Is TV gay enough? I came across this headline and just had to read more.

GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) reviewed five major United States television networks, to find that ABC was representing gays the most. Other networks reviewed included CW, CBS, NBC and Fox.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has given the Walt Disney Co.-owned network the highest marks of any of the five major broadcast networks in the group’s first-ever report rating depictions of gay, lesbian and transgender characters and issues on prime-time TV.

The study assigned grades of “excellent,” “good,” “fair” or “failing” based on the number of “impressions,” or occurrences, of gay characters, discussions or themes counted during 4,693 hours of programming examined from June 2006 through May 2007.

No network was rated as excellent. But ABC received a grade of “good” with 171 hours of gay-inclusive TV last season, accounting for 15 percent of its prime-time programming.

ABC shows also featured more regular characters who are gay, lesbian or transgender than any of its rival broadcasters, led by the first-season series, Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters, according to the study, released on Monday.

Sydney Morning Herald

I guess GLAAD isn’t concerned about how gays are represented, just that they are represented, as I have never met a gay person who acts anything like the camp way a gay man can be portrayed on TV. I do love the way the gay barman and his partner are portrayed on Grey’s Anatomy though. They have the most normal relationship on the show!

GLAAD scored the networks based on how much of the content shown was gay inclusive. CW scored behind ABC’s 15% with 12%, mostly coming from one show, America’s Next Top Model. CBS and NBC ranked as ‘fair’ with 9% and 7% gay inclusive content repectively. Only Fox ranked as ‘poor’, with a score of 6%.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Screencaps from Grey’s Anatomy episode “Where the Boys Are” from season three thanks to Screencap-Paradise.