People die. Characters die. This is perhaps life’s most unfortunate fact: that people will die and leave the rest of us behind. It’s incredibly rare that any dramatic television series lasting over three seasons will never kill a main or recurring character, and all those deaths have driven a stake through the heart of fandom: Joyce on Buffy, Lady Sybil on Downton Abby, Charlie on Lost, Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, Jen on Dawson’s Creek, Nate on Six Feet Under — but when the person who dies is a lesbian or bisexual character, queer fandom takes it pretty hard.
The history of lesbian representation on television is rocky — in the beginning, we seemed exclusively relegated to roles that saw us getting killed/attacked or doing the killing/attacking. And until the last five or so years, lesbian and bisexual characters seemed entirely unable to date an actual woman or stay alive for more than three episodes, let alone an entire run, of a show. Gay and lesbian characters are so often murdered on television that we have our very own trope: Bury Your Gays. We comprise such a teeny-tiny fraction of characters on television to begin with that killing us off so haphazardly feels especially cruel.
Not every death listed below was wholly uncalled for. In many genres, like soap operas and shows about vampires, zombies, criminals, or games of thrones, characters are killed on the reg. That’s a different trope — Anyone Can Die. Furthermore, shows composed entirely of queer characters will inevitably kill one. But regardless, they still add to the body count weighing down our history of misrepresentation.
And, due to the recent untimely death of Lexa on The 100, this week seemed like a good one to count down everybody we have lost over the years.
This list contains every television death of an OPENLY lesbian or bisexual or queer female character on a television show. With a handful of exceptions, these are all characters who appeared for more than one episode. The exceptions were deemed exceptional because something about the characterization still fits in with the Bury Your Gays trope. Victims-of-the-week from crime procedurals (Law & Order, Cold Case, CSI, Criminal Minds or older shows) or patients-of-the-week from hospital dramas (Chicago Hope, E.R.), aren’t on this list, as that is an entirely different kind of list, but recurring characters from those shows are on this list. Nor is subtext on this list, because we’re not gonna give Xena showrunners Queer Character Credit for a character they refused to make openly queer when she was really so obviously queer. You know? [ETA: Okay, I’ve added Xena after doing further research and because if one more commenter takes up space on this thread — a thread I’m using to find more characters to add, and also to engage with thoughtful/funny readers who have opinions and feelings — to tell me that I “forgot” Xena without reading this introduction, I will become the 200th dead lesbian and the cause of death will be “Walked off a cliff with a commenter in her arms. Murder-suicide.” But Xena will be the one and only inclusion based on subtext.] Also, although I’ve done tons of research, I haven’t personally seen all of these shows, so mistakes may very well exist, and feel free to politely inform me of them in the comments, or tell me about characters I may have missed — it’s especially helpful if you can tell me the cause of death and the year.
Unsure if this needs to be said but… SPOILER ALERT.
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Every Regular or Recurring Lesbian or Bisexual Female Character Killed On Television
Julie, Executive Suite (1976)
Cause of death: Hit by a car. Her love interest had just walked into traffic after realizing her lesbianism and Julie was chasing her.
Franky Doyle, Prisoner: Cell Block H (1980)
Cause of death: Shot by a police officer after escaping from prison
Sharon Gilmour, Prisoner: Cell Block H (1980)
Cause of death: Pushed down the stairs by a corrections officer
Karen O’Malley, Casualty (1987)
Cause of death: Head Injury
Cecília, Vale Tudo (1988)
Cause of death: Car Accident
Cicely, Northern Exposure (1992)
Cause of death: Shot by a gunman employed by the town’s evil overlord who doesn’t want to let the lesbians change his town. The shot was intended for her girlfriend Roslyn, but Cicely, who was already sick, blocked the bullet and died in Roslyn’s arms, thus magically healing the town’s long-simmering feuds and leading them to re-name the town “Cicely.”
