Now GLAAD Wants 10 Percent of Characters on TV to Be Gay

When will GLAAD ever be satisfied? Following a report showing that broadcast TV has a record number of LGBT characters, the formerly named Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is still saying Hollywood needs to do better.

Though the study released on Thursday showed that 8.8% of characters on TV are LGBT, a full 4 points above the 4.5% of LGBT individuals in the U.S. population, GLAAD demands that Hollywood up that number to as high as 10% by 2020.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis met with several industry insiders to discuss ways for networks to further increase LGBT representation on screen even though numbers show they are, in fact, quite overrepresented.

The event, held at United Talent Agency’s headquarters in Beverly Hills, featured people like Greg Berlanti (executive producer on “Arrow” and “The Flash”) and even the senior VP product leadership at Nielsen, Brian Fuhrer, who announced the company’s plan to partner with GLAAD to “expand Nielsen’s national survey to include same-gender couples.” . . .

GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said that the partnership with Nielsen happened during the Trump administration because the 2020 census did not count LGBTQ households. “Since this current administration has taken power over, they’ve since erased us from the 2020 census, so we’ve had to build these workarounds,” Ellis said. (Read more from “Now GLAAD Wants 10 Percent of Characters on TV to Be Gay” HERE)

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