People die. Characters die. This is perhaps life’s most unfortunate fact: that people will die and leave the rest of us behind. It’s incredibly rare that any dramatic television series lasting over three seasons will never kill a main or recurring character, and all those deaths have driven a stake through the heart of fandom: Joyce on Buffy, Lady Sybil on Downton Abby, Charlie on Lost, Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, Jen on Dawson’s Creek, Nate on Six Feet Under — but when the person who dies is a lesbian or bisexual character, queer fandom takes it pretty hard.
The history of lesbian representation on television is rocky — in the beginning, we seemed exclusively relegated to roles that saw us getting killed/attacked or doing the killing/attacking. And until the last five or so years, lesbian and bisexual characters seemed entirely unable to date an actual woman or stay alive for more than three episodes, let alone an entire run, of a show. Gay and lesbian characters are so often murdered on television that we have our very own trope: Bury Your Gays. We comprise such a teeny-tiny fraction of characters on television to begin with that killing us off so haphazardly feels especially cruel.
Not every death listed below was wholly uncalled for. In many genres, like soap operas and shows about vampires, zombies, criminals, or games of thrones, characters are killed on the reg. That’s a different trope — Anyone Can Die. Furthermore, shows composed entirely of queer characters will inevitably kill one. But regardless, they still add to the body count weighing down our history of misrepresentation.
And, due to the recent untimely death of Lexa on The 100, this week seemed like a good one to count down everybody we have lost over the years.
This list contains every television death of an OPENLY lesbian or bisexual or queer female character on a television show. With a handful of exceptions, these are all characters who appeared for more than one episode. The exceptions were deemed exceptional because something about the characterization still fits in with the Bury Your Gays trope. Victims-of-the-week from crime procedurals (Law & Order, Cold Case, CSI, Criminal Minds or older shows) or patients-of-the-week from hospital dramas (Chicago Hope, E.R.), aren’t on this list, as that is an entirely different kind of list, but recurring characters from those shows are on this list. Nor is subtext on this list, because we’re not gonna give Xena showrunners Queer Character Credit for a character they refused to make openly queer when she was really so obviously queer. You know? [ETA: Okay, I’ve added Xena after doing further research and because if one more commenter takes up space on this thread — a thread I’m using to find more characters to add, and also to engage with thoughtful/funny readers who have opinions and feelings — to tell me that I “forgot” Xena without reading this introduction, I will become the 200th dead lesbian and the cause of death will be “Walked off a cliff with a commenter in her arms. Murder-suicide.” But Xena will be the one and only inclusion based on subtext.] Also, although I’ve done tons of research, I haven’t personally seen all of these shows, so mistakes may very well exist, and feel free to politely inform me of them in the comments, or tell me about characters I may have missed — it’s especially helpful if you can tell me the cause of death and the year.
Unsure if this needs to be said but… SPOILER ALERT.
Special thanks to the LezWatchTV Database for providing info on shows I haven’t seen or heard about directly!
Every Regular or Recurring Lesbian or Bisexual Female Character Killed On Television
Julie, Executive Suite (1976)
Cause of death: Hit by a car. Her love interest had just walked into traffic after realizing her lesbianism and Julie was chasing her.
Franky Doyle, Prisoner: Cell Block H (1980)
Cause of death: Shot by a police officer after escaping from prison
Sharon Gilmour, Prisoner: Cell Block H (1980)
Cause of death: Pushed down the stairs by a corrections officer
Karen O’Malley, Casualty (1987)
Cause of death: Head Injury
Cecília, Vale Tudo (1988)
Cause of death: Car Accident
Cicely, Northern Exposure (1992)
Cause of death: Shot by a gunman employed by the town’s evil overlord who doesn’t want to let the lesbians change his town. The shot was intended for her girlfriend Roslyn, but Cicely, who was already sick, blocked the bullet and died in Roslyn’s arms, thus magically healing the town’s long-simmering feuds and leading them to re-name the town “Cicely.”
