Gay Characters on
TV Reach Record High This Season

According to a survey by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the number of LGBT characters on broadcast television will double to 16 this season, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

That marks the greatest representation on major-network scripted shows GLAAD has recorded in the 13 years it has been conducting the survey and a turnaround from the declining numbers in the past two years.

GLAAD president Neil Giuliano told the Reporter that the increase "shows how far many networks have come in developing complex, multilayered lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender characters."

The survey examined 616 regular series characters. In the upcoming season LGBT characters will make up 2.6% of them, up from 1.1% in 2007. Fox had the greatest leap from no LGBT characters last season to five this season, the most of any network. CBS is the only network that will have no gay or lesbian characters as series regulars; the CW, home of Gossip Girl, has just one. (The Advocate)