Executive Summary
- The 10 distributors (A24, Amazon, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery) counted in this study released 256 films in 2023. Of those 256 films, 70 contain an LGBTQ character (27.3 percent). This is a decrease from the record high percentage of 28.5 percent (100 out of 350 films) tracked in 2022.
- GLAAD counted 170 LGBTQ characters across the 70 LGBTQ-inclusive films. That is a decrease of 122 characters from the previous year. It should be noted that in the previous year, GLAAD counted documentary films as well, though LGBTQ characters in documentary films only represented 39 of the 292 LGBTQ characters counted in 2022 films.
- Of these 170 LGBTQ characters, 78 are characters of color (46 percent). This is an increase from 40 percent in 2022’s films.
- Of the 170 LGBTQ characters counted, 95 of them are men (56 percent), 67 are women (39 percent), and eight are nonbinary characters (five percent) who are not explicitly identified as transgender on screen. Two of the women are transgender.
- There are a total of two transgender characters, down from 13 in 2022’s films. There were no transgender men or transgender nonbinary characters in the films released during the reporting period. Only two films featured transgender characters, a significant decrease from 2022’s record high of 12 trans-inclusive films.
- Of the 70 LGBTQ-inclusive films released in 2023, 19 of them (27 percent) included bisexual+ characters, an increase from 21 percent of films in 2022. However, only 15 percent of overall LGBTQ characters were bisexual+.
- Over a third of the LGBTQ characters (64 of 170, 38 percent) clocked over ten minutes of screentime. Of the 170 LGBTQ characters, 21 of them had between five and ten minutes of screentime (12 percent), 37 characters clocked between one and five minutes (22 percent), and 45 characters were on screen for under one minute (26 percent).
- Only two LGBTQ characters were counted with a disability (one percent). This is a significant decrease from the 11 characters counted with disabilities in 2022. Further, no LGBTQ characters counted this year are living with HIV.