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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If Xena doesn’t get included on the list then Isabelle Hartley and Victoria Hand shouldn’t be on the list. At least Xena had subtext. Despite them being queer in the comics, they were not openly queer in Agents of SHIELD.
This is probably distasteful but damn it’s so funny how Lucy Lawless is in this list 4 times… a true ally hahaha
Some of these deaths still make me salty. >:-(
Pedantic infighting about whether or not Xena was a canonical lesbian is like having a slap fight about whether or not a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable while locusts swarm around and try to destroy all the produce. WE’RE FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS.
Well I mean, it is a fruit :p
I get your point, just being a pain the ass.
If you can’t be pedantic AND fight the patriarchy, is there any hope for us?
Heather, I’m ready to DEETspray the locusts with you whenever you’re ready. Tomato, tomahtoe. Seems like some of our fellow travellers may have missed the point.
The fact that so many of these happened in 2015 is really discouraging.
Also, RIP Lexa :(
I mean I think it makes sense that so many would happen in 2015 because there are so many more queer characters in 2015 than in prior years?
That’s pretty much what I tried to say below, though now I’m wishing I’d found a simpler way to say it.
I am still so, so, SO very mad about Tam-Tam. Tamsin deserved so much better than death by rape baby.
Tamsin’s fate shits me. Fuck that bullshit. “it’s okay, she’s my legacy” NO Tamsin should be fighting right up to the last.
I am astonished that people continue to cite Lost Girl as good representation after the rape baby plot.
ALSO thank you so much for putting this together. A friend and I were talking about LGBT FANS DESERVE BETTER and they were all “but it’s getting better…!” and nope nope NOPE it’s just getting worse.
I wonder what the statistics are of (dead lesbians/total # of all lesbian characters ever) would be.
Yeah, I’d love someone (else) to do the chances of a queer major character dying on a majority queer show (The L Word, etc); a queer major character dying on a majority hetero show; compared to a straight major character dying on either.
Same!!! Colorful charts and graphs would be divine, too.
Yes! And then broken down by year (it seems there’s a lot more queer women now, but they’re all dying, ya know?) and by cause of death (shooting, stabbing, jealous boyfriend, other). Would be fascinating/sad.
This hurts. And i haven’t even seen most of these programmes.
DELPHINE IS NOT DEAD YOU GUYS!!!!
Does Lucy on NBC’s Dracula count? The show made her canon bi, which the book did not when writing her death/change-into-a-vampire.
I wasn’t sure! Because although she was killed, she remained on the show, just as a vampire instead of as a human. Like her role didn’t change / diminish, right?
I feel like the point might be that their sexuality gets them killed, and the emphasis with Lucy on the show is definitely on her feelings for Mina. They didn’t have to make her bisexual, but they did, and she was killed.
Aside from telling the world queer folk don’t deserve happy endings, the media is screaming that we all need to get some flak jackets and helmets.
No! A protective force field generator.
Just to be sure.
Helmets and flak jackets: the new beanies and flannel.
They got kevlar hoodies.
Maybe be we can get ’em in a plaid?
Just make sure to have those nice dilatant non-Newtonian fluid impact protection pads.
I think they’re called D3o or D30.
Anyway they’re awesome and you would want to have your kevlar stop that bullet only to have impact stop your heart or send bones into squishy important bits.
That would be heartbreaking.
Literally not just figuratively.
#=$%!
Comment award !
try re-typing instead of copy-paste and make sure there aren’t too many quotation marks around the address
i fixed it for you
Thank you, Riese, you’re a darling.*spoken in HG Wells voice*
I really REALLY wanna make a sexual innuendo at this picture but I’m just gonna sit here quietly instead.
Ditto
<_<
We could totally adopt the three fingered salute as a Lesbian/Bi thing.
Honoring our fallen heroines and chuckling while doing so.
Purple middle finger.
That is what I got out of that.
Because bi pride flag has a purple stripe in the middle.
I think it is time for sleep now.
Debate if index or ring finger should be the magenta or the blue laterrr.
re-typing the I mean, not the link. but on closer investigation, I think maybe that link source just doesn’t play nice!
Let’s try imgur,then, which was so kind to change its entire layout..
Thank you, Rachel, you’re super sweet, I’m obviously just entirely incapable.
xoxo
The image is perfect, it needed to happen.
