18 Milestone LGBTQ+ Moments in TV History: ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ ‘All My Children’ & More

While Pride Month is often when networks and streaming services release new LGBTQ+ content, television milestones have never been limited to a particular month.

From family sitcoms to soap operas to teen dramas, significant progress has been made in LGBTQ+ representation on television, even though it took 50 years. So, what were those significant steps forward? The following is a journey through television history, albeit it does not cover every milestone achieved because the list has never been longer than it is now.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (2022) is the first transgender actress to win a Golden Globe.

No mother has ever mothered harder than Blanca Evangelista in FX’s Pose, and the Television Academy could no longer ignore her in 2021, when Michaela Jaé Rodriguez became the first transgender person to receive a nomination in a major acting category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. She subsequently made history once more, being the first openly transgender actor to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama. The 2022 Golden Globes were not aired, but Rodriguez received a standing ovation for her win at the 2023 ceremony.

Blanca was the heart and soul of a show built on found family, and Rodriquez’s performance across its three seasons was deserving of a revolutionary spot in the history books.

First openly gay black man to win a lead role Emmy: Billy Porter (2019)

Billy Porter’s towering performance as ballroom MC Pray Tell was one of the many highlights of FX’s pioneering drama series Pose, which focuses on New York City’s ballroom scene and stars a predominantly transgender ensemble cast. Porter’s win for Best Leading Actor in a Drama Series in 2019 validated not just his work in the series, but also demonstrated that LGBTQ+ artists were more than deserving of top-tier recognition—10s all around!

Black Lightning, the first black lesbian superhero, debuted in 2019.

TV’s first Black lesbian superhero was more than simply her crime-fighting alter ego, Thunder (later Blackbird). Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams) worked as a high school teacher while also studying medicine. She was saving lives in more ways than one as Black Lightning’s meta-human daughter, and she did so without compromising a single aspect of who she was or who she loved.

Andi Mack is the Disney Channel’s first openly gay character (2019). 

It was never going to be easy to obtain significant LGBT representation on the Disney Channel, but Andi Mack proved that it was not impossible. In the Season 3 episode “One in a Minyan,” the main character’s best friend, Cyrus Goodman (Joshua Rush), comes out to his buddies. By the end of the series, Cyrus was holding hands with the middle school basketball team’s captain, TJ (Luke Mullen).

Billions (2017) features the first non-binary gender character on television.

Asia Kate Dillon made history as the first non-binary performer to appear in a major television series when she joined Showtime’s hedge-fund holy war series in Season 2. Dillon played Taylor Mason, a rising financial analyst (who also identifies as non-binary) whose talent serves as both an asset and a target. Dillon has been a series regular for the past five seasons.

Laverne Cox is the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an acting Emmy (2014).

By the time Orange Is the New Black launched on Netflix in 2013, it seemed almost clear that Laverne Cox would be nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the Emmys for her portrayal as hairdresser Sophia Burset. However, this should not reduce the significance of the moment. In a series full with huge personalities and breakout performances, Cox’s candid portrayal of a transgender person, let alone someone attempting to live in prison, was obvious, earning her four nods.

Candis Cayne is the first openly transgender actress to play a transgender role in Dirty Sexy Money (2007).

Candis Cayne is most known for her role as the Fairy Queen in Syfy’s The Magicians, and she has long worked with RuPaul Charles, appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race multiple times. However, Cayne made history in 2007 when she portrayed Carmelita Rainer, a transgender woman having an affair with New York Attorney General Patrick Darling (William Baldwin) on ABC’s family dynasty drama. Cayne, a transgender woman, played a transgender role on a primetime drama, which was a first for television.

All My Children (2006) features the first transgender character on daytime television. 

Zoe Luper (Jeffrey Carlson), who first appeared on ABC’s All My Children as a rock star named Zarf, was not the first transgender person on television. However, they were the first plot to represent a character’s transformation from male to female on daytime television. While a few post-surgical characters had been depicted before 2006, following a character through their coming out and transition across nearly 60 episodes was another watershed moment for the drama.

Dawson’s Creek featured the first gay kiss on television.

While two women were the first to kiss on television, one of the most well-known queer firsts occurred when Jack (Kerr Smith) kissed his crush Ethan (Adam Kaufman) in the Season 3 finale of The WB’s classic teen drama. It is an age-old story: a “straight” lad falls for an openly homosexual college stud and cannot stop himself from acting on his desires, even since Ethan already has a lover. The kiss elicited a seismic response and is regarded as one of the most significant advances in representation in the twenty-first century.

Ellen was the first leading character to debut on television in 1997. 

One of the most contentious and talked-about episodes in television history is known as “The Puppy Episode.” It was the codename for a long-rumored episode of ABC’s sitcom Ellen, in which star actress Ellen DeGeneres’ character Ellen Morgan came out as lesbian. With the help of Oprah Winfrey, Laura Dern, kids. lang, Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and Melissa Etheridge, millions of Americans witnessed DeGeneres’ brave confession, which was unintentionally broadcast across an airport terminal. The coming out of a lead character was met with enough pushback that the series was eventually canceled, but the moment stands as a defining cultural touchstone for the power of a great episode of TV.

Wilson Cruz is the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character in My So-Called Life (1994). 

Rickie Vasquez traversing the halls of Liberty High School in all his glory—and despite bigotry within his own family—was one of the first, if not the first, times they saw themselves on television. Wilson Cruz’s status as an out gay guy performing this immensely proud, groundbreaking part was simply a bonus for history books.

First-ever Same-Sex Commitment Ceremony on Television: Real World: San Francisco (1994)

Pedro Zamora’s impact on queer representation on television cannot be emphasized. As a gay man living with HIV in the public glare on the third season of MTV’s reality show, Zamora was subjected to the nation’s prejudices throughout his time there. However, that did not prevent him from openly discussing his life and hardships. Zamora and Sean Sasser exchanged vows in an emotional commitment ceremony on November 9, 1994, in the episode “Love Rules.” It was the first true same-sex commitment ceremony ever broadcast on television. As for fictional same-sex commitment ceremonies, the first came a few years earlier in 1991 on FOX’s sitcom Roc, when Richard Roundtree’s character, Russell, exchanged vows with his partner in front of friends and family.

One Life to Live (1992) introduced the first openly gay teen character on daytime television.

Ryan Phillippe’s portrayal of Billy Douglas in Planview and the Lord family helped widen queer representation beyond the clichés of estranged family members or odd supporting characters. Seeing a youngster come to terms with and live freely with their sexuality over the course of several years was revolutionary, even if it was brief. Billy would attend Yale the following year, make one more brief appearance before disappearing from the program.

First Same-Sex Kiss: L.A. Law (1991).

In an episode written by future creative force David E. Kelley, Abby Perkins (Michele Greene) and C. J. Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) kissed late at night while working on the law. This was by no means a loving embrace, but it did start a trend known as the “lesbian kiss episode,” in which a lesbian or bisexual character kisses a straight character, but the attraction remains. C.J identified her sexuality as “flexible” on L.A. Law, but Abby was a straight woman. And, you guessed it, nothing came of it but a small piece of history. Another irony is that the episode’s title, “He’s A Crowd,” shows no interest in embracing its place in TV history.

First openly gay character on an American soap opera: All My Children (1983) 

Soap operas have never shied away from tales that push the edges of social standards and logic, so it stands to reason that All My Children would experiment with queer representation by introducing lesbian psychiatrist Dr. Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow). Carson was brought in to counsel Devon McFadden (Tricia Pursley), a recent divorcee, and she soon found herself the target of her patient’s surprising (and unrequited) romance.