Talia Winters, Babylon 5 (1995)
Cause of death: Activated a sleeper personality that wiped out her actual personality, effectively killing her
Beth Jordache, Brookside (1995)
Cause of death: Genetic heart condition, died in prison
Susan Ross, Seinfeld (1996)
Cause of death: Toxic envelope glue
Naomi “Tracy” Richards, Band of Gold (1996)
Cause of death: Stabbed herself
Lucy, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996)
Cause of death: Caught thieving and hanged
Kathy, NYPD Blue (1997)
Cause of death: Shot by a hit man hired by her girlfriend Abby’s ex, who wanted to get rid of Kathy so she could get back together with Abby. Abby was pregnant at the time.
Sondra Westwood, Pacific Drive (1997)
Cause of death: Murdered by a serial killer
Jadzia Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998)
Cause of death: Blasted by an alien-possessed alien
Sonia Besirky, Lindenstraße (1998)
Cause of death: Drug overdose from medication given to her by her ex-lover’s husband
Leila and Rafaela, Torre de Babel (1998)
Cause of death: Explosion in a shopping mall
Susanne Teubner, Hinter Gittern (1999)
Cause of death: Shot during a bank robbery (she was a customer)
Shaz Wiley, Bad Girls (2000)
Cause of death: Bomb, died in resulting fire
Laura Hall, Shortland Street (2000)
Cause of death: Heart attack
Diamond, Dark Angel (2001)
Cause of death: Used as a lab rat for research that killed her
Xena, Xena the Warrior Princess (2001)
Cause of death: Beheaded
Beate “Bea” Hansen, Hinter Gittern (2001)
Cause of death: Injuries from an explosion
Jule Neumann, Hinter Gittern (2001)
Cause of death: Suicide
Frankie Stone, All My Children (2001)
Cause of death: Murder Mystery!
Bridgit, 24 (2001)
Cause of death: Shot by a man in front of her girlfriend
Tara Maclay, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002)
Cause of death: Shot in the heart by a stray bullet
Kelly Hurst, Family Affairs (2002)
Cause of death: Pushed down the stairs by her lover’s husband
Megan Hartnoll, At Home With The Braithwaites (2003)
Cause of death: Electrocuted in the bathtub
Juliet Becker, The Bill (2003)
Cause of death: Stabbed
Tina Greer, Smallville (2003)
Cause of death: Impaled through the chest on a large piece of wood during a fight with a male character
Sandy Lopez, E.R. (2004)
Cause of death: Injuries sustained from fighting a fire in an abandoned warehouse
Al Mackenzie, Bad Girls (2004)
Cause of death: Poisoned
Hanna Novak, Verbotene Liebe (2004)
Cause of death: Stroke, died in her girlfriend’s arms
Ines Führbringer, Hinter Gittern (2004)
Cause of death: Throat slit, died in girlfriend’s arms
Thelma Bates, Hex (2004)
Cause of death: Murdered by a demon
Flora, Deadwood (2004)
Cause of death: Beaten by a man who then forced a woman to shoot her with his gun
Brenda Castillo, Charmed (2004)
Cause of death: Stabbed with a cursed blade by a man, causing her to rapidly age and then die
Tosha, The Wire (2004)
Cause of death: Shot during a heist gone wrong
Marissa Cooper, The O.C. (2005)
Cause of death: Car crash after being driven off the road by her drunk ex-boyfriend
Servilla, Rome (2005)
Cause of death: Stabs herself in front of her rival house, inhabited by the mother of her lover
Dusty, Queer As Folk (2005)
Cause of death: At a benefit at a gay club when a bomb went off
Dana Fairbanks, The L Word (2006)
Cause of death: Breast cancer
Helena Cain, Battlestar Galactica (2006)
Cause of death: Shot by her ex-lady-lover
Manuela Wellmann, Hinter Gittern (2006)
Cause of death: Stabbed, died in girlfriend’s arms
Maya Robertson, Hex (2006)
Cause of death: Hit by a car
Natalie, Bad Girls (2006)
Cause of death: Bludgeoned to death with a brick
Gina Inviere/#6, Battlestar Galactica (2006)
Cause of death: Set off a nuclear weapon
Eve Jacobson/Zoe McAllister, Home & Away (2006)
Cause of death: Inside a building when it was blown up
Van, Dante’s Cove (2006)
Cause of Death: Killed by the Shadows
Angie Morton, Stritctly Confidential (2006)
Cause of death: Suicide. Jumped off a building.