76? Oh lawd give me strength not to try to write Killed Off Queer Ladies cover of an annoying stage musical song that’s a con man’s pitch to swindle a town.
I came here to say Charlie is not just a Dead Lesbian she’s also an example of what I call Murdocking. Killing off a perfectly sweet nice character that happens to be in the life of white male hero character simply to up the Angst-o-Meter, not to develop the story.
He’s not deep in the man pain and you worry the actual plot is just too slow for our tiny minds? Kill someone nice. He’ll be sad, we’ll sad it’s all good now.
No, no it is not because we see you and your lazy writing. We see it.
It’s called Fridging! There was comic book where a woman was killed and shoved in a fridge to move the man’s story forward. It’s a whole other crushing trope.
No.
Fridging is for love interests and people very close to the hero and requires a certain degree of brutality and intent by the villainous forces in the hero’s life. Also leads to much angsted revenge plot
Murdocking is friends, associated, periphery and for angst that just adds to man pain and no plot. Even a dumb over done revenge plot.
I’ve never seen Supernatural or Home & Away so…which Charlie are you referring to and why do you call it Murdocking?
Charlie from Supernatural
Cause of the character Matt Murdock.
Because people nice or sweet in his periphery get killed off or something to make him sad an awful lot.
Plenty of fridging too, but dude is constantly being given the sads by stuff happening to people around him.
**FUCKED UP WARNING**
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
It was Alexandra DeWitt girlfriend of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. She was killed by the villain Major Force and her body forcibly crammed into the fridge of their shared domicile for Kyle to find.
It was just one example in a trend at the time of brutalising female secondary characters for shock value, sexual exploitation and to create a revenge plot for a male primary character.
In couple cases exploitatively brutalising a female main character for an “emotional impactful and brave” arc that would be forgotten and not touch upon ever again.
I totally agree. I’m so pissed at the show for sacrificing Charlie on the altar of Dean’s angst.
Also, I really thought they would not kill her as she’s the only recurring female character the fans didn’t hate. Her lesbianism being a big reason. She did not pose a threat to the Winchester brothers threesome playing out in their minds.
So mad at TPTB for killing my Charlie!
I may have missed it but I don’t recall Julie being queer in The Expanse TV show. She isn’t, as far as I can tell, in the books and her dating profile only displays men.
i added it after a commenter told me to, this is all i was able to find to confirm it:
http://eastasiansonwesternscreen.tumblr.com/post/136671783488/panfords-julie-mao-is-fucking-pansexual
Wow clearly I missed that one! Thanks
Same! I’m wondering if it was an off hand comment about her being queer. And she appeared in like 2 seconds of the show…so not sure if that counts really either way
I really dont think she was, that profile was to lure specific people to help her undermine her fathers company while working in the opa. They dont talk about her sexuality at all in the series, her existence is for something else entirely. Plus Miller’s in love with her and the writers do a weird thing with that at the end of the first book. Sorry Im just religiously reading these books right now. :P
Add Jill Marie Jones’s character from Ash vs. the Evil Dead. Zombified on Christmas and I think the zombie died the next week.
i can’t find anything about her sexual orientation, can you direct me to a source?
I unfortunately don’t even know her name on the show, but in one of the old Boob(s) on Your Tube, Heather definitely had picture of her flirting with (and possibly kissing) Xena. I remember it because everyone else was excited about Lucy Lawless playing gay, and I was excited because Jill Marie Jones was one of my favorite actors on a UPN sitcom called “Girlfriends”….. I didn’t know her character on Ash vs. Evil died though. That’s sad!
Nothing happened within Ruby and Amanda, except that heavy flirting scene.
Ruby Knowby’s (Lucy Lawless) status on the series is unknown, she could be dead. Jeez, Lucy Lawless has shit for luck.
yeah she also played #3 on Battlestar Galactica… who also died!
Hmm, thought I read something before the show started but now I can’t find it. I’ll come back if I do.
Webseries aren’t included, right?
Thank Jebus, Riese, for not including Xena, because in that case we would need a new category: “Bury Your Lucy Lawless”.
right? Mia Kirshner bringing up the rear, too
Well, it was kinda miraculous that her character on 24 didn’t ended that way.
