The latest report looked at the television series that premiered from June 1, 2025, to May 31, 2026.
It revealed that zero transgender characters will return to TV next year, and that representation of LGBTQ characters of colour is at an eight-year low.
369 LGBTQ+ characters in total were counted on scripted primetime broadcast, cable and streaming original series. That is a decrease of 120 characters (25%) from the 489 counted the previous season.
161 of the 369 (44$) are characters of colour. An eight-year low and a decrease from 51% of characters of colour the previous year. None of the 369 characters lived with HIV.
2% of the 369 were trans characters; that’s a total of 7, six women and one man.
The previous year, the count was 33. Of these seven characters, none are returning to TV next year.
I am not Asian but Asian people have had a shitty representation for a long time. It’s always super stereotypical. I think stereotypical portrayals are used more than people think and there’s no way to stereotype an LGBT character without the character being angry about it. Meaning they just want people who will take the money and go along with character roles and I also think that has a huge play. The fact, that it might be hard for writers to write a character for someone who identifies and holds a close identity to the LGBT community because of a lack of understanding and accuracy.
I think it’s more the writers and also probably media hype death. I mean Asian people in the media were just starting to see a revamp but it’s still mainly stereotypical. I think that media outlets maybe saw a drop in it and I think that the less it’s really accurately portrayed it loses viewership and it all just ties into that lack of understanding of the community and a lack of accuracy.