Talia Winters, Babylon 5 (1995)
Cause of death: Activated a sleeper personality that wiped out her actual personality, effectively killing her
Beth Jordache, Brookside (1995)
Cause of death: Genetic heart condition, died in prison
Susan Ross, Seinfeld (1996)
Cause of death: Toxic envelope glue
Naomi “Tracy” Richards, Band of Gold (1996)
Cause of death: Stabbed herself
Lucy, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996)
Cause of death: Caught thieving and hanged
Kathy, NYPD Blue (1997)
Cause of death: Shot by a hit man hired by her girlfriend Abby’s ex, who wanted to get rid of Kathy so she could get back together with Abby. Abby was pregnant at the time.
Sondra Westwood, Pacific Drive (1997)
Cause of death: Murdered by a serial killer
Jadzia Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998)
Cause of death: Blasted by an alien-possessed alien
Sonia Besirky, Lindenstraße (1998)
Cause of death: Drug overdose from medication given to her by her ex-lover’s husband
Leila and Rafaela, Torre de Babel (1998)
Cause of death: Explosion in a shopping mall
Susanne Teubner, Hinter Gittern (1999)
Cause of death: Shot during a bank robbery (she was a customer)
Shaz Wiley, Bad Girls (2000)
Cause of death: Bomb, died in resulting fire
Laura Hall, Shortland Street (2000)
Cause of death: Heart attack
Diamond, Dark Angel (2001)
Cause of death: Used as a lab rat for research that killed her
Xena, Xena the Warrior Princess (2001)
Cause of death: Beheaded
Beate “Bea” Hansen, Hinter Gittern (2001)
Cause of death: Injuries from an explosion
Jule Neumann, Hinter Gittern (2001)
Cause of death: Suicide
Frankie Stone, All My Children (2001)
Cause of death: Murder Mystery!
Bridgit, 24 (2001)
Cause of death: Shot by a man in front of her girlfriend
Tara Maclay, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002)
Cause of death: Shot in the heart by a stray bullet
Kelly Hurst, Family Affairs (2002)
Cause of death: Pushed down the stairs by her lover’s husband
Megan Hartnoll, At Home With The Braithwaites (2003)
Cause of death: Electrocuted in the bathtub
Juliet Becker, The Bill (2003)
Cause of death: Stabbed
Tina Greer, Smallville (2003)
Cause of death: Impaled through the chest on a large piece of wood during a fight with a male character
Sandy Lopez, E.R. (2004)
Cause of death: Injuries sustained from fighting a fire in an abandoned warehouse
Al Mackenzie, Bad Girls (2004)
Cause of death: Poisoned
Hanna Novak, Verbotene Liebe (2004)
Cause of death: Stroke, died in her girlfriend’s arms
Ines Führbringer, Hinter Gittern (2004)
Cause of death: Throat slit, died in girlfriend’s arms
Thelma Bates, Hex (2004)
Cause of death: Murdered by a demon
Flora, Deadwood (2004)
Cause of death: Beaten by a man who then forced a woman to shoot her with his gun
Brenda Castillo, Charmed (2004)
Cause of death: Stabbed with a cursed blade by a man, causing her to rapidly age and then die
Tosha, The Wire (2004)
Cause of death: Shot during a heist gone wrong
Marissa Cooper, The O.C. (2005)
Cause of death: Car crash after being driven off the road by her drunk ex-boyfriend
Servilla, Rome (2005)
Cause of death: Stabs herself in front of her rival house, inhabited by the mother of her lover
Dusty, Queer As Folk (2005)
Cause of death: At a benefit at a gay club when a bomb went off
Dana Fairbanks, The L Word (2006)
Cause of death: Breast cancer
Helena Cain, Battlestar Galactica (2006)
Cause of death: Shot by her ex-lady-lover
Manuela Wellmann, Hinter Gittern (2006)
Cause of death: Stabbed, died in girlfriend’s arms
Maya Robertson, Hex (2006)
Cause of death: Hit by a car
Natalie, Bad Girls (2006)
Cause of death: Bludgeoned to death with a brick
Gina Inviere/#6, Battlestar Galactica (2006)
Cause of death: Set off a nuclear weapon
Eve Jacobson/Zoe McAllister, Home & Away (2006)
Cause of death: Inside a building when it was blown up
Van, Dante’s Cove (2006)
Cause of Death: Killed by the Shadows
Angie Morton, Stritctly Confidential (2006)
Cause of death: Suicide. Jumped off a building.