Why is everyone saying that? She’s near the top of the list.
Didn’t read the introduction, did you? ;)
Check the ETA Riese added. Xena wasn’t on the list until commenters either badgered her into it or convinced her it wasn’t the writers’ fault it wasn’t more overt, depending on your perspective.
I forgot Hex existed!!! I was OBSESSED with that show. I don’t think 15 year old me knew why so much…I think it’s on Netflix too.
Man, this is painful to see. Also I’ve been watching Hemlock Grove (only finished the first season so far) and in the first episode a girl gets killed by a beast and near the end there’s this woman(forgot her name) who died after being skinned alive, both were lesbians I believe.
Dr. Clementine Chasseur! Riese, you should add her to the list. I can’t find the HTML for it but here’s a pic:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/hemlockgrove/images/a/a6/Tumblr_mok21d8sAz1srr4wio1_500.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130812063333
Cause of death: Mercy killed after being skinned alive by Famke Janssen.
wow! i watched that show and totally forgot. will add!
Sweet. I totally blanked until Alex’s comment too, which is weird because she was my favorite character.
yeah! and she’s the actress from battlestar. i mean as soon as Alex mentioned it i was like OH YEAH, I remember even when we were watching the show i was like oh god of course they are killing the black lesbian
Oh the teacher and the student relationship. yeah they were lesbians – the teacher as far as i know is canonically still alive. Her name was brooke bluebell and she was killed by a vargulf.
Man, this is painful to see. Also I’ve been watching Hemlock Grove (only finished the first season so far) and in the first episode a girl gets killed by a beast and near the end there’s this woman(forgot her name) who died after being skinned alive, both were lesbians.
It’s distressing to see how many got killed by jealous men.
On another note, they’ve had gay people on Home & Away!? This would be awesome news if I hadn’t found out whilst reading one of them died!
Adding to the list: Samantha Krueger in Ascension.
Oh, and Laure Valere in Les Revenants.
oh interesting, she didn’t die in the american version, she was shot but survived
i’m having a hard time nailing down how she died — dehydration? shot? eaten? it seems like the information was revealed in pieces and it’s hard to track down a solid answer. do you know?
Well, her death wasn’t shown on-screen (Alix Poisson was pregnant at the time of filming and didn’t appear in season 2). The police officers who fought the horde at the end of season 1 and mysteriously disappeared were found dead in season 2, presumably killed by the undead. Julie sees a poster in the hospital of Laure and the other missing officers and asks a nurse about them who informs her that they’re dead. This is all they reveal about her death, unfortunately. Safe to say she died fighting the horde, but the specifics are still a mystery.
no wonder it was hard to find! thank you.
…is it bad to say I don’t believe Delphine Cormier is dead? The showrunner teased in a Comiccon about someone being able to survive being shot through their liver if they got medical attention…
She has been officially said to be dead. The show hopefully are lying but as of now she is said to be dead so does fit the list until proven otherwise.
Showrunner interview:
Variety: “Can you definitively confirm that Delphine is dead, or is there still hope?
Fawcett: I would love to say yes or no, but this is “Orphan Black” and I don’t want to say one way or the other … We wanted to leave it in a hanging cliffhanger, so is she dead? Is she alive? I want the audience asking those questions.”
Would be worth it to mention Nadia Petrova from The Vampire Diaries (2014, death by werewolf venom) as it is an other prominent CW show and was shown having sex with an other woman and a man early in the season. Earlier on there was also Isobel Flemming (2011) played by Mia Kirshner more subtly hinted as bi (she was shown having compelled a male and female stripper, the latter of which was shown with bite marks on her thighs) and she committed suicide by exposing herself to sunlight.
To further help Nadia is seen kissing and having sex with Rebekah Mikaelson in 5×01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxxAqFUvBs
and she dies in 5×15
http://vampirediaries.wikia.com/wiki/Nadia_Petrova
from what i’ve heard she only had sex with rebekah in order to rob her? is there any other evidence of her queerness? sorry to be a stickler! it’s just that the value of the list dilutes if we include everybody who has kissed a girl even if they aren’t considered a queer/bi/lez character by the showrunners.
