Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary representation on Australian scripted television in the 2000s and 2010s

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been significant industry and scholarly interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion in television. Alongside this, attention has been paid to the politics of queer representation in screen and media contexts. Providing much-needed data on these issues, this article catalogues the representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary characters in Australian scripted television since 2000. We highlight the inclusion of more queer characters onscreen and situate this in the context of two significant decades of change in the Australian television industry and the broader socio-political context. In teasing out recent trends around gender and sexually diverse representation, we identify shifts toward representing more complex and inclusive queer story worlds on Australian television. We also note significant tensions in these representations, highlighting how Australian television remains quite conservative in depicting queer sex, intersections between sexualities and gender identities, and bisexual identities.