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.
Special thanks to the LezWatchTV Database for providing info on shows I haven’t seen or heard about directly!
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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How about Uriel from Dominion (2014) who was killed in the air strike?
There was also Sky in the Doctor Who Series 4 episode ‘Midnight’ where she is possessed and within ten minutes and then her body dies.
Dear Sophie,
a simple ctrl+F search would have told you that 1) Three people have already mentionned Sky in the comments before and 2) They’ve all been told the same thing, which you would have known if you’d read the 5th paragraph of this post: characters appearing in single episodes don’t count for this list !
(also Riese do you think Sky is the new Xena?)
Is there a list with lesbian/bisexual characters that actually managed to survive their show’s end?
Yup, check the main page
In fact, there is: http://www.autostraddle.com/all-26-lesbian-and-bisexual-tv-characters-who-got-happy-endings-331601/
29 happy endings against 142 unexplainable deaths. I wonder if that is a reflection of society? Probably not, right?
I hope it’s okay but I just made a thing:
http://persephonedarkqueen.deviantart.com/art/Hex-Thelma-and-Maya-GSL-Signature-596977091
Here are the lyrics to that song:
http://batteredrose.com/lyrics/goodnight-sweet-ladies/
You guys, Delphine might not be dead after all:
http://www.bustle.com/articles/147839-is-delphine-dead-in-orphan-black-season-4-a-new-trailer-may-reveal-the-characters-fate
Sad list, too long, too, but unfortunately a necessary one. Thank you Riese for doing this!
If movies count, I’m pretty sure Jennifer from Jennifer’s body (2009) is bisexual.
She was stabbed and killed by her best friend after turning into a succubus and murdering boys.
It’s a list of TV characters.
Hehehe
Midsomer Murders has Fran Carter (played by Daisy Haggard) strangled, dismembered and covered with confetti and stuffed into a steamer-trunk (April 2011 episode ‘Echoes of the Dead’). 3 other characters were also bumped off in the same episode (about the norm for the show per episode) but thats neither here or there. Im sure theres been a few other lesbian characters who have either been killed off (its been running since 1997 so theres a lot of ground)
Only recurring characters count.
Lucy Lawless and Mia Kirshner were both in here more than once. That’s some gay commitment… And I’m still not over Dana Fairbanks, thank for rehashing that wound.
This list came to my acknowledgment when the number was 65 dead lesbians/bisexual woman. The number, as I’m writing this, is 142. It kept me wondering at how higher it would be if we also include gay man and transgender characters. This is just sickening. And very freaking sad.
i think there would be at least another 150, maybe 200.
and you will soon find out b/c i’m writing that list for a different site. :-)
If I remember correctly, Rachel Posner was strangled by that man, not run over by him…
This list is so depressing.
I’m never gonna forget about Tara. NEVER. A stray bullet? Really? She deserved better.
they don’t ever show her actual death, so i don’t think it was explained in that detail.
the show has him drive away from her in the desert, then u-turn and speed towards her. the next scene is him burying her.
i definitely could have missed some details though.
This article give a few details on Ash’s death in Janet King:
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/03/leading-lady-marta-leads-by-example.html
Hopeful from the sounds of this that Janet’s gayness isn’t going to be snuffed out too.
This does not give me hope!
Yeah it could be interpreted as bad (possible new love interest), but talking up the storyline of difficulties for same sex couples in law, making that the b plot makes me optimistic they won’t then go and de-gay her. Surely… SURELY.
Really, I can’t even with this. This just makes me, I can’t even articulate what this makes me
Marta is telling me she can’t give spoilers but that they won’t let us down and please watch the show… I don’t know what to believe….. it’s a trap, right? Right???
And Marta wouldn’t lie right? I’m hopeful it is going to be done well.
Lol, that Teen Wolf desth description. Would River Song from Doctor Who count?
I can understand and accept Lesbian deaths in older fiction, because once upon a time the lesbians dying was the only way to get representation at all but its 2016 for gods sake, why won’t people stop killing off all the queer characters? Why. Of course the other sucky thing that they all do is freaking queer baiting, you think your favourite couple will get together and then boom one of them is with a man and pregnant and never speaks to the other again for no apparent reason. I’d like to see a list of all the almost lesbians from tv.