Well one could argue she was sleeping with both Matt and Rebekah for it, but in that case she wouldn’t have needed to interact with Rebekah at all in the capacity she did. The scene focused on Rebekah and Nadia as opposed to focusing on Matt. I’m not sure it dilutes the list – it only underlines the point of how narrow and limited our representation is, and how most of the time it ends in shock/tragedy (when it doesn’t go with the whole ‘bi girl redeems herself by getting with a guy’ route). I also feel personally it’s quite relevant given the CW’s particular body count in this mess.
Agreed on both accounts.
HAHAHA the first gif oh my god… the smugness and the way she checks her out. Thanks for finding those I couldn’t remember the exact episodes featuring Isobel’s gay… Nadia’s is obviously fresher in my mind. They have the petrova fire (and gay). Also is it me or does Mia Kirshner have a really specific niche/typecast? She’s basically typecast as the queer girl who dies.
I REMEMBERED ANOTHER ONE !
In At Home with the Braithwaites, Megan, the married woman who lived next door had an affair with Virginia, eldest daughter of the main family and generally excellent TV lesbian. I seem to recall they had a Bollywood-themed wedding ceremony (before gay marriage was legal) before spiralling into gin-soaked post-nuptial hell and eventual breakup. Shortly aftwards Megan is accidentally electrocuted in the bath when some appliance (maybe a TV?) falls in the water!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Home_with_the_Braithwaites#Megan_Hartnoll
added!
But don’t worry, Megan is now Rhona in Shetland, and she hasn’t been killed off (yet)…
this makes me wanna smash something tbh
Tosha (one of Omar’s crew) in The Wire was accidentally shot in a heist.
Delphine is not dead.
omg i forgot about her! i loved her so much
I didn’t realize cars have such a vendetta against queer women.
They be jelly of how we’re shinier than they are, being made of rainbows and unicorn dust aka glitter.
Like fairy dust but gayer.
And yet strangely I’ve noticed when cars are given names in fiction they’re usually feminine, like ships!
Well you know girls are catty, vicious and appearance obsessed.
Us being shinier than they are is still totally motive for their vendetta.
/sarcasm
Lillian was a recurring character in the Canadian show Murdoch Mysteries and was shot dead early this season by the husband of her ex-lover.
Dixie’s recurring lover Karen died after a head injury in the UK show Casualty.
This list is nowhere complete and there’s plenty of characters missing.
It says on wiki that Dixie’s lover was Carol; Karen is minor character from one of the 80’s seasons
What about Sophia? from Skins, the one who died by jumping from a height while on drugs and later we find out the girl who sold her the drugs also had a thing with her…
added!
Thanks Riese. Is it still suicide if she’s probably too high to really know what she’s doing?
she’s on the list
Julie Mao from “The Expanse” is confirmed queer? I missed that somehow! How was it shown?
someone tipped me off to her either on this thread or on twitter — and this is what i was able to find to confirm it:
http://eastasiansonwesternscreen.tumblr.com/post/136671783488/panfords-julie-mao-is-fucking-pansexual
wow i had missed this too
Wow, that’s a long list.
Since last week’s The 100, I have been thinking about queer female characters that died on German TV shows. I came up with these:
– Sonia Besirsky, Lindenstraße (1998): drug overdose, probably killed by the husband of her former lover
– Hanna Novak, Verbotene Liebe (2004): dies from a stroke in the arms of her girlfriend Carla von Lahnstein
– Franzi Reuter, Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (2008): dies in a gas explosion
At the moment, there are barely any queer female characters on German TV shows, but at least there haven’t been any casualties lately.
I still miss Hanna, sometimes. The Paula/Franzi-storyline was a mess. I might add:
– Susanne Teubner, Hinter Gittern (1999): deadly shot during a bank robbery
added!
Seeing Agents Hand and Hartley from SHIELD on this list is bitterly ironic, cause the showrunners specifically said that one of the reasons they erased both character’s queer sexualities from the show is because they didn’t want to become known as the show with two dead lesbians. Yeah, fuck that show.
I’m also wondering how many of these characters were killed because the actresses who portrayed them got better jobs and the showrunners basically went “welp!” (Lip Service, The 100, etc)
That is why I don’t understand how they made the list but some other characters didn’t
Well, I’d support them being on this list if only because it’s a big f-you to the showrunners who explicitly wanted to avoid this outcome, which is bullshit homophobic erasure.
precisely
That’s why I assumed they were being included. Glad to see I wasn’t wrong!