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Just been binge watching “Call the Midwife” series 4 while I recover from surgery. The gorgeous Patsy Mount finds her true love, a Welsh district nurse named Delia, they move in, have one happy night together-and then the object of Patsy’s desire is hit by a car on the way to work. So that’s the end of that then.
Its all very well that we are being acknowledged but how about some happy endings- or even middles- for lesbians every now and then?
Lets hear it for the end of the narrative of the tragic homosexual.
It gets better! Watch Season 5!
Sofia Varma faked her suicide and appears later on in the show.
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Y’all it is really f’ed up that you redacted Poussey’s name from this listing. I get that people are pissed about spoilers but I know I don’t have to tell you that there is an entire #SayHerName campaign for the deaths of black women in real life and Poussey Washington being reduced to a [SPOILER ALERT] while everyone else on this list gets their name AND their photo is in direct opposition to everything that I think Autostraddle stands for as a community. Please, really, consider changing how you list Poussey because right now, this feels really disrespectful, to say the least.
To those concerned about spoilers, how about you don’t look at an article specifically meant to list dead characters on shows that you watch???
The specific problem was that people update this list REALLY FAST, and her name was up here like six hours after the season dropped on Netflix. If people are going to do that, I honestly don’t mind! as long as they put a buffer sentence first so that their name doesn’t show up in the comment bar on the homepage.
Yes, we live in the age of the internet, and things are going to be spoiled. But giving us a little bit of time to watch the episodes and/or just providing a buffer sentence is common courtesy.
I think some people (like me) felt pretty strongly about this particular spoiler too because it’s such an upsetting death anyway. It was just such a bummer to be excited about the new season of the show and just be getting home from work, without time to even watch the first EPISODE, and idly opening AS’s homepage, only to be blindsided with Poussey’s name in the sidebar.
To quote Tumblr’s @decaheda: ‘a black lesbian died in a horrible, racist way. if you’re more upset about being spoiled than THAT, you need to reevaluate your priorities and check your privilege’
How do we know that Cara Thomas from Marcella was queer? Did I miss a kiss or anything else romantic with her female roommate before she died?
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Youre missing the girl from Lost and Delirious :'(
And Lexa also died in her lover’s arms
HEY RIESE YOU’RE MISSING PAULIE FROM LOST AND DELIRIOUS
Isn’t that a movie?
OMG read the tittle and introduction. Only on TV.
Hi
In episode 15 season 2 of Elementary [Spoiler] Nell Solange a queer woman is the centre of a murder investigation. Although she’s not a recurring character, she is seen in flashbacks of the episode and her relationship with another woman (her suspected killer) is explored. I’m sorry if this doesn’t suit your list. Have a great day!
Sorry if she’s there and I missed her but what about Tara from buffy shot with a bullet intended for Buffy?
Tara is on the list.
This makes me sad and angry (though I lolled at Jenny). Thanks for keeping score.
Just adding my voice to the call for Justine from Penny Dreadful to be added to the list. She was trying to start a revolution against men but had her neck broken by Dorian Gray.
Lucious didn’t poison Camilla he gave her the option of poisoning herself or going to jail for killing mimi
Allie Novak in Wentworth?
Killed because we are not allowed nice things.
I fucking check this list every single week before watching that show and yet my hopes were still sky high that this was going to end well. I know the entire point of the series is basically Bea doesn’t get nice things, but what the fuck. Seriously. UGHHHH.
Sorry I was totally wrong Allie’s not dead. It’s much worse Bea is. She should have stayed straight her life span would have been longer.
guess what happened on wentworth tonight
Here’s the article to confirm this news. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/spoiler-wentworth-has-officially-killed-off-the-character-no-one-thought-theyd-ever-kill-off/news-story/4604b34e9f189e3eaa0375d365c8d7db
So damn upset. I almost don’t want to watch any show with queer women outside of The Fosters anymore.