Growing up all fiction has ever taught me is that as a lesbian I will either be miserable and die young or miserable and end up marrying a dude. All I want is young happy lesbians to be together and stay together on tv with no relationship drama. Preferably action, sci fi, or fantasy as a genre but at this point ill take anything.
The best shows at the moment (that I watch at least, I’m sure theres more… I hope theres more) for not killing lesbians are Person of Interest and Call the Midwife. And Person of Interest one of them is missing anyway I’m just hoping it’ll end well. Call the Midwife you can’t really appreciate the happiness of the two women because its set in the 1960’s and the entire time is just total fear that they’ll be found out and their lives will be over.
Just thought of another dead Bisexual vampire, who also dies after giving birth(to the most annoying character in history) and is another Joss Whedon death. Darla! Buffy and Angel, had a Bisexual relationship with Drusilla. Details here:http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Darla
I love the crap out of Darla, who died not once but four times on the show! (Sired, staked, sired again and then stakes herself) but I feel like the sexual side of their relationship was really more subtext. And yeah I know they had a threesome with the immortal but it was presented more as something really impressive that the immortal got them to do it with him at the same time, when angel and spike couldn’t… I’m sure if they did that story now they would make out and be more explicit, but it’s also good that they saved the explicitly queer content for Willow’s relationships which were so important. Buffy was great for queer subtext – Faith!
Really. i don’t know , support them and love them
I just read a MAJOR spoiler for a major show and it is not good. It looks like we will be adding another dead lesbian to this list by the end of the week.
I’m sad because I really liked this character. So that means TV will have killed 4 lesbians in a two week timespan. Rose, Lexa, that girl from Magicians, and ________.
OMG can you PM me ? I need to know
Me too!
Lt. Sandy Lopez, 2004, ER – Kerry Weaver’s partner and mother of their child. Died fighting a fire at a warehouse. Led to a custody battle for their son between Dr Weaver and Sandy’s parents. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Weaver#Season_ten)
Oh come on she’s been on the bloody list since the beginning !
Lexa’s death could also be stated as killed by JasonRotinHell
I am glad this is being brought to attention. Another major lesbian character is going to get killed off in a few weeks: Tara on the Walking Dead. Apparently showrunner Scott Gimple thinks its a good idea to fridge a lesbian in order to develop a man’s storyline (Eugene).
A. How do you know this?
and B. Hello spoiler! That hasn’t even AIRED yet.
I don’t know what to believe at this point so don’t take either of our words for it as fact until you see it.
I haven’t heard about Tara. The spoilers I read says Denise is the one who dies this week. They were accurate about last episode’s spoilers so I’m assuming these are right as well. Is Tara really dying too?
Guys! Spoilers!
I thought better of it after I posted it but I couldn’t delete it.
AHHHH WTFFF, why would you post this before it even airs????
There was an episode of Cold Case focusing on the story of a lesbian couple in the 20’s with the prohibition. It was a biracial couple and the brother of the white girl was against them and beat up the black girlfriend. They decided to run away, but the brother caught them and there was a car pursuit. Eventually they decided to cross a bridge that was under construction and to kill themselves. The white girl survived but not the black one…
This particular list is not counting one-ep characters in procedurals.
This episode of Cold Case resonated with me on soooo many levels. It was one of those times where I was like that was the 20’s things have gotten better – then I was like really?! – Have they???
Totally was gonna comment to suggest this one as well! Really great episode, Tessa Thompson is still really powerful as a actress.
Angelica “Angel” Turing played by Daryl Hannah, from sense8 forced into drug use on the run from whisper(a sensate hunting others of his kind) commits suicide to avoid capture after giving birth to(in the shows terms) the main group of sensates in the show. Recurs in visions. Her sexuality was not explicitly shown/mentioned on the show but the creators have said that sensates are pansexual.
Also Barbara Kean on Gotham has been effectively fridged on the show(yes in a coma, and yes will probably come back but it doesn’t really change what they did with her character).
We’ve never even seen another woman from Angelica’s cluster, but we do know she was in love with a man from her cluster. I don’t feel like that comment from the creators is enough.
I thought about that before posting, but It seems like an exploration of the sensates sexuality is going to be a big part of the show, but you are right to say that as the show stands we haven’t seen enough for it to be definitive, right now there really is only what the creators have said, and the orgy(empathic orgy maybe?).
