In 1985 a group of New Yorkers was dissatisfied with how the media was covering the AIDS crisis. With that pivotal acknowledgment of the threat of misinformation in the LGBTQ+ community and the media’s potential to be a positive influence, they founded the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Now, 40 years later, GLAAD and the media have taken many steps forward.
“Ellen’s coming-out, Will & Grace—those were tectonic shifts in the acceptance of LGBTQ people that were done through TV, bringing our stories into people’s homes,” says GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. The organization worked behind the scenes with Hollywood to make sure LGBTQ+ representation onscreen was fair and accurate. “Tom Hanks in Philadelphia—a straight actor who was willing to move into that space was a huge moment,” Ellis says. “So was Laverne Cox on the cover of Time.” GLAAD was there, advocating for representation onscreen and in the real world—in bookstores, video stores and even the Yellow Pages, where they pushed for LGBTQ+ sections.
Queer stories soared, and we were entertained and moved, whether laughing at Jack’s antics on Will & Grace, crying through Brokeback Mountain or being inspired by queer artists from RuPaul to Chappell Roan. As we watched, we identified. As we identified, our hearts moved, and our minds opened. Says Ellis: “Our visibility is our greatest strength as a community.” On these pages we revisit the moments and stars that changed everything.
William Hurt became the first person to win the best actor Oscar for playing a gay character, in the 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman.
“For a man of his stature and his positioning at that time to play such a ‘deviant’—and I put that in quotes because to me it’s just a lived experience, and it’s a human experience—it was seen as radical, ground-shaking,” says Tonatiuh, 32, who stars as the same character, a gay prisoner in Argentina named Luis Molina, in the upcoming musical adaptation, opposite Jennifer Lopez. “It created space for our community on a major platform that I think our [film] is doing in a different way that feels more timely and taking advantage of some of the privileges that we have in 2025.”
Ryan Phillippe debuted on One Life to Live as Billy Douglas, the first gay teenager on a daytime soap, in 1992.
“It was a really profound experience,” says Phillippe, 50, of one of his first screen roles, which he landed at 17. “I was so young that there were elements of me that were afraid because it was such a different time. But we got feedback almost instantaneously from kids who were saying, ‘I’ve never seen someone represent me in any entertainment before in my life,’ and from parents who said, ‘Watching this show on my lunch break gave me a way to connect with my LGBTQ child.’ As that job progressed, I realized how important it was to some people.”
In 1994 Wilson Cruz became the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character on TV with the premiere of My So-Called Life.
“I’m proud to have been the first and even more proud to not have been the last,” Cruz, 51, says. “It’s always amazing to be remembered for something as special as this. Rickie Vasquez is a very important person in my life and always will be.”
Will & Grace, a groundbreaking sitcom featuring two gay main characters, debuted on NBC on Sept. 21, 1998.
The trailblazing series paved the path for future TV comedies populated by prominent LGBTQ+ characters and actors, including Modern Family, Schitt’s Creek, Abbott Elementary, Mid-Century Modern and Overcompensating. “I feel like I was so blessed to have Quinta [Brunson] from the jump say that we’re going to introduce this aspect of this character, and it’s not going to be what defines the character,” Chris Perfetti, 36, says of the matter-of-fact sexual orientation of Jacob, his character on Abbott Elementary, the ABC sitcom created by Brunson. “Anybody that’s shocked by queer people in America or queer teachers needs to wake up. It’s 2025.”
The personal makeover show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy helped put Bravo—future home of the Real Housewives franchise—on the map in 2003.
“It feels surreal, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude,” says Jonathan Van Ness, 38, who stars on Queer Eye, the reboot Netflix launched in 2018, of the enduring success of the series. “I see queer leaders coming into themselves every single day. I see so many people in our community rising up, fulfilling our dreams and being who we are. And I think that’s probably what queer joy and queer resistance is really all about.”
The L Word, a drama about a circle of lesbian friends, premiered on Showtime on Jan. 18, 2004.
“That show really helped change the perception of what the public thought about the lesbian community, and it took a preconceived idea and spun it for the better because it opened people’s eyes,” says Kate Moennig, 47, who played Shane and who coauthored the new book So Gay for You: Friendship, Found Family & the Show That Started It All with costar Leisha Hailey, who played Alice. Adds Hailey: “It’s still not just the first of its kind, but it still remains the only show like itself.”
Brokeback Mountain, a western about two closeted gay men played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, hit theaters on Dec. 9, 2005.
The best picture Oscar nominee kicked off a wave of Oscar-nominated dramas with LGBTQ+ characters and love stories, including Milk, A Single Man, Carol, Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, Rustin and Emilia Pérez. The 1982 film Making Love, about a husband who has an affair with another man, broke ground for all of them decades earlier, though it proved to be too much too soon. “When I took the [Making Love] role, I knew it was going to be controversial on some level,” says Harry Hamlin, 73, who played the other man. “But I was unaware of how controversial, of how shocking it was going to be, not only to audiences but critics also.” Decades later, he adds, “the world has changed—it’s 180 degrees since then.”
Pose star Billy Porter became the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy for lead actor in a drama series in 2019.
“I may be the first—and I do not want to be the last,” says Porter, who played master of ceremonies Pray Tell on the acclaimed series. “We’ve come a long way, and there is so much farther to go. I would like to live in a world where Black queer firsts are not a thing anymore. I’m a dreamer. Maybe someday.”
Lesbian singer-songwriter Chappell Roan won the best new artist Grammy on Feb. 2, 2025.
The Missouri native became a pop sensation with her breakout 2024 queer-themed single “Good Luck, Babe!”—which hit No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100—and beat out other rising stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Shaboozey, Doechii and Benson Boone for the coveted honor, previously won by Boy George and Culture Club in 1984 and Sam Smith in 2015. “She’s an amazing songwriter and performer,” says Leisha Hailey, who was one-half of the alt-pop duo the Murmurs in the ’90s. “Sometimes you just get one or the other, but when you get the whole package deal, there’s no stopping that.”
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