Bea Smith (stabbed herself) and Allie Novak (drug overdose(?)), Wentworth. Bea was confirmed dead by the writers as it was left open-ended.
bea smith died too.
I’m catching up on Zoo season 1. In episode 4 two random lesbian scientists in Antarctica freeze to death because bats block their solar panels. Wendy is one of them, I’m not sure if the other is named. They went there to try and save their marriage.
If they included all lesbian characters who are not serises regulars or guest stars this list would probably be running into the thousands by now.
You need to add Bea Smith from Wentworth.
Have they officially abandoned updating this list? It’s missing Bea Smith from Wentworth.
New addition. Spoilers spoilers spoilers not that anybody will give a hoot about it but let’s keep the name/show out of the sidebar comment thing. Some more fluff, fluff for spoilers, spoilers spoilers. Ok I think we’re good now.
Pretty Little Liars offed Shower Harvey (murder, found dead in a bathtub by a maid). Bonus points because they may have un-offed a creepy straight man in the same episode.
The straight guy was still in his grave when they dug it up so I seriously doubt they un-killed him.
I don’t think Julie Mao died. I think she becomes something else. About Talia Winter from Babylon 5, the actress wanted to leave. But, MS let an open door in case she would come back: Kosh had performed a full backup of Talia’s mind in season 1. But the actress never came back. It’s really sad.
I was wondering, could Zoe Vaughn from Scream be added to this list? She wasn’t explicitly a wlw but she did initiate a kiss with Audrey, and has since died.
She never showed interest in women except that one time while heavily influenced by hallucinogenic drugs, so I wouldn’t count her.
Good lord, how many times has Lucy Lawless played a lesbian/bi character who gets killed off!?
(Love her to bits, I’m just shocked as I didn’t know it was that many…)
I think there are 2 more you should add, they are from a chilean soap opera called “Preciosas”, their names were Paola Farfán and Elsa Morales.
Help, I’m still feeling all the feels re: Lexa. :(
Forever mourning Tara and Dana, too. (I would add Naomi but…Skins Fire? What’s that? Sounds made up…).
Also, confirmed: Delphine is alive post being shot in the garage.
another one from Scream to add onto this list: Zoe Vaughn, buried alive and then drowned by the killer
It was never confirmed that Zoey was into girls. She did kiss Audrey, but it sort of seemed like she did it to excite Noah, and also, she had taken halluicinogenic drugs.
New addition, and it doesn’t make any sense. Possibly a second new addition depending on what your Lily Kane rule is.
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Terrible Freeform drama Guilt finally screwed us over in its finale. Apparently the dead-all-along girl was secretly dating Sketchy Lesbian DJ Roz and pissed her off, so Roz got Main Girl’s boyfriend to kill dead-all-along. After Main Girl, who apparently didn’t notice her two roommates being In Lesbians together, finds out, she bashes Roz’s skull in. Roz, let’s note, had an actual girlfriend when dead-all-along was found dead at the start of the show. This does not make any sense. Anyway, one more dead lesbian, the dead-all-along girl was bi, and one of them was secretly psycho too.
THANK YOU for the buffer comment!! :)
You need to update this article with Sarah Lance’s resurrection. She was brought back to life by using the Lazarus pit and Constantine helped bring her soul back from the afterlife. The character is a regular on Legends of Tomorrow now
And one more, Delle Seyah Kendry, a recurring character on Killjoys who was flirty with the main character a couple of times. Shot and killed in the final episode of season 2.
and another. Karen Kim on Mistresses, who fell off a balcony trying to stop her nanny (who was just caught posing as her to Catfish a guy) from killing herself. ah, soaps! still a bummer.
DELPHINE IS ALIVE!
New addition: Manola (Kisa’s new girlfriend) in From Dusk Till Dawn. Didn’t even survive one episode!
13 from House MD deserves an honourable mention, despite the lack of on screen death (she actually lives long enough to be at the funeral for House in the finale), but they spent a lot of screen time on her sexuality and impending death – she’s bi, and becomes promiscuous / risk taking after getting diagnosed with Huntington’s. Her mother and brother had it and died, and she left the show/job to go off and be with her gf for as long as she can before she dies. It’s deathbaiting, rather than queerbaiting? def queer, maybe dead this week? maybe next? I definitely took it personally how much they threatened to kill her, even if she did survive til end of show she was given a terminal diagnosis, worsening symptoms and a lot of impending death narrative.
