Ellen DeGeneres Came Out 23 Years Ago in Front of 42 Million People: See More LGBTQ TV Firsts

All in the Family made LGBT history when it introduced the first gay character in primetime in 1971, revealing that Archie Bunker’s bar buddy Steve was gay. Later in the show’s run, Archie found out Edith’s cousin was a lesbian who left her estate to her partner.

Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook and Hope Lange starred in this notable ABC TV movie about a divorced father who has found love with a younger man and struggles with telling his teen son about his new life. The movie is noted for depicting homosexuality in a sympathetic—read: normal—light.

Already out to his family, Lance Loud made history when he came out to the nation of viewers of the “first reality show,” the documentary that followed his family.

The Norman Lear sitcom starring James Cromwell, Charlotte Rae and Conchata Ferrell had perhaps the first depiction of a gay couple on an American TV series.

Billy Crystal played Jodie Dallas, a series regular on the soap opera-skewering Soap. The character was divisive at the time—early plots had him wanting to become a woman, he dated several women—but ultimately he was primetime TV’s first gay dad.

Robin Tyler was the first out lesbian on US TV in a Showtime comedy special hosted by Phyllis Diller.

Recurring characters Russell (David Marshall Green) and Peter (Peter Frechette) are shown in bed together “the morning after.” No kissing or touching was shown and the scene generated huge attention, as advertisers fled the series.

One of Fox’s first shows, Roc, was the first to have a gay wedding on TV. The sitcom starred Charles S. Dutton as Roc, a garbage collector from Baltimore. In a “very special episode,” Roc finds out his uncle is gay and has a partner. The family throws a ceremony for the two at their home.

The legal drama L.A. Law featured the first romantic lesbian kiss—even if it was a ratings ploy—on primetime TV between Abby Perkins (Michele Greene) and C. J. Lamb (Amanda Donohoe).

In 1992, the world met One Life to Live‘s Billy Douglas, played by a young Ryan Phillippe, the first gay teen character on daytime TV.

No stranger to breaking down barriers, Roseanne featured one of the first openly lesbian characters on TV with Nancy Bartlett (Sandra Bernhard). The character recurred from season four until the end of the series.

While One Life to Live had its first gay teen in 1992, primetime’s first openly gay teen series regular character came to us in My So-Called Life‘s Enrique “Rickie” Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz.

In 1994, viewers also met Pedro Zamora on The Real World: San Francisco. Pedro was openly gay and HIV-positive. His commitment ceremony to Sean Sasser was the first (real) same-sex commitment ceremony broadcast on national TV. Zamora died shortly after the finale of his Real World season.

“The One With the Lesbian Wedding” episode of Friends is considered the first primetime TV episode to feature a lesbian wedding.

“The Puppy Episode” of Ellen featured Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) coming out as gay, the same time the star came out on the cover of Time magazine, making Ellen the first show to feature an openly lesbian actress playing an openly lesbian character.

Another first for ABC! Lisa Edelstein‘s character, out-lesbian Rhonda, becomes the first character to have a passionate, open-mouth kiss with another woman on primetime TV.

Will & Grace, created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, premiered Sept 21, 1998. Need we say more?

While lesbian kisses became a ratings ploy for shows, TV’s first “romantic” gay kiss didn’t happen until 1999 on The WB. Dawson’s Creek character Jack (Kerr Smith) finally got some lip action from Ethan (Adam Kaufman).

In 2003, reality TV was forever changed by the premiere of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The show helped redefine Bravo as a network and opened up the eyes of millions of viewers.

Showtime’s hit lesbian drama ran for six seasons, kicking off in January 2004.

Many people would like to forget about this TV movie prequel to the classic Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, but the panned flick (which starred Katherine Heigl!) that aired on ABC Family made history by feature Alexandra Billings of Transparent fame as the first openly transgender woman to play a transgender character on TV.

Men were kissing in primetime long before daytime finally got on board, but the soaps caught up in 2007 when As the World Turns featured the first-ever gay kiss between two male characters, Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) and Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann).

The MSNBC anchor became the first openly gay anchor of a primetime program on a major news network.

Glee, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, premieres in May of 2009. The show would go on to break records—and stereotypes—during its six-season run.

The soap staged the first same-sex legal wedding in daytime TV history when Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) and Reese Williams (Tamara Braun) tied the knot.