You don’t get to pretend that you didn’t “bury your gays”. We all know what you did- and you do too. No free passes.
Given that more than half of the entries on this list were in last five years, could be reasonably argued that lesbian and bisexual characters aren’t necessary dying with greater frequency, but than we just have more openly gay and bisexual character on TV in general. While it still possible that percentage wise they may be more likely than (presumably) strait to be treated as expendable, it stand to reason that the more of you truly exist in fiction-the more of you are bound to die in fiction too.
So maybe in morbid way…this could be consider a partial sign of progress over time? That doesn’t give writers on automatic out for killing a popular charter of course or even a poorly written killing of an unpopular character. It’s just hard to say now if gay and bi characters are still more likely to bit a bad end than strait ones. Especially since the growth of networks have made the number of reoccurring characters so much larger, even while most of them are still written as straight.
As you seem confident enough to cast aspersions on the shared experience of a group of 200+ commenters that say the exact opposite, you shouldn’t have any problems providing 90+ examples of living/happy queer women in TV. Annnnd Go:
I’m not prejudging the experience of anyone else. At not point did I mention any other commentators. All I did was offer a speculative question as to what these figures might tell us about how much visibility has gotten better or worse over time. Although I do notice there should been a question mark at the end my first sentence, so maybe there is some confusion there.
Do you honestly think that no-one else here has considered that question? Or are you to be considered the only voice of reason and logic?
Also, I’m not actually trying to be aggressive. If you really do know better than most here, a list showing proof of your theory would be very much welcomed right now.
So if you can provide a list, please do.
I honestly don’t what I wrote that led you to think I want to be consider “the only voice of reason and logic,” I’m not so delusional that I would consider myself the final voice on anything. I have no theory. It was all speculation about things good and bad.
There are far more gay and bi character on TV now than there were ten twenty etc. years ago. Along with a long of other groups are still marginalized and stereotyped. In shows where a lot of characters are bound to die anyone (crime and horror) in-particular, there are bound to be more cases where at least some of these characters are gay.
I never said that number of gay and bi character dying WEREN’T disproportionally high. I said maybe percentage wide they gotten higher or maybe they’ve gotten lower and admitted it’s hard to tell. That’s why I said that the…”growth of networks have made the number of reoccurring characters so much larger, even while most of them are still written as straight.”
FYI I agree that there should be more stories with gay/bi/trans characters in leading roles living to the end of a series and more same-sex couples with happy endings. However, as Riese pointed out not ever death listed here can be considered wholly on called for. The most offensive about the Bury the Gays trope is that the gay characters are treated as “expendable,” with deaths occurring for gratuitous reasons. I’d be very interest to know how many of these characters (if any) could be said to have died heroically.
Again with the extraneous explanations. We know all of this already.
I am past the point of caring why they die, I just care that they keep dying.
Lol
I actually wouldn’t necessarily say that lesbian and bisexual and queer characters are dying at a greater frequency than they have been in the past. I think the ratio of lgbtq characters killed to lgbtq characters that exist has remained the same over time… and that ratio has always been way too damn high! it’s uncanny.
I suppose this question could apply to change or lack of change for in the portrayal of characters who make up any minority – but do you think this is mainly due to linger prejudice or simple laziness?
To be fair to Mike, this occurred to me (a lesbian who is thoroughly frustrated on a personal level by All The Dead WLW) too – not a working theory or an opposition, just a pondering. I wondered whether the % of WLW character dying had remained the same but the number increased because there’s more of us on telly. I wondered whether the % might even have gone DOWN but there’d been a real terms increase because of improved representation. I also wondered if, with the increased representation, the % might even have gone UP due to the fact that yes, writers are inserting more WLW, but then they haven’t a clue what to DO with them, particularly once they’re happily loved-up, and they’re actually now even more disproportionately likely to kill them.
All of these things occurred to me. Mike could’ve phrased his comment more carefully given his position as a dude in lezspace, but reading over it I don’t think he meant to be a voice of authority. He was just struck by a thought that I know I’ve been wondering about, on and off, since this article was published. I don’t have any answers either but I don’t think the question is offensive in and of itself…
(PS: I am usually the one crucifying mansplainers; I stg)