Make that 163. Mr Kaplan was shot by Raymond Reddington on The Blacklist this week for betraying him, even though she was actually trying to help him and protect the lives of another woman and a baby girl.
Not so fast!
add to the list, Zoe Vaughn from MTV Scream (2016). Confirmed bisexual, made out with both Noah and Audrey at a party, and eventually trapped in a coffin and drowned by the killer (Kieran, a known hater of sapphic girls, killed two wlw and tried to kill two more)
Another one to add to the list :(
Helen (who, I am now realising, had never been given a last name) from Masters of Sex. Died after giving birth to her and her girlfriend’s baby.
It’s been a long time since I last came back to this site so I didn’t see that some commenters wanted a spoiler warning/not to post before 24 hours after a character dies. If I spoiled anyone, I’m so sorry.
Hi, could you correct Halfiax to Halifax in Last Tango in Halifax? cheers
I think Yorkie and Kelly from Black Mirror should get a mention, even if it was a happy ending they’re still dead.
I think techinally they should as we have counted Lexa and Root who are tied to similar AI storylines.This just happened to have a happy ending.
Blindspot Spoilers
Sophia Varma, Blindspot (2015) isn’t dead, she had faked her death and turned up later in the series.
Tricia (orange is the new black) was encouraged to overdose by one of the prison guards, kinda a suicide/murder at the same time.
Also, were Victoria Hand and Isabelle Hartley gay??? (with regards just to the show and not the comics) I know Isabelle was only there for one/two episodes, Hand was only around for half a season, but I don’t remember there being ANY development behind their characters beyond how they contributed to the story. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but in the show up to this point, I’m pretty sure we’ve only had one gay character, and he was a guy.
It was mentioned somewhere in the comments that Victoria and Isabelle were not revealed as gay on the show because the writers knew they were going to kill them. Therefore it was felt that they needed to be included because is was a case of both Hide Your Gays and Bury Your Gays.
I think they had planned to keep Hartley around for much longer (and hopefully would have revealed that she was queer), but had to come up with a quick backup plan when Lucy Lawless had to back out due to pregnancy. It’s entirely possible that I’m remembering all of this wrong, though.
Why the heck does Lucy Lawless have so many characters in this list?! 0_0
I’m waiting with baited breath to see if Lana Winters will need to be added shortly. :'(
!@#$ing thankful for small mercies!
You’re missing Jocelyn from East Los High, 2016. She’s bisexual and she was shot.
Susan from Van Helsing (2016) Murdered two episodes after kissing her long time best friend.
Hm, while I think it’s awesome we get to contribute to this fight against Bury Your Gays by providing the actual facts for statistics etc. I think maaaaaybe when need to come up with some spoiler shield protocol for making comments/reporting to this post.
Cause while the title “All ### Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on TV, And How They Died” is clear indicator of YO SPOILERS AHEAD it doesn’t negate seeing the comment in Latest Comments panel and getting spoiled from that.
our deaths are not spoilers.
I was going to ask if anime characters should be added to the list, then mention Ten’no Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Kaio Michiru/Sailor Neptune of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, except that while they were killed off by the main villain of SailorStars (5th season), so were all of the other Sailor Senshi except the main character, Sailor Moon (including her boyfriend, Chiba Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen) and resurrected once again, as I mentioned above, and it wasn’t because they were lesbians, it was because they were heroes fighting against the final villain of the series.
Still, if anime and manga characters do count, IMHO they should only be added if they were killed off because of being lesbian/bisexual rather than for another reason (as above).
Also, I really hate Rick Berman (executive producer of the different Star Trek series post-Roddenberry) partly because of his allowing Jadzia Dax to be killed off after her actor, Terry Farrell, decided to leave the series, but also because rape survivor Tasha Yar (played by Denise Crosby) suffered the same fate in ST:TNG for basically the same reason (Crosby wanted out of her contract too). So, if a female actor quits, that’s reason to pointlessly and needlessly kill off her character as well? Sexism, much?