The New Normal, starring Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Georgia King, Bebe Wood, NeNe Leakes, Jayson Blair and Ellen Barkin, lasted one season on NBC. Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler’s sitcom followed a gay couple and their surrogate.

The first same-sex couple was featured on a network targeted to kids in an episode of Good Luck Charlie on Disney.

The Orange Is the New Black star became  the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy award.

Ryan Murphy brought Larry Kramer‘s acclaimed play to screen with the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons in leading roles. It took home the Emmy for Outstanding TV Movie.

Amazon broke new ground with Transparent, its dramedy from Jill Soloway starring Jeffrey Tambor as a father who comes out as transgender. The show was met with rave reviews and will return for a second season.

ABC’s new legal drama starring Viola Davis featured a racy sex scene between two men in the show’s pilot, and a promise from creator Shonda Rhimes that those scenes aren’t going away.

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Eleven years after coming out in 2006, Neil Patrick Harris became the first openly gay man to host the Academy Awards. 

Dot-Marie Jones’ Glee character, Coach Beiste, comes out as transgender. The show features a fully transgender choir.

Amazon’s Transparent made history at the 2015 Golden Globes when lead actor Jeffrey Tambor and the show itself took home awards in the Best Actor in a TV Comedy and Best TV Comedy categories, respectively.

“I want to thank the trans community,” creator Jill Soloway said while accepting the award. “They are our family, they make it possible.”

“Thank you for coming out,” Soloway said to her “MaPa.” “Maybe we’re going to be able to teach the world something…”

“To love,” she concluded.

Laverne Cox joined the cast of the CBS series Doubt as a transgender attorney, a first for a network series. After retooling, the show made it to air in 2017, but only lasted a season.

In April 2015, Bruce Jenner sat down with Diane Sawyer for a two-hour special to reveal her plans to transition to a woman. The interview was followed up with E!’s Keeping Up With the Kardashians: About Bruce two-part special that featured Kris Jenner and the kids reacting to the announcement. In June 2015, Caitlyn Jenner made her debut on Vanity Fair. Caitlyn’s journey was documented in I Am Cait.

In October 2017, Disney Channel revealed that the second season of their hit series would feature the network’s first-ever LGBTQ storyline, with main character Cyrus (played by Joshua Rush) realizing he has feelings for a male classmate. His journey of self-discovery and ultimate acceptance will play throughout the season.

The latest Star Trek series, CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery, introduced the franchise’s first openly gay TV character, Anthony Rapp‘s Paul Stamets. Not only was he openly gay, but he was in a relationship with Hugh Culber, played by Wilson Cruz.

In October 2017, FX announced that Ryan Murphy had made history with his upcoming series Pose, which will have the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles. The series, debuting in 2018, looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in 1980s New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world. The transgender actors joining the cast are MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross. They all will be playing authentic transgender characters. The series premiered on FX June 3, 2018.

CBS made history when Instinct premiered. The hour-long drama stars Alan Cumming as an openly gay character, the first broadcast network drama to have a gay character as a lead.

“It’s the first ever [network] drama on American television to have a gay character as a lead, which I think is an incredible thing but also a terrible thing at the same time,” Cumming said at the Television Critics Association press tour.

ABC’s revived American Idol featured its first drag queen contestant, Ada Vox aka Adam Sanders. Sanders previously auditioned for the series.

The CW’s latest superhero series Black Lightning introduced viewers to Anissa Pierce aka Thunder. The superhero played by Nafessa Williams is a lesbian.

Nicole Maines, a transgender woman and activist, plays Nia Nal, AKA Dreamer, the first transgender superhero on TV on The CW’s Supergirl. 

ABC’s long-running medical soap introduced its first out gay male surgeon, then gave viewers its first gay male relationship.

Ryan O’Connell created and starred in his own Netflix series. Special is semi-autobiographical and follows Ryan, a gay man with cerebral palsy.

The CW ordered Batwoman to series starring Ruby Rose, an out actress, as the first lesbian superhero to headline their own network TV show.

MTV’s Are You the One? is the first dating competition reality series to feature an all sexually fluid cast. The series encourages the contestants to find their perfect match, for the first time regardless of gender.

Freeform’s first Valentine’s Day feature in the network’s history is also the first queer rom-com in TV history, telling the opposites-attract story of Sam (Jake Borelli) and Harry (Niko Terho).