Trans-identified TV characters rose slightly in 2025, but most may not return next season: report

489 LGBT characters tallied by GLAAD

By CP StaffMonday, December 29, 2025

The number of transgender-identified characters on TV is on the rise even as many of the shows on which they appear won't return next season, according to a report from an LGBT media watchdog.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation 2025 "Where We Are on TV" study found that while the number of transgender-identified characters increased slightly from last year, only four such characters appear on series that have been officially renewed for another season. This could open the door "for a potential huge decrease in transgender representation" in the next year, the group notes. 

Across primetime scripted broadcast, primetime scripted cable and scripted streaming original series that premiered a new season between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, GLAAD counted 489 LGBT-identified characters in total, a 4% increase, up from 468 characters counted in the previous season.

Of the 489 LGBT-identified characters, 33 were described as transgender, marking an increase of 1.6% — an additional nine characters — from the previous year. The overwhelming majority of these characters (24) were portrayed as biological men identifying as women, according to the study. 

While this marked a slight uptick in the number of transgender characters on TV, the survey also found 61% of those characters will not return next season due to several factors, including series cancellations, series endings or limited series formats. Another nine transgender-identified characters appear on shows that have yet to be renewed. 

“Series such as 'Clean Slate,' 'Heartstopper,' 'The Umbrella Academy,' and '9-1-1: Lone Star' included [transgender-identified] characters that connected with audiences and provided a counternarrative to the unchecked transphobic rhetoric in newsrooms and government offices — and all of these series aired their final season,” the study stated.

The type of platform also played a role in the frequency of transgender characters: as broadcast and cable TV numbers shrink along with their audiences, streaming was the only platform to see a year-over-year increase in LGBT-identified characters.

The same trend applied to “kids and family programming”: GLAAD found Netflix in particular features several kids-oriented shows with young people who are LGBT-identified, including “Heartstopper,” which consists of two boys whose relationship “deepens” as the show progresses, as well as transgender, lesbian, and “nonbinary” characters.

Netflix’s “Dragon Prince” also includes a “number of queer characters,” according to the study.

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO, said the organization is actively lobbying decision-makers in the entertainment industry to keep including LGBT-identified characters even as “disinformation and anti-trans rhetoric reach new highs in our politics and culture.”

“In this moment when diverse stories are under heightened scrutiny, GLAAD is partnering with entertainment industry leaders to meet a clear call: Do not cave to pressure to reduce [LGBT] representation,” Ellis said in a statement. “Freedom of speech includes freedom of storytelling, and that includes stories of our community.

For years, Ellis and her organization have urged Hollywood to incorporate more LGBT content into children’s programming and have pushed for 20% of all television characters to be LGBT by the year 2025.

Christian conservative advocacy organizations have also urged families to refrain from letting their children watch content that promotes LGBT lifestyles. The advocacy group Concerned Women for America released a new report earlier this month highlighting what it calls Netflix's "pervasive" promotion of LGBT themes and storylines across 326 shows. 

"Netflix's anti-child, anti-family agenda has finally been exposed — its children's programming has been infiltrated by adult preoccupations with sexual preferences and gender identity," CWA President and CEO Penny Nance said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.

"Our new report reveals that children's programming is not exempt from identity politics — a drastic departure from its historical role. We knew that Netflix aired this kind of programming, but our study quantifies how many children's programs are subverted by LBGTQ messaging and themes," the CWA president continued. "These are shocking numbers, and most parents are unaware."

Last December, Disney confirmed that it had cut "a few lines of dialogue" from Pixar's "Win or Lose" series that focused on a character's transgender identity. The series, which premiered in January, is based on a “middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game,” with each episode "told from the perspective of a different character.” 

A Disney spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that when making content choices for younger audiences, the company recognizes that "many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline." Months later, "Win or Lose" featured an episode in which a Christian girl was shown praying to God. 

The move comes as Disney drew strong backlash from conservative Christians and Florida's Republican political leadership in recent years for its LGBT advocacy, particularly against a Parental Rights in Education bill passed in Florida in 2022. The legislation prohibited public school staff from discussing matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through the third grade. 

The Florida Board of Education expanded the law in 2023 to add that teachers "shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction to students in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards" or "is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student's parent has the option to have his or her student not attend."

Disney opposed the initial bill, with the company’s then-CEO vowing to increase “financial support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.”

A Disney Securities and Exchange Commission report published in 2023 warned that “consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.” 

Commenting on Disney's admission at the time, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley called it an example of economist Adam Smith's "invisible hand" at work.

"The question is the balance and degree of the political and social agenda," Turley wrote for The Hill. "Disney’s products are now viewed by many conservatives as empty virtue signaling and endless attempts to indoctrinate children. Moreover, when the company publicly declares its opposition to a popular parental rights bill in Florida, it is moving away from a commercial to a political focus."