Glee
- Show runtime: 6 seasons, 2009-2015
- Shown on: FOX
- Notable Creators: Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk
- Queer characters: Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris), Dave Karoksky (Max Adler), Santana Lopez (Naya Riveria), Unique Adams (Alex Newell), Shannon/Sheldon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), Dani (Demi Lovato)
- Sexualities: Creator Ryan Murphy is gay. While multiple actors on the show are queer, Chris Colfer appears to be the only gay actor on the show who also plays a queer character. Alex Newell and Dot-Marie Jones are both gay, but are also both cisgender and play trans characters.
- Show Description: (from IMDB) A group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club, where they find strength, acceptance, and ultimately, their voice, while working to pursue dreams of their own
- Queer summary: Kurt is introduced in Season One, and while he is closeted for the first few episodes, he soon comes out as gay to his family and friends. He then attempts to pursue a relationship with school quarterback Finn, even going as far as to set their single parents up in attempt to spend more time with him, although Finn ultimately rejects his advances. Kurt and Blaine meet in Season Two, and become a couple later that season. They are the first male-male couple on the show. They later break up in Season 4 but get back together and move in together in Season Five, after Blaine proposes to Kurt. They break up again later and Blaine begins dating Dave Karofsky, but Kurt and Blaine eventually get married in a double ceremony with Brittany and Santana in Season Six. Brittany and Santana are confirmed to be hooking up with each other in Season One, but Santana still refuses to say she is gay, ultimately referring to herself as a closeted lesbian in Season Two, while Brittany is confirmed to be bisexual in Season Three. Santana is outed in Season Three and rejected by her grandmother after coming out. She comes out to her parents offscreen and is accepted for it. She and Brittany break up in a later season but ultimately get married in Season Six. Dave Karofsky is shown bullying many of the Glee kids in early seasons, particularly Kurt, and it is later revealed to be gay, closeted, and struggling with his sexuality. He admits to Kurt he may be in love with him and kisses him in Season Two, and is later outed and attempts suicide but survives. Dave dates Blaine in a later season and then pretty much disappears from the series. Unique is introduced at the end of Season Three and is the first transgender character on the show, but is cut from the show during the final seasons. Then, while he is introduced as Shannon in Season Two, Sheldon Beiste comes out as a trans man in Season Six. Dani is a recurring character in Season Five who refers to herself as "Sapphic" and dates Santana before Santana eventually reconciles with Brittany.
- Creator Comments: Ryan Murphy has commented that he believes that Glee, along with shows like Orange is the New Black and Modern Family, are responsible for normalizing gay people and relationships in modern times. He has also expressed frustration with fans who were unhappy with the amount of screen time different queer couples, like Kurt and Blaine and Brittany and Santana, received in relation to both the show's straight couples and each other. While Murphy has said that Glee typically treated gay couples on the show with special attention, he has also said that he felt like he "couldn't win" in terms of pleasing queer fans.
- Analysis: Glee is largely celebrated as bringing queer stories to a largely mainstream audience. Kurt and Blaine's relationship being a main focus of the show and the overall show bringing unique issues, like gay sex, gay relationships, and transgender issues have also been largely celebrated. The series also features a multiple of queer characters with unique perspectives and storylines. There are many queer characters of color, and both young and old queer characters. However, there are also plenty of issues and missteps with Glee's queer rep. Many viewers criticized for the show's handling of Santana's storyline, not only because her coming out to her parents was off screen, she was forcibly and publicly outed, and was subject to one of the show's more explicit scenes of homophobia, but also because Santana and Brittany's relationship was largely erased in later seasons. There are also times when queer characters are shown as abusive and manipulative, particularly Kurt. Also, while Unique, the show's first trans character who is also a black trans girl, is introduced in Season 3, she is largely treated poorly, and later is erased from the show entirely and instead a white trans man -- who transition is largely out of character -- becomes the main trans character of the show.
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- Queer Content with Queer Creators Delaney P Murray