Pages: 1 2 3 4See entire article on one page
Here are details for an addition noted by others, cannon queer, multi-episode, dead: Eleanor “Nellie” Keene, Tenko, 1984.
Considered a sympathetic portrayal of unrequited “unnatural” love for 1981,on this beloved BBC show,Nellie was an interned WWII nurse who died offscreen from malaria.
Photo https://tenkotv.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/nellie-small.jpg?w=6401982
1981 Cannon, Series 1, Episode 7 http://tenkotv.com/2013/09/13/dependents-review-of-series-1-episode-7/
1984 Death, Series 3, Episode 5 http://tenkotv.com/2012/08/04/series-3-part-5-by-jill-hyem/
Thanks for including “Ashleigh” from Janet King but nobody ever called her Ashleigh. Her name was Ash Larsson.
Actually now that I reread the description on Ash Larsson (Janet King), it wasn’t a ‘stray bullet’ either. It was a targetted hit, probably meant to kill her partner, the title character.
It was, but the description was done before the episode aired (based off some promotional articles that mentioned Ash dying).
Yep. I hope it gets changed, because I’ve shared this article with ABC TV now
this is seriously so sad. we must persevere. to all wlw out there: don’t give up. if you wanted a sign today, this is it. you cannot give up. the world needs you.
There was also Charlotte on Pretty Little Liars — a trans woman who was killed in the mid-season opener this year.
she’s not gay/bi
I dunno if this has been said already but I don’t believe for one. single. second. that Rose in Jane the Virgin is dead. Like, not because she’s a lesbian. Just because it fits the format that she’s still alive. Also her gimmick is that she changes faces, she was JUST there trying to tie up a loose end, and then we saw her disappear round a corner/through a door, and then BOOM, lying strangled seconds later. CLEARLY a planted corpse. Like I understand putting her on the list for now, but I will bet you cash money that you’re gonna be taking her back off.
The deaths that anger me the most are those where it appears that a happy ending is in the works and then ‘wham’, nope we’ll just kill the character instead.
Among the worst (IMHO) were Tara on BTVS, Dana on The L Word, Silvia on Los Hombres de Paco, Sandy on E.R., Xena on Xena: Warrior Princess and Naomi on Skins… perhaps because I feel I invested so much in watching these shows from the very beginning only to have these deaths completely reverse all the happiness and hope the shows had given us.
I understand some deaths, being necessary to the advancement of other characters or the plot of the show itself, but it does eventually lead me to thinking I’ll wait until the show has ended its run and find out how things turn out and then start watching it, so I am less invested.
Is this a satirical article? It surely can’t be genuine?!
It’s real and horrific.
Does Lucy Lawless top your list for most deaths (4, I think)?
Another character for this list would be Shayla Nico from Mr. Robot (2015). She was murdered on the orders of her abusive ex-boyfriend (throat slit, stuffed into a car trunk) to get back at her current boyfriend (Elliot, the main character) for turning him over to the police. She only shared one on-screen kiss with another woman and I can’t remember whether there were other references towards her sexuality, but imo that kiss is enough to qualify her for this since the show explicitly included multiple other lgbt characters (which says to me they intended for the audience to understand she was bi or pan), though others may disagree.
Jennifer from the movie Jennifer’s Body (2009) was bi and died because she was stabbed, also missing from the list.
Not missing, this is a list of characters from TV shows as specified in the article title and the introduction.
That’s a movie. This is a list for tv deaths only.
Lucy Lawless alone has 4 deaths on this list (Xena, Battlestar, Spartacus and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Amy Murgatroyd from Agatha Christie Marple (2004) choked to death
This list only includes regular, multi-episode characters on TV shows. I’m guessing without that limitation it might reach triple digits. Ms. Murgatroyd has died more than once, but I believe all the TV versions of the 50s Christie novel, A Murder is Announced, were mystery-of-the-week Marple shows, and Murgatroyd was not recurring.