I still stand by the Barbara Kean suggestion because while she may not be technically (or probably even permanently) dead, her whole character arc has existed solely to push forward Gordon’s.
Theoretically, I guess I feel like a pansexual identity and the way the sensates experience each other’s experiences are two different things. Like let’s say Nomi IDs as a lesbian (I can’t remember if she does). When she desires a man, that’s basically due to her experiencing what it feels like for another one of the characters who does normally desire men…right? LOL I mean we could split hairs all day on something like that, but I guess I feel like posession and posession-like things don’t count.
I agree with you queer girl from the way it’s been portrayed on the show. Amanita made a comment about Nomi going straight (as in, no more illegal hacking) and Nomi laughed and said “I would never go straight.” That doesn’t rule out her being pan, but the impression most viewers would get is different.
Did you know this post reached one thousand comments?
What a beast!
Id tentatively include Remy Hadley from House. Doesn’t die on the show but is diagnosed with HD and is unlikely to have long.
Forever salty about Lexa…
I have a friend who, bless her big, lovable heart, is always trying to get the Mrs. and I to watch any and all shows with queer women in them. I completely get that. we’re gay, we should be supportive to our community. But the really sad bit is that adding a queer female character to a show is probably the quickest way to make us turn the channel. This list, is a perfect example of why. My friend never really understood our feelings on the matter; that is, until I shared this article with her. We’ve lost any and all faith in television writers, even the queer ones. As my girlfriend put it, “we watch television as a means to escape from the shit that stresses us out in our every day life. We’re not going to waste that on something depressing.” Unless we’re already established, loyal viewers or we can’t live without seeing a show, we don’t even bother. We just don’t have the strength any more. If we want to enjoy things with lesbians in them we’ll read fan fiction or check out what’s going on at Tello films. But mainstream television can just go to hell. Thank you so much for writing this. Really puts things in perspective.
i think Kali from Teen Wolf would also count? they played out the whole “crazy lesbian” trope with her and Jennifer and Jennifer ended up killing her with glass shards in s3e12 Lunar Ellipse.
Kali and Jennifer were supposed to be ex-lovers (the ex part being because Kali nearly killed Jennifer, at that point called Julia, to join the alpha pack). However, neither character ever references this onscreen – all the information we have on this never actualized storyline comes from things Jeff Davis has said online, at comiccon and to the fanfic contest winner.
The way the show actually aired, neither Kali nor Jennifer are ever shown to have sexual interest in women. This avoids the dead queer and evil tropes for both characters by denying they were queer in the first place.
Jeff Davis should not be trusted with queer representation tbh. I wish I’d never heard of Teen Wolf.
Lost and Delirious though. Suicide.
!!!!!!!!!!! READ THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE
In the first season of 24 (2001), Bridgit is shot by a sniper. Mandy the assassin steals an ID card for a criminal mercenary and has Bridgit, her girlfriend, retrieve it later. After Bridgit hands over the card, the mercenary orders his sniper to shoot Bridgit, right in front of Mandy. Bridgit appears in 2 episodes. Here’s a picture of her:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/24wikia/images/4/46/1x03d.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080903183330
added, thanks!
And you know who was her girlfriend, no? None other than Mia Kirshner.
Mia Kirshner vs. Lucy Lawless: Lesbian/Bisexual Death Match.
I just wanted to say that while Destiny Rumancek (Hemlock Grove) did hit her head on a glass coffee table, what killed her in the end wasn’t that but the fact the Roman Godfrey decided to break her neck.. Which in a way is worse.
I’m honestly still so bitter about it.
In TV anime, we have at the very least Liang Qui from Canaan, Kazumi from Devilman Lady, Maya from Maya’s Funeral Procession, Asuka ‘Saint Juste of the Flowers’ Rei from Oniisama E…, and probably a bunch more. Rei is pretty egregious. It was a great death and a great show, but it couldn’t have been a more blatant example of killing off the only very visibly queer character so everybody else could ‘move on’ and ‘grow up’ and ‘marry boys.’
Sameen Shaw in “Person of Interest” might fit this trope, although it’s still unclear whether she’s actually dead or not.
SHE’S NOT DEAD
Shaw’s been seen alive since so she’s definitely not dead.
Olivia Pope’s neighbour, Lois, in Scandal? Does it count if we only found out they were gay after they died?