*Westworld Spoilers*
Elsie Hughes from Westworld could be the newest name to this list. She was shown to be sexually attracted to a female host (a scene that went literally nowhere after this), and was shown being strangled to death in episode 10. We don’t know for sure yet though.
That kissing scene just seems so bloody pointless if she is dead now, like they inserted it with the intention of taking it further, changed their minds and decided she would die in ep 10, but never edited the kissing scene out.
They forgot another Pretty Little Liars character- Charles/Charlotte DiLaurentis, a trans character.
This list is for bi and lesbian women, Cece was neither. Trans women that only like men may get a list of their own some day, but they aren’t included on this list.
Not sure if anyone watched Shut Eye on Hulu but *Spoiler Alert* there’s a queer female hypnotist named Gina to add to the list. :/
Okay, just my opinion, but I don’t think Kelly and Yorkie should be on this list. I mean, yes, technically they did die. But their consciousnesses are still alive and well, and it was definitely a decision to choose to live, rather than actually die by having your mind die along with your body. They have a happy ending together!
But, if you MUST keep them on the list, Yorkie didn’t die from the car crash. That happened when she was a teen. Cause of death would be doctor-assisted suicide (although I still contend that they shouldn’t count as dead). Thank you so much!
I would have thought they shouldn’t be on the list because they’re not recurring characters.
Recurring characters just don’t exist in Black Mirror, it’s an aspect of the show’s structure. If you look at the IMDb page you’ll find that the most episodes any character has been in is three (over three seasons). Whether they should be on the list due to thr connotations of their deaths is another question entirely; I don’t feel that it’s right to omit them just because their deaths were “good”, as that leaves us open them some really finicky and subjective slicing and dicing. For example (Person of Interest spoilers) many POI fans felt that Root’s death shouldn’t be classed as a BYG because it came well after the relationship was established and was part of a larger narrative arc about transcendence. Imo we have to go “all or nothing” with this kind of list.
Any queer woman whose death (of her physical body) I have to witness counts as trauma to me and therefore goes on the list! Even if gays transcend (POI, the LOO, Black Mirror…) or are un-buried (Jane the Virgin, Orphan Black…) they should still of on the list because we still had the upset of having to watch it happen and the message is still sent: a violent end is destined for people like you. The rest is just semantics.
I want you to know I cited this article when writing my writer’s manifesto on my creative writing course
(*Spoiler Alert* for Scream I guess)
I’m not sure if she would count or if anyone has mentioned her yet, but Rachel Murray from Scream: The TV Series. She is dating a main character Audrey in Season 1 episode 1 and episode 2, then is murdered in episode 2.
Wow disregard my comment I found her, sorry haha
You must add Aurora Alarcón from Seis Hermanas.
Aurora Alarcón from Seis Hermanas. Got sick with Cholera and died.
I know pretty much no one watched this show, but Taxi Brooklyn (it ran for like 12 episodes back in 2014) had an ADA named May Winters who stalked Chyler Leigh’s character, kidnapped her, killed a bunch of people “for her,” and then killed herself because she was so in love with her… literally her last words were “Why won’t you love me, Caitlyn?” So yeah that was lovely
Well this is one of the most depressing articles I have read in a while. It’s nice to know that the LGBT community has a lot of shows that they can really get behind. It makes me really appropriate and love the shows that actually let their gay characters live and have happy endings since they are so rare. The only show that I forgive is Xena because she went out in a blaze, sacrificing herself to save thousands of souls. And I know that her and Gabrielle will be together in the next life. The rest of the shows are just crap.
Does anyone else here believe that the Teen Wolf death was a little excessive? I mean the character was already dead…
In the article about the killing off of lesbian characters, the author used Joyce from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the first example…. which is incorrect…. Joyce is Buffy’s mother. TARA was Willow’s girlfriend who was killed. A slip up that probably should be changed… especially as it’s the first example. Did anyone else notice this?