As I look at most of these deaths, they bring up sympathy towards the diseased. It helps people sympathies with lesbian characters and maybe start people seeing them as just another character, rather than separating them as straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual.
Oh yes, because we only sympathise to a character when they are dead and not, say, are in love and living happily ever after. That’s why all the most beloved protagonists end up dead. Sure.
Marie Logan from Young Justice is confirmed to be bi in the comics when a mind-controlling villainess (Queen Bee, who can also only use mind control and people who are attracted to women) told her to drive her car off a waterfall. There is a flashback of her death in the show.
Out of context, Jadzia’s death sounds so strange (being zapped by an alien-possessed alien). But in context it’s even worse. She was trying her hardest to conceive a child with her husband, Worf. Her best friend, Kira, recommends that she visit the Bajoran shrine on the station. And so she does, and literally just gets in the way of Dukat’s plan. The whole thing was a hot mess.
150 as off today with two more from vampire diaries that I wasn’t even aware that existed. Better to include 1000 and elevate it to a hundred, these suckers don’t get the message and it is just making me even motivated to fight this absurd trope.
Even worse they were killed off so that the heterosexual white male main character could survive.
And another two bite the dust thanks to The CW. Hope you update this soon.
Well, looks like two more lesbians will be added to the list now thanks to the return of The Vampire Diaries.
Mary Louise and Nora Hildegard were just killed off on the vampire diaries.
You need to update your list. The two lesbian characters from The Vampire Diaries have been killed off.
I’ve just been waiting for this to happen. I’ve known since they were introduced that they’d eventually bite the dust. That’s what happens to all the antagonists (and frankly, a lot of the protagonists) on TVD. Feels like that except Stefan and Damon, any character can be permanently killed off at any time. But, frankly, since there was no other place than death that Mary-Louise’s and Nora’s storyline could’ve ended, I’d prefer that they hadn’t introduced them at all.
I respectfully disagree. I’d been aching to see a lesbian couple from before the modern era, and was extremely pleasantly surprised to see TVD introduce Nora and Mary-Louise as a pair of lesbian lovers. The show probably has one of the better track records of killing off characters–other than TWD and GoT–but I was still glad to see the beautiful love story (even if it was pretty destructive in some ways) between Mary-Louise and Nora.
Tbh, the only character I even liked at that point was Bonnie, and that was because she had the weird love-hate (b)romance with Damon, and wasn’t constantly being thrown into relationships with the brothers/other guys.
Like, this wasn’t The 100, where they were the two most important characters on the show and had been implicitly promised an “alive” status at the end of the season. The show killed lots of “important” characters, and we even have one that might never reprise their role, but Mary-Louise and Nora? They’re pretty much part of an arc that’s ending.
Still don’t regret it. I’m sick of lesbian deaths and a(n alleged) general lack of awareness of the trope within the director/showrunner/writer film community, but I’ll take a suicide out of love over a dumb bullet that had no place in anything any day.
can somebody tell me the cause of death for nora and mary-louise? i’ve never seen the vampire diaires.
until you get a specific answer it’s probably safe to say it was the Patriarchy.
Suicide. They destroyed a magic sword together, to prevent Nora from getting trapped in it, and when they destroyed it it exploded and killed them, something they knew was going to happen. But they chose death rather than being apart and having Nora trapped in the sword.
Just an FYI the character on the Magicians was actually a Goddess and never really killed off. Please update
This is what showrunner Julie Plec had to say: “I’ve asked Ian to take the reins of the blog tonight as a special guest columnist, but before I hand them over, I did want to mention that I recently became aware of a conversation taking place in the television fan community about a story trope the writers and I were unfamiliar with, but one that has clearly touched a nerve. Part of this particular trope involves the statistically high death count of lesbian characters in television. As you can imagine (SPOILER ALERT), I was immediately concerned that our next episode featured the deaths of Nora and Mary Louise, the betrothed Heretics. Unfortunately on The Vampire Diaries, death is the probable outcome for nearly every character who passes through our universe. However, we realize we may have unintentionally offended as we sent this couple to meet their tragic fate.”
