--- title: GLAAD Study Finds Racial Diversity Increasing on TV description: But still too few transgender characters canonical: https://time.com/4088672/television-diversity-lgbt-glaad/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-27T15:56:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:20.439Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: GLAAD Study Finds Racial Diversity Increasing on TV og:description: But still too few transgender characters og:url: https://time.com/4088672/television-diversity-lgbt-glaad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2561688f9fd550b/698863dda988ca024a6b45c9/150918_em_emmybosses_lyon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 150918_EM_EmmyBosses_Lyon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GLAAD Study Finds Racial Diversity Increasing on TV twitter:description: But still too few transgender characters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2561688f9fd550b/698863dda988ca024a6b45c9/150918_em_emmybosses_lyon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GLAAD Study Finds Racial Diversity Increasing on TV > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How Matt Damon Accidentally Brought About #Damonsplaining [Watch (HLS stream): How Matt Damon Accidentally Brought About #Damonsplaining](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w1r3GoxT.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2015-09-16. Matt Damon's comments about diversity in the film industry spawned a hashtag he is probably not proud of._ by [Bryn Elise Sandberg / The Hollywood Reporter](https://time.com/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Bryn Elise Sandberg / The Hollywood Reporter Oct 27, 2015 3:56 PM UTC  Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon in "Empire" on Fox Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon in "Empire" on Fox Chuck Hodes—Fox by [Bryn Elise Sandberg / The Hollywood Reporter](https://time.com/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Bryn Elise Sandberg / The Hollywood Reporter Oct 27, 2015 3:56 PM UTC Jeffrey Tambor may have won an Emmy this year for his portrayal of a transgender woman in _Transparent_, but LGBT representation is still sorely lacking on television, according to GLAAD. The advocacy organization’s annual report on diversity in scripted programming released Tuesday morning, which analyzes the quantity and quality of LGBT characters in the current season, dug up some overwhelmingly negative data about the number of transgender characters on TV. In fact, the “Where We Are on TV” report found that transgender characters are absent entirely from primetime broadcast programming. And it’s not much better on cable, which only counts three recurring trans roles, or two percent of all characters. Streaming services like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, which GLAAD measured in its study for the first time this year, actually boast the highest percentage of transgender characters at seven percent, and two of the four of them are series leads (Maura on Amazon’s _Transparent_ and Nomi on Netflix’s _Sense8_). Out of the seven total trans characters on TV, only one is a transgender man. “The expansion of the television landscape into digital platforms is helping to spark needed changes, as content creators like Netflix and Amazon are making their mark with groundbreaking series like _Sense8_ and _Transparent_,” said GLAAD CEO and president Sarah Kate Ellis. Although racially diverse LGBT characters are notably lacking on all platforms (71 percent of the LGBT characters on cable and 73 percent of them on streaming services are white), the study found that racial diversity on TV overall is increasing. Out of the 881 regular characters counted on primetime broadcast shows, 287 of them are people of color — a six-point increase from last year. NBC is leading the charge among the five broadcast networks. Of that number, 16 percent, or 145, are African American, which marks the highest number of black characters on broadcast TV GLAAD has ever counted (though less than half of them are female). “The critical and commercial success of series like _Empire_, _Transparent_ and _Orange Is the New Blac_k can serve as an example to network executives that audiences are looking for stories they haven’t seen before,” said Ellis. “There are still plenty of stories about our community yet to be told. LGBT people of color have remained underrepresented for years, and transgender men have been all but invisible in the media.” The report specifically praises Fox’s hip-hop mega-hit starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson as “one of the most inclusive programs on broadcast television,” noting the drama’s gay musician character, Jamal Lyon (Jussie Smollett), and bisexual singer, Tiana Brown (Serayah McNeill). Still, only four percent of all characters on broadcast TV identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Bisexual representations shot up on both broadcast and cable this year, where the latter saw an increase from 10 to 18 bisexual men in its programming. However, the study argues that depictions of such characters tend to reinforce stereotypes associated with bisexual individuals (i.e. that they are untrustworthy, prone to infidelity, use sex as a means of manipulation or lack a sense of morality). Even though the number of regular LGBT characters on cable jumped substantially from 64 to 84, only 22 percent of those characters are lesbians, with the largest portion (41 percent) of them being gay. Streaming video services prove once again that they offer more diversity than traditional platforms, boasting a nearly equal percentage of gay and lesbian characters (39 percent and 36 percent). Among Amazon, Hulu and Netflix’s combined 23 original series, 43 regular characters and 16 recurring ones identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. _Orange Is the New Black_ alone has more LGBT characters than any other scripted show. _This_ [_article_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/glaad-tv-transgender-characters-diversity-834776) _originally appeared on_ [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com) _More from The Hollywood Reporter:_ * [Broadcast TV’s New Shows 2015-16](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/broadcast-tvs-new-shows-2015-794118/1-blindspot-nbc) * [Hollywood’s Top 100 Films](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/list/100-greatest-films-all-time-713215) * [New Gossip Culture](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/new-gossip-culture-814841) ## Transcript Matt Damon has found himself in hot water over some comments he made over diversity in film. The comments on his HBO show, Project Greenlight, where he and Ben Affleck awarded 3 million dollar film budget to amateur filmmakers. If you want to be a filmmaker, the single hardest thing is to get people to believe in you. Damon and Effie Brown, another Panelists on the show, we're discussing which directing team to choose. Brown wanted a team consisting of a white female and an Asian male because she felt a diverse team would give a better treatment to one of the characters on the film. [ INAUDIBLE ] He said quote, when we're talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show. This led to the term Damonsplaining circulation on twitter with many accusing Damon of talking down to Brown and implying diversity was only important in front of the camera. Daman's comments come at a time when diversity in Hollywood has been a hot topic of discussion A report found that diversity in the top 100 films of 2014 were very low, with only 5 % of content creators being black and only 2. 4 % were Asian. The numbers were only slightly better for women. And another study found that when a movie has at least one woman in an executive producer or creative position Then there are typically more women on screen. In a separate interview during the show, Damon stood by his comments saying quote, this competition is about giving someone this job based entirely on merit and leaving all other factors out of it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4088672/television-diversity-lgbt-glaad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4088672/television-diversity-lgbt-glaad/"},"headline":"GLAAD Study Finds Racial Diversity Increasing on TV","datePublished":"2015-10-27T15:56:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:20.439Z","description":"But still too few transgender characters","url":"https://time.com/4088672/television-diversity-lgbt-glaad/","keywords":["Television","Transgender","Diversity","Orange Is the New Black","transparent","empire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2561688f9fd550b/698863dda988ca024a6b45c9/150918_em_emmybosses_lyon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bryn Elise Sandberg / The Hollywood Reporter"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2561688f9fd550b/698863dda988ca024a6b45c9/150918_em_emmybosses_lyon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"150918_EM_EmmyBosses_Lyon","caption":"Taraji P. 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