“Early Frost” (
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“Will & Grace” (
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“Ellen” (
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Television is having a gay old time, but when Ellen DeGeneres famously came out in the 1997-98 season of “Ellen,” only 18 LGBT characters existed on broadcast and cable shows, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. By contrast, in the 2011-12 season, GLAAD tallied 48 regular gay characters. Here are some of the highlights along the way.
* 1971: “All in the Family,” CBS
Archie Bunker’s football-playing buddy Steve was the first gay character in an American sitcom.
* 1972: “That Certain Summer,” ABC
A divorced father (Hal Holbrook) is visited by his teenage son, who is repulsed to discover his father is gay. Martin Sheen played Holbrook’s lover in this TV-movie.
* 1975: “Hot L Baltimore,” ABC
The Norman Lear series depicted TV’s first gay couple, hotel residents George and Gordon.
* 1981: “Love, Sidney,” NBC
The first series to feature a gay man as the main character. Alas, Tony Randall’s Sidney Shore was gay in name only. No boyfriends.
* 1982: “All My Children,” ABC
Dr. Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow) was the first gay character on daytime.
* 1985: “An Early Frost,” NBC
The first made-for-TV film to address HIV/AIDS starred Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands as parents grappling with the admission by their son (Aidan Quinn) that he is not only gay also HIV-positive.
* 1989: “thirtysomething,” ABC
The first time two gay men were shown in bed together, if only conversing. The scene cost the network $1.5 million in lost advertising
* 1991: “LA Law,” NBC
Fourteen million viewers witnessed the first lesbian kiss in prime time, between attorney C.J. Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) and Abby Perkins (Michele Greene).
* 1997: “Ellen,” ABC
More than 40 million viewers tuned into TV’s first coming-out.
* 1998: “Will & Grace,” NBC
First hit series with gay male lead characters. Eric McCormack won an Emmy as Best Actor in a comedy.
* 2000: “Queer As Folk,” Showtime
This raunchy remake of a well-received UK series put Showtime on the big, gay map and was the first to depict an almost exclusively gay cast of characters.
* 2007: “Dirty Sexy Money,” ABC
Candis Cayne was the first transgender actress to play a recurring character in prime time. Carmelita carried on an affair with US Senate candidate Patrick Darling IV (William Baldwin).
* 2009: “Modern Family,” ABC
Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) were the first lead gay couple on a hit comedy.