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/01/vampire-diaries-julie-plec-blog-ian-somerhalder-days-of-future-past
Well, at least she isn’t using any other defense for the storyline other than that “almost every character dies on TVD” so she’s handling it better than Jason Rothenberg did with Lexa, but at the same time, I’m having a hard time buying that she and the entire writing team was unaware of the bury your gays-trope, it’s more plausible that they just didn’t anticipate that mainstream media would have just started to acknowledge it.
Well this implies that it would have been ok to use the trope before Lexa happened. It is 2016, I don’t need to have multiple lesbian characters killed before I realize that it’s bad idea.
Obviously, they couldn’t have anticipated that they would place their deaths in the middle of a social media storm. However, that’s exactly the problem. If every showrunner thinks that way they will continue to use the trope.
We can only hope that this time people are paying attention.
Had she known what she knows now she probably wouldn’t have written them at all. Since this is TVD, there’s no way they would ever introduce new characters that they “can’t” kill off. TVD has always been a show that doesn’t understand the concept of writing out characters without killing them. But hopefully it will teach showrunners that if they think about writing lesbian/bi characters that they intend to kill off, it’s better to not write them at all.
1) Actually my biggest fear is that people following this whole disaster will rather not write any LGBT+ characters than have to possibly deal with an angry fanbase.
2) This makes me think that many showrunners are only now learning about the lack and quality of representation.
I can’t judge the TVD for those death’ since I didn’t watch it, but I think this is actually a complicated issue. Just this morning I had a discussion with my straight white male roommate about this mess and what he concluded from my arguments was that what we want is that no lesbian is being killed off ever.
I am arguing with myself about this because it is true and not true at the same time. Obviously, there have been death’ which cohered to the storyline and thus are justifiable. However, there comes in this old argument that no show can exist in a vacuum. So when this character was the only representation, is it still okay to kill her off?
I was talking about how we needed more and better representation in the first place whereupon he stated “So until then nobody is allowed to die?”.
The problem also seems to be that most of our representation is on shows where they can get away with the everybody dies excuse.
They get to have the cake and eat it too. They get queer viewers and then appease the conservative ones by killing us off.
Is it really worth it to have representation when this is what passes as that? I just don’t know
Sure, there are always two sides to every coin, but still, if you write an LGBT-character that you know already when you create them is going to be killed off eventually, then I actually do think that it’s best to not write them at all. Especially if they are your only LGBT-character. But at the same time, it does pose a problem especially on shows like Walking Dead or
Vamprire Diaries when more or less every single character can die at any time.
After Lexa was killed off I heard so many people voicing the same sentiment over and over again which was “Why did I start watching this show?” The worst thing is that they blamed themselves for buying into it when they were actually being misled in the worst possible way.
It pains me to use the word “positive” anywhere near this mess, but the only positive aspect about it is the hope that the noise is loud enough for others to hear.
But I am also conflicted because how often and how much more do we need to suffer in order to get the message across? Right now it seems we only have two options: either bad representation or none.
So it seems one of the bigger concerns is that we only get represented in shows that are able to get away with the “anyone can die” argument.
But why is that? Is it too hard for people to write lesbians in a real world setting?
It’s not about not writing LGBTQ but to actually have more of those on screen and not as a freaking background to fill a few minutes or a product for popularity because everyone by now knows that the LGBTQ community is very loud on social media and especially when you push all their buttons like the 100 did. They baited so much and even infiltrated LGBTQ’s personal spaces on the net, saying they would do it right. For over a year every day the trope was introduced to them, people expressed their fears after so much killing of lesbians or bi Fs and in the end they pulled off a stray bullet to a none fatal place like 60 sec after Lexa for the first time sleept with the woman she loves. THE FUCK WAS THAT? Ain’t these people suppose to be professionals?
