian on A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.) And MTV’s Engaged and Underage documented the wedding of two 19-year-old lesbians, Cassie and Emmelie, putting youthful lesbian U-Haul dreams on a par with straight Romeo & Juliet fantasies. In this case, good or bad, at least lesbians were treated the same as their straight counterparts.

Bravo for Bravo

Other than gay channels here! and Logo, Bravo has provided the most gay-inclusive programming of any television network, featuring lesbians in three reality series this year: Work Out, Shear Genius and Top Chef. In these series, lesbian and bisexual contestants are simply part of the team; their sexual orientation is neither over-hyped nor ignored.

Shear Genius, Bravo’s competition for hairstylists, featured two out lesbians, Tabatha (who made it to fifth place) and Daisy (who reached third place), as well as judge Sally Hershberger (long rumored to be the inspiration for Shane McCutcheon on The L Word). Top Chef ‘s third season included out chef Sandee Birdsong, who lasted only two episodes but was brought back for two reunion shows and the Top Chef Holiday Special. The Holiday Special also featured out chefs Josie Smith-Malave from Season 2 and Tiffani Faison from Season 1.

The second season of Work Out, centering on out lesbian Jackie Warner’s gym and personal life, was a groundbreaking one. Warner could have been reduced to a power-hungry, predatory lesbian, but instead became a more three-dimensional, complicated character. In particular, Warner’s trip home to Fairborn, Ohio, which spotlighted Warner’s uncomfortable relationship with her mother, humanized her and showed how one’s family can struggle for decades over one’s sexual orientation.

Work Out also presented a more fluid understanding of sexuality through Rebecca Cardon, a trainer who began dating Warner during the second season. Cardon, who was straight before her relationship with Warner, explained on the show, “I don’t like to put myself in a box, and I think a lot of times we want to have people black or white, and there’s a ton of gray.” Rather than grapple with self-hatred or internalized homophobia when she discovered that she had feelings for Warner, Cardon seemed to slide quite easily – and happily – into a same-sex relationship. Work Out has shown that lesbians can be represented on reality television without descending into Real World-style exploitation, and that real LGBT issues can be dealt with in a realistic and ultimately positive way.

Curl Girls

Logo’s six-part reality series about a group of surfer girls in Southern California, Curl Girls, did not exactly follow Work Out‘s example. Although it marks another step forward in representation of LGBT people by being the first reality series to focus entirely on lesbians and bisexual women, that distinction alone did not make for groundbreaking or even interesting television. Unfortunately, the women involved lacked chemistry with each other – a flaw that made the drama that did arise more annoying than entertaining. In addition, one of the characters, Jessica, did lesbians no favors by making biphobic statements about Gingi Medina, who identified as bi. Other than those unfortunate scenes, however, Curl Girls‘ main fault was simply the fact that it was boring. Given the fact that it was a show about cute lesbians in bikinis, that might even be something to be proud of.

A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila

In October 2007, MTV debuted the first bisexual dating show, A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila. Starring MySpace queen Tila Nguyen, aka Tila Tequila, as the bisexual bachelorette, A Shot at Love began as exploitative and stereotypical, but developed over the entire season into something more than the trashy dating show it seemed to be. The show did not have an auspicious beginning, as it launched with Tila misleading the contestants about her sexual orientation, allowing the men to believe she was straight and the women to believe she was a lesbian. Most of the lesbians reacted in horror at being misled – one even walked off the show – while some declared that they hated men.

The first few episodes, therefore, were chock full of stereotypes. Tila was the lying bisexual who hid her sexuality and then sprang it on her potential lovers in a bait-and-switch scenario. In addition, she declared that the show was going to help her choose whether she liked women or men more – something that should be entirely irrelevant to bisexuals, but is a common stereotype.

The lesbians involved in the show fared no better, falling quickly and even eagerly into the man-hating dyke trap. The silver lining, if there was one, was the fact that the straight men themselves were even more boorish and obnoxious than the drunk, man-hating lesbians on the show.

However, as the series continued, those stereotypes actually began to fall by the wayside. Tila realized that finding true love for her had nothing to do with gender, but was about the connection she had with someone. And slowly but surely, the most obnoxious lesbians and straight men were eliminated – after they had served up their trashy entertainment quota.

Most significantly, Tila found herself attracted to a woman she would previously have never considered: Dani Campbell, a self-described “futch” rather than a “lipstick lesbian.” Their developing relationship was the show’s most endearing to watch, due largely to Dani herself, who was as sincere, self-effacing and honest as possible on a reality dating show. Tila has also revealed herself to be a fun-loving though raunchy party girl with a clear yearning to be part of a family who accepts her. Tila’s choice, in the season finale, of Bobby rather than Dani will likely be seen by many lesbians (as well as fans of Dani) as a “typical” bisexual choice, particularly because she declared somewhat gleefully that in the end, she chose “a man.” However, if one takes Tila at her word, then her choice of Bobby is not a choice of a man over a woman; it merely represents who she came to like more. Bisexuals, after all, are interested in both men and women.

Those who dismissed A Shot at Love as nothing more than trashy TV have not looked beyond the surface of the show. Tila, a Vietnamese-American woman who built an entire career for herself based on popularity and sex appeal, may not be an appropriate role model for young girls, but nor is she the devil in disguise.

The problem is that Tila is hampered by the baggage that comes with reality dating shows: the trash talk, catfighting, excessive drinking and ridiculously dramatic breakup scenes distract from the positive progress that Tila made over the course of the 10-week series in understanding herself and bisexuality. Hopefully not everyone missed it.

