GLAAD counted just seven transgender characters in its latest study of scripted television, down from 33 a year earlier. None of those seven is set to return, according to the group’s 21st annual “Where We Are on TV” report, released Nov. 12.
“There are only seven (2%) transgender characters out of all 369 LGBTQ characters,” the GLAAD release says. “None of them will return next year.”
The study covers scripted primetime broadcast, cable and streaming series that premiered a season between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026. Overall, GLAAD counted 369 LGBTQ characters, down 120 (25%) from 489.
“Hollywood is slashing LGBTQ stories and characters even while demand is increasing,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD’s president and CEO.
Where the Trans Characters Appeared
The trans count peaked at 42 in the 2021-22 season. The full report says this year “sees the most drastic decrease we’ve tracked.”
“Since the record high of 42 transgender characters in the 2021-2022 report, this study has seen a year-over-year decline in the number of transgender characters on television,” said Nick Adams, vice president of the GLAAD Media Institute.
Six of the seven trans characters are on streaming and one is on broadcast. Cable has zero. Six are women and one is a man.
Broadcast’s lone trans character is Jerri Rifkin on The CW’s “Family Law,” which is ending. Netflix’s limited series “Wayward” followed a trans man, and the report also counts characters on “Community Squad,” “Unspeakable Sins,” “Squid Game,” “The Dead Girls” and “Monster: The Ed Gein Story.” GLAAD places three of the characters on canceled series and four in limited series.
The finding concerns the characters tracked in this study. It does not establish that no new transgender characters could appear in future shows.
GLAAD separately counted 16 nonbinary characters who were not identified as transgender onscreen, up from 12. Under its methodology, a nonbinary character enters the transgender count only when they identify that way onscreen.
The report lands about a week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.
GLAAD also took aim at casting. Two of the six trans women were played by cisgender men, in “Squid Game” and “The Dead Girls,” according to the report.
“Cis men playing trans women sends the message that trans women are not women, but simply men wearing a costume,” the report says.
Streaming Losses and Cable Lows
Streaming still carries most of the load. Its 276 LGBTQ characters make up 75% of the total, but it also cut the most: 96 characters gone from last season’s 372.
Netflix leads with 116 LGBTQ characters across 58 series, down from 177. Prime Video has 68, Hulu 24, Apple TV 22, HBO Max 17, Paramount+ 15 and Peacock 12. Disney+ counted two.
Linear TV is thinner still. “Cable hit a 16-year low in LGBTQ representation,” the report says, with 47 characters. Broadcast, with 46, hit a 12-year low.
ABC led broadcast with 16 LGBTQ characters, ahead of Fox (10), CBS (nine), The CW (six) and NBC (five). On cable, HBO had 15 and Starz had 10. Freeform and Showtime, once leaders in the study, now have zero.
ABC, Apple TV, Disney+ and Hulu “declined to give GLAAD their list of LGBTQ characters,” according to the methodology, so GLAAD built those counts from public information.
What the Demographic Breakdown Shows
Gay men are still the biggest group, at 131 characters (36%). That share slipped from 39%.
Lesbian characters made up 30% of the total (113), and bisexual characters accounted for 25% (93). Their shares increased even as the overall character count fell. On broadcast, bisexual characters took the plurality after several years of gay men leading, GLAAD found. Cable went the other way: 51% of its LGBTQ characters are gay men.
LGBTQ characters of color dropped to 161, or 44%. GLAAD calls it an “eight-year-low,” the lowest share since the 2017-18 season.
Then there’s HIV. “There are zero characters living with HIV out of all 369 LGBTQ characters,” the release says. Each of the two previous seasons had exactly one, both on miniseries, the report adds.
“Television must tell stories of people living with HIV today,” GLAAD writes, including stories about the prevention and treatment available now. World AIDS Day is Dec. 1.
‘Heated Rivalry’ and ‘Pluribus’ Show the Demand
GLAAD points to several recent hits to make its case. “Heated Rivalry” became HBO Max’s most-watched acquired scripted series ever, and Apple TV’s “Pluribus,” led by a lesbian character, won six Primetime Emmys. Netflix renewed “The Hunting Wives” for two more seasons.
“It’s a bad business decision and one of the drivers turning audiences away from traditional TV and streaming platforms,” Ellis said of the cuts.
She argued the hits make the case that “authentic representation is television’s most powerful growth engine.”
The losses keep coming, though. GLAAD says 38% of this season’s LGBTQ characters aren’t set to return. “Hacks,” “Heartbreak High” and “The Sandman” wrapped up, while NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Netflix’s “Boots” and Peacock’s “Ponies” won’t be back either.
“Heated Rivalry,” at least, is coming back, with a second season on the way.