PLEASE NOTICE THIS COMMENT AND FIX THE MISTAKE!!!! :)
Hi! Joyce is listed as an example of a non-queer character who is killed off; she’s listed along with the likes of Ned Stark and a host of other straight people.
The full sentence reads “It’s incredibly rare that any dramatic television series lasting over three seasons will never kill a main or recurring character, and all those deaths have driven a stake through the heart of fandom: Joyce on Buffy, Lady Sybil on Downton Abby, Charlie on Lost, Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, Jen on Dawson’s Creek, Nate on Six Feet Under — but when the person who dies is a lesbian or bisexual character, queer fandom takes it pretty hard.”
It’s not a mistake. The article didn’t say that Joyce was gay/bi, just that her death was upsetting to the fandom.
Tituba from Salem actually turned out to still be alive and survived the events of the series finale. The wife on Blindspot also turned out to be alive via faking her death.
Then as a personal opinion, villains shouldn’t be on this list. Because your basically saying that they should have been exempt from death despite commiting evil deeds, just because their LGBT females. If you want more female villains, even some that just so happen to be gay or bi, you have to accept that they will die as that is usually what happens to villains.
Lucy Lawless is on this list FOUR FREAKING TIMES. That just ain’t right. #StopKillingLucyLawless
Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks? She’s established as bi in the film and The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.
Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers
Is that enough warning?
Eleanor Guthrie while pregnant was stabbed to death by a spanish soldier which kind of was her husbands fault.
Eleanor’s death was kind of inevitable. This show is quite violent & they killed off some straight white main characters (Vane, Miranda), so I’m not sure she even counts as a “Bury the gays” example.
Black sails did *SPOILER ALERT* UNbury a gay man (Thomas) and reunite him with Flint, it’s a true miracle.
Eleanor Guthrie from Black Sails.
Stabbed to death by a Spanish Soldier.
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Don’t forget about Lenny Busker 2017 Legion
Fused into a wall; later appears as a demonic villain in the mind of the main character
You should add Charry from “Se quien eres” (Spain). In the episode 1×09, Charry died of drug overdose by pressure on the secrets she knew.
Thank you so much for this! So upsetting and considering how few Lesbians are shown, can’t help but think it’s a media message.
About Dana from The L Word, though, she actually died from from heart failure from “treatment”/chemo for breast cancer. I watched closely since it was very courageous of them to show that. There is intense pressure to believe the doctors.
My best friend has survived three separate cancers, the first two very rare and extremely invasive (clear cell adenocarcinoma of the uterus and neuroendocrine colon cancer), and the last one was a more regular breast cancer, with surgery and herbs and other alternatives methods — NOT going vegan or juicing or an expensive clinic. She also has refused all scans, including mammograms since they cause so much cancer. We try to get the word out with so many women dying soon after suffering through “treatment.” There are other options but we are not given informed consent.
Delphine Lives!!!!
Can we get Heather from last week’s episode of Doctor Who added? She was a young queer girl with self-image issues killed by a puddle of sentient spaceship-oil.
Annie Kaplan, The Blacklist, Shot by partner’s uncle.
BEA SMITH DESERVED BETTER IM STILL SO UPSET
so Delphine is definitely alive, but also, I mean technically Kelly and yorkie are dead, but the whole point of the story was them being euthanized and finding each other in the afterlife, and it was the only bm ep with a happy ending. I guess I don’t really get why they’re on the list since they weren’t really killed off, and it was in no way violent or unfair
SPOILERS for the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale:
Should add Martha 6715-301, Ofglen’s (Alexis Bledel’s character’s) girlfriend who is hanged for “gender treachery” in episode 3.
Someone might mention Moira, but given what happens to her in the book and the character who reports her death (someone represented as being mentally unstable), I don’t think she should count yet.
I just started watching Zoo on Netflix. Season 1 episode 4: the very first LGBT+ couple introduced is a lesbian couple, who freeze to death by the end pf the episode. Their names were Margaret and Wendy and they were trying at a second chance in their marriage.
Not only are we not represented as a main or recurring character, but we’re still not allowed to have happy endings.