This year marked a turning point in the degree to which lesbian/bi actors and hosts were able to be out in their workplace – in front of the camera. This new openness is due in no small part to Rosie O’Donnell’s controversial, headline-grabbing nine months on ABC’s The View, during which ratings for the talk show skyrocketed. Although O’Donnell angered both LGBT and straight people alike at times due to her outspokenness and often unfortunate comments about race and politics, she also consistently spoke up about gay issues and personalized them through talking about her own life. In the wake of her departure, O’Donnell has been courted by a number of television networks, but she has limited herself to blogging on her website and reprising the role of Dawn Budge on Nip/Tuck. Whatever O’Donnell chooses to do, it’s clear that her blunt style and openness about being gay have not limited her future career options.

Ellen DeGeneres also became much more outspoken about gay issues this year, and when she received her third straight Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host in June, she acknowledged O’Donnell’s work on The View: “I liked what [Rosie] did. This was the year she should have won. I wanted to acknowledge Rosie because she has done a lot.” DeGeneres also did a lot in 2007, starting off strong by hosting the Academy Awards, possibly the preeminent gig for a comedian in Hollywood. Over the course of the year, DeGeneres became increasingly vocal about gay issues on her talk show. On the 10th anniversary of her own coming out, DeGeneres celebrated the event on her talk show by reminiscing with Laura Dern, who played DeGeneres’ love interest on Ellen in 1997.

After Grey’s Anatomy actor T.R. Knight came out following homophobic comments from Isaiah Washington, he visited DeGeneres’ talk show and thanked her for leading the way. She also spoke with Neil Patrick Harris after he came out and quizzed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about gay marriage, telling her: “It’s important for me to be able to commit to someone that I love and have the same benefits, the same rights. If something should happen to me, Portia’s taken care of. People who are gay care about that.”

Out lesbian actors and hosts also did their part to spread awareness on television this year simply by being themselves. HGTV featured out lesbian Jackie Taylor, host of Grounds for Improvement. Out chef Cat Cora continued as part of Food Network’s Iron Chef, as well as being photographed in People with her partner. Openly lesbian/bi actors Sarah Paulson, Sara Gilbert and Saffron Burrows played straight on several shows this year, while openly bisexual actor Kristanna Loken took the title role in Sci Fi’s Painkiller Jane as well as appearing in Season 4 of The L Word. Kirsten Vangsness came out in a low-key post on her blog, while more out actresses than ever before – Leisha Hailey, Daniela Sea, Jane Lynch, Jill Bennett, Michelle Wolff and Jenny Shimizu – took on queer roles.

Most significantly, Portia de Rossi returned to television with a provocative lesbian role on Nip/Tuck. Her decision to play a lesbian, in light of her very public relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, is a clear challenge to the status quo in which A-list lesbian actresses rarely play gay for fear of damaging their careers. While 2007 was a positive year in terms of the numbers of lesbians and bisexual women on television in general, one significant problem remains: After Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) departed ER in early January, there were zero regular or recurring lesbian/bi characters on prime-time network television.

This may not seem to be a problem given the vast number of digital and premium cable channels available today, but the fact remains that the majority of American television viewers do not have access to these digital and premium channels. The advent of online streaming and iTunes downloads means that shows such as Exes & Ohs and The L Word are increasingly available to those who do not have Logo or Showtime, but most of the media buzz on TV still focuses on network shows such as Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and the like.

This year NBC’s hit show Heroes was supposed to debut a lesbian character played by Lyndsy Fonseca, but when the actress was hired on another show, Heroes‘ producers cut the character entirely rather than re-cast her. Following on their de-gaying of the character of Zach in 2006, this was an unfortunate choice. In addition, Lost teased viewers for months with the possibility that a gay character would be revealed, but the ABC drama still has an entirely heterosexual cast.

Compounding the problem is the fact that many top-rated and critically acclaimed television shows are headed by out gay men; unfortunately, that does not mean they are any more likely to include lesbians in their programs (Ryan Murphy excepted). When Brothers & Sisters, which is known for its complex, multi-dimensional gay male characters and is executive produced by out producers Jon Robin Baitz and Greg Berlanti, finally included a lesbian character in an April 2007 episode, she wound up being a humorless, militant lesbian cloaked in stereotype.

In 2008, lesbian/bi characters will finally return to network television with ABC’s Cashmere Mafia, written by Kevin Wade, a straight man who told AfterEllen.com that he consulted with a female friend who told him that if he were to write a show about powerful career women in New York, one of them had to be a lesbian. That lesbian will be Bonnie Somerville’s character, Caitlin Dowd, who becomes involved with Lourdes Benedicto’s Alicia. The series debuts on Jan. 3, 2008. Reality television in 2008 will also continue to have lesbian/bi characters, as we can expect the return of Work Out to Bravo, another season of A Shot at Love on MTV, and a new reality series on Logo called Gimme Sugar, about lesbians in Los Angeles. The last bastion for lesbians on reality TV continues to be American Idol, the ratings juggernaut that has yet to include a single out LGBT contestant in its six seasons to date.

Given the continuing dominance of reality TV – especially in light of the ongoing WGA strike – American Idol is the next hurdle to overcome, just as it was this year. Though it may seem an unlikely thing to expect, only one year ago the idea of a lesbian dating show seemed too far-fetched to be true. Stay tuned for more details.

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