The problem is that LGBTQ have less then 400 people on screen while straight one have over 18 000+. I think that shows enough to even a noob writer that making bullshit with a character that has barely anything on screen is bad.
It’s not about not killing them but how they die and for what reason and to at least sooth the character and the role it has. Like Lexa who is a warrior, commander of 12 clans and can kick a man twice her size and to end dead by a stray bullet is just humiliating to her and us. We felt like a joke to these people. If I was 14 I would have actually jumped off the highest place in my town after seeing bullshit like that.
If we had many to represent us on screen their deaths would not hit us like a freaking train every time. We can’t just shrug and change the channel to someone else. If the representation dies we are left stranded, hurt and dare not hope because we know that would happen again and again.
What I also hate the most I see on screen is how they portrait the Bisexual females. I am still waiting on one bisexual to have a happy ending with a woman. Like what the hell… so you hook her up with a girl, Lesbian or another bisexual, kill one or both of them and if the bi is alive she ends up with a man. Seriously? So my female lovers are just a fling? I am a bisexual and they constantly erase my sexuality my hooking me with man all the time. I can have a happy ending with a woman too assholes! Stop lying the young bisexuals that they can’t have a happy end with a women but only men! My sexuality is not a phase and if I fall in love with a woman and she dies or whatever I can fall after that with another woman AGAIN!
Damn retards. If they don’t know what to do there are plenty of people out there that can explain it to them or point them in the right direction. Stop assuming and start understanding!
My kids (if I have those) and the future generations don’t deserve this bullshit you serve them!
Just reading this makes me wanna kill myself by knowing how “many” LGBTQ+ are on shows anyway…
Reason – confession? … seriously? Did they got out of anything original…oh yeah… they killed so many they did. There was even a nuke for a reason.
But shot, stabbed, heart attacks, cancer, exploded, suicide sure are one of the favorite things for writers to do the the community.
Better go gear up before something stray decides to fly my way and kill me!
Wendy (?) from Jessica Jones
She’s on the list.
Nora and Mary Louise, The Vampire Diaries
Cause of Death: Suicide.
I disagree. “Suicide” Really? Mary Louise can’t live longer because she is been poison. She sacrifice herself for keeping Nora safe but Nora don’t want to live along without her (They’ve been together 137 years btw)
They died together in the car explosion for destroyed a magic sword, I don’t think suicide is a appropriate word to describe their death.
I don’t watch the show, but I read a recap after hearing about it. I thought suicide was an odd description as well, it seemed like they chose to sacrifice themselves to save someone else which I wouldn’t qualify as suicide.
Spoilers below for Mary-Louise and Nora’s death on TVD.
The main gist of the situation they were in was that Mary-Louise was going to die very soon due to being poisoned by Reyna Cruz’s blood, which is toxic and fatal to witches. That, coupled with Nora being “marked” by Reyna’s sword, which meant that Reyna would chase them to the ends of the earth till she killed the “marked” (aka: Nora), the two decided to just end it once and for all and just be together (in death). yn
A side-effect of them breaking the magical stone in the sword is saving other vampires from Reyna’s reign of terror. In and of itself, this isn’t a sacrifice, but rather a double suicide.
Spoilers below for Mary-Louise and Nora’s death on TVD.
The main gist of the situation they were in was that Mary-Louise was going to die very soon due to being poisoned by Reyna Cruz’s blood, which is toxic and fatal to witches. That, coupled with Nora being “marked” by Reyna’s sword, which meant that Reyna would chase them to the ends of the earth till she killed the “marked” (aka: Nora), the two decided to just end it once and for all and just be together (in death).
A side-effect of them breaking the magical stone in the sword is saving other vampires from Reyna’s reign of terror. In and of itself, this isn’t a sacrifice, but rather a double suicide.
They both chose death in their own way which makes it suicide.
If you knowlingly take your own life or put yourself in a situation that you know is going to kill you, no matter the reason for it, then it is suicide. Doesn’t really matter if you were going to die eventually anyway.