This is one of those rare occasions where it would actually be nice if the article was split onto multiple pages. It takes FOREVER to load on mobile with all the pictures.
Please add Aurora from spanish tv series Seis Hermanas.
Tituba from Salem didn’t die she was revealed to be still alive in the third season.
Missed another Lucy Lawless glorious lesbian death: Countess von Marburgh, second season Salem.
You can remove Bill Potts from Doctor Who from the list – not only does she never actually die (she’s turned into a Cyberman/cyborg sure, but she entirely retains her sense of self), but less than an episode passes before her space girlfriend saves her from even being a cyborg.
She’s due to show up in the next episode too.
Disagree. She was shot incredibly graphically by this show’s standards for a companion, had a number of scenes showing how physically ruined her body was… she managed to get a “sentient water/oil” whatever afterlife with her (imo) creepy crush Heather & a “virtual” temporary reunion with the Doctor, but she was
Still. Killed. In a really upsetting and literally dehumanising way that is out of the norm for companions on this show.
I absolutely think that she was the “I’ve got another year to run this show, people think I’m so sexist/racist, okay let’s pull out all the minority stops on this one-series character before finishing her off. Then she can have a static constrained afterlife.” The end he gives for all the women who get too confident, but Bill’s death was so much nastier, so much more graphic, than his white women he involved romantically with the Doctor.
Bill’s tragic end was also alluded to in a recent episode by the Doctor in a rage as something so awful, so terrible, it was motivating her to do something awful and terrible herself to avoid it happening to anyone else again.
Man, I’m glad I stopped watching Black Sails after another lesbian character was gangraped… :/
So about Kira from The Magicians, the woman that she trains and who eventually kills her isn’t white, the actress that plays her is 100% Native American. Just wanted to clear that up.
Eleanor Guthrie from Black Sails.
Stabbed to death by a Spanish Soldier.
She should on the list
Elise Wassermann on The Tunnel (2017), killed when she explodes a bomb collar put on her to make her male cop-partner sad. Wikipedia’s less sarcastic summary.
UGHHHH I hated this ending so much!! The tunnel falls victim to yet another terrible trope for its gay characters ( https://www.queerty.com/horrible-trope-gay-monster-vanished-tunnel-brought-back-20171118 )
Just what I always wanted in an ending, for a badass heroic bisexual woman to die so that the whiny problematic Karl can have a meaningful ending to his arc…..
Just a correction: Bill Potts was actually killed by the blue alien Jorj in Doctor Who, and later converted into a Mondasian Cyberman – it was the Doctor who was shot by a Cyberman
Nora West-Allen (XS): Erased from existence
Raya Van Zandt (Spin): Murder by her girlfriend, Joslyn Jackam (Weather Witch)
What about Ellaria Sand on Game of Thrones?
Is Isolde from Netflix’s Ragnarok the first to get knocked off in 2020? She manages to come out and then get killed disturbingly promptly, all in the first episode… 😶😶😶
I want to profoundly and most sincerely thank you on creating this list and keeping it refresshed and updated throughout the years. Thank you! Now thanks to you I will spare myself of all the heartbreak I already encountered many times trying to follow our brave lgbt characters who always for some reason end uo dead…
there can be a book written also about all the obstacles our beloved characters go through durong their existence in the shows and movies before they are killed off, like Hollywood and the rest of the world wants to send the message “It is ok for ys to give you the lesbian abd bi characters to attract the audience, but our message is it is not ok to be lgbt!” And it pisses me off. Also it is ok to film straight sex but when it comes to gay sex scenes, lets keep it as modest as possible and rare… So many messages thrown our way that from their point of view its not ok we exist. Makes me mad!
Once more many thanks your way and know that your effort is appreciated!
Ya bitch because you want representation.
Then ya bitch about the representation.
Not every lesbian is courageous/brave.
Some of them just get stabbed in the neck and dumped in the river. 🤷♂️
Yorkie and Kelly Booth from the episode San Junipero of the Black Mirror series.
Tabitha Galavan (a bisexual character) from Gotham was killed in the last season of the show in 2019.