If you knowlingly take your own life or put yourself in a situation that you know is going to kill you, no matter the reason for it, then it is suicide. Doesn’t really matter if you were going to die eventually anyway.
Oops, that was meant as a reply to another post, not as a “new” post.
Well, If you really love someone, you would have done everything to save ur loved ones. I won’t say that you are trying to kill yourselves. Anyway, let’s agree to disagree.
If anyone here also interesting to the love story between Nora and Mary Louise, just check out 7X16 and make your own opinion. ~ peace out
What are you talking about?
Oh I forgot to say, just because they both death doesn’t mean their story is meaningless, and their ending was not poorly written and cheap or stupid accidental death like the 100 they did on Lexa’s death.
Nobody said their death was meaningless. Just that the fact that they made a decision to die makes it suicide. Don’t presume to speak for others
“Nobody said their death was meaningless. Just that the fact that they made a decision to die makes it suicide. Don’t presume to speak for others”
Exactly this.
I was say “just because they both death doesn’t mean their ***story*** is meaningless”, not talking about death.
There’re people just like me love and CARE these couple/characters like crazy and thought it was a decent ending for them even suicide or whatever you called.To me, still don’t regret it.
“Don’t presume to speak for others” You too.
The list isn’t “All 150+ Meaningless Deaths of Lesbian & Bisexual Women on TV”, it’s just all of them that died for whatever reason. I’m sure there are many deaths in this list that actually held importance for the plot.
You get me wrong. My original opinion/comment is I don’t think suicide is a appropriate word to describe their death.
and about meaningless part was replying for someone’s comment.
I still maintain that what Nora and Mary-Louise did was indeed suicide. Putting yourself in a situation that you know is going to end with you dying is suicide. No matter what reason you have for doing it.
And I still stick with my opinion too. Just like I said before, let’s agree to disagree ok? ;)
Yeah, I can be down with that :)
OK, you need to remove Sara Lance because she is very much alive.
“Sara Lance, Arrow (2014) (Resurrected in 2015)
Cause of death: Three arrows to the chest, causing her to fall off a building”
Guess what for people to be resurrected they have to die first.
This is maybe a bit late but as another poster said, I really don’t think Flora from Deadwood should be included in the list.
She was a thief who manipulated the lesbian character (Joanie Stubbs) and exploited her vulnerabilities to get what she wanted (protection & Joanie’s jewels). They only slept once in the same bed (didn’t have sex or anything), Joanie holding Flora in her arms. But the next day, the girl called Joanie a « dyke » behind her back and was clearly disgusted by the older woman’s affection. There was no hint she was queer at all, quite the contrary.
(The whole point of that character and of her brutal murder was mostly to emphasize the tragic-ness of the lesbian character though. Joanie’s boss/mentor/father figure/ « owner »/pimp – a sadistic man who was in love with her, allowed her some form of freedom and power but was frustrated his love was never going to be returned – jumped at the occasion to humiliate her, forcing her to kill the girl who had played her, which she did only so Floral wouldn’t be left to die a slow painful death. Seconds after she shot Flora, Joanie pointed the gun to her own head and tried to shoot herself too but was stopped)
Anyway, keep up the good work ! This list is so important !
The other day, I made another list, of all my favourite tv lesbian characters, and 8 out of 9 had either died or experienced the death of their girlfriends. That’s so fucked up. I hadn’t even realized.
Why does Dana and Jenny on the L Word count? The rest of the cast were lesbians as well and they didn’t die…
Every death on every show counts, so that includes shows that had other queer females and generally a good representation, like The L Word or Orange is the new black.
Congrats on the WaPo mention! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/04/04/tv-keeps-killing-off-lesbian-characters-the-fans-of-one-show-have-revolted/
Wish it were for something more positive, of course, but it’s still pretty awesome to see y’all get represented.
>>Since Lexa’s death, Autostraddle, a culture website geared toward lesbian and bisexual women, has compiled a list of 150 lesbian and bisexual characters in regular and recurring roles who have been killed on television shows, starting with the 1976 CBS show “Executive Suite.”<<