Three weeks ago, the unexpected death of The 100′s lesbian Commander Lexa prompted a swift fan revolt. Tired of so many of our beloved queer female characters getting hit by cars, slaughtered by stray bullets and eaten by alien-possessed-aliens, the LGBT Fans Deserve Better campaign rose from the ashes to raise awareness about the Bury Your Gays trope, particularly as it applies to female characters. Over at my website, Autostraddle, I published a list of every lesbian, bisexual or queer female character who’d been killed on television (with the exclusion of one-episode victims-of-the-week from criminal or medical procedurals or otherwise fleeting one-episode characters) and, with input from readers, saw that list grow quickly from 65 to over 150. Not all these deaths were absurd or senseless, of course. Often these deaths made perfect sense within the show and weren’t motivated by anti-gay bias, unconsciously or consciously.
Similarly, many of these deaths are less painful and controversial on shows where Anyone Can Die (e.g., American Horror Story, The Wire, True Blood, Game of Thrones) or on shows with all-gay casts (e.g., Queer as Folk, The L Word). But every death adds to a body count that weighs down our souls. Two more queer female characters have died since #LGBTFansDeserveBetter campaign began merely two weeks ago, and the story has attracted unprecedented mainstream media attention, including The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Entertainment Weekly.
I was curious what the numbers would look like for gay and bisexual male characters, too, because the Bury Your Gays trope isn’t limited to women. That is why I am here with you boys today! I’ll say straight away that I’m not as confident with this material as I am with the women’s shows, but a lot of research and collaboration happened and I’m sure you’ll let me know what’s missing and what I got wrong.
Gay and bi men outnumber women on television and always have, with the most recent GLAAD report showing a 57/43 split in favor of men, so I was expecting a long list. It does seem, so far, that proportionally, gay/bi women are killed off more often than gay/bi men, but the problem is pretty severe for both groups.
When it comes to gay/bi male characters, I noticed many other interesting things happening that wasn’t as prevalent in the female group. Firstly, a lot of gay/bi male characters almost die, either from being assaulted/gay-bashed (e.g., Kurt on Glee, Marco on Degrassi, Brett & Kevin on St. Elsewhere, Justin on Queer as Folk, Hank on As the World Turns) or attempting suicide (e.g., Eric on American Crime, Jodie Dallas on SOAP, Karofsky on Glee or Thomas on Downton Abbey). Secondly, a disturbingly significant portion of the men on this list were villains or killers themselves. That’s not inherently a bad thing… but it’s worth mentioning considering that it wasn’t that long ago when every gay male character on television was portrayed as a depraved criminal or pervert.
It also wasn’t that long ago that the only LGBTQ people we ever saw on television were HIV-positive gay men on TV movies, medical dramas, legal dramas and other issue-of-the-week shows. It’s not a secret that heterosexual culture finds us most compelling when we are dead or dying (see: Brokeback Mountain, Philadelphia). This list reflects that unfortunate reality.
Please let us know in the comments about anybody I’m missing or other corrections, and keep in mind that I’m not including victims-of-the-week from legal or medical dramas.
Beverly LaSalle, All In The Family (1977)
Cause of Death: Beaten by gay-bashers
Ted Dinard, Dynasty (1981)
Cause of Death: Pushed by his boyfriend’s father, hit his head on the fireplace
Mack Crawford, Celebrity (1984)
Cause of Death: Murdered by his homophobic friend
Channing Capwell, Jr., Santa Barbara (1985)
Cause of Death: Shot by his mother, who thought he was somebody else and that the gun wasn’t loaded
Luke Fuller, Dynasty (1985)
Cause of Death: Shot by terrorists
Eddie Gregg, Hill Street Blues (1986)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Brett Johnston, St. Elsewhere (1988)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Javier Fernandez, Eldorado (1992)
Cause of Death: Carbon monoxide poisoning
Emmett, Grace Under Fire (1995)
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Frederick Hackett, Bramwell (1996)
Cause of Death: Hit by a carriage, throat torn open by a smashed bottle and then sent away to a religious institution where he died of an an infection.
Jimmy Gold, Beverly Hills 90210 (1996)
Cause of Death: AIDS. His boyfriend had died of AIDS several months earlier.
Ferdy, This Life (1996)
Cause of death: Unknown — killed offscreen. His death was mentioned in the 10 year anniversary sequel This Life+10.
John Hanley, General Hospital (1996)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Matt Fielding, Melrose Place (1997)
Cause of Death: Car accident
Larry Blaisdell, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1999)
Cause of Death: Killed in the Graduation Day battle, neck snapped by the mayor’s tail
Richie Hanlon, Oz (1999)
Cause of Death: Throat slashed with a razor blade
Nat Ginzburg, Oz (2000)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Tim Bayliss, Homicide: Life on the Street (2000)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Ronald Barlog, Oz 2001
Cause of Death: Neck snapped
Brandon White, The Wire (2002)
Cause of Death: Tortured and killed by rival gang, body displayed as a warning to his boyfriend
George Schickle, Queer as Folk (2002)
Cause of Death: Heart attack on the first flight of a world tour he was about to go on with his boyfriend
Roy Cohn, Angels in America (2003)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Chris Keller, Oz (2003)
Cause of Death: Fell over a railing and broke his neck during an argument with his boyfriend
Vic Grassi, Queer as Folk (2004)
Cause of Death: Heart attack resulting from complications with his HIV medication
Tom, Hex (2004)
Cause of Death: Beheaded by a man who thought he was somebody else due to the mark that somebody else left on Tom’s neck
Lance Powell, The Bill (2005)
Cause of Death: Strangled by a serial killer
Keith Charles*, Six Feet Under (2005)
Cause of Death: Shot by robbers while loading his security firm’s armed truck
*It’s true that due to the series-finale flash-forward, we saw every major character die, and therefore it seems silly to include here. However, Keith — the only main character of color and one of two main gay characters — was the only person in the flash-forward who died young and the only one who was murdered rather than dying of natural causes.
Beverley Leslie, Will & Grace (2006)
Cause of Death: Blown off a balcony and fell to his death
Vito Spatafore Sr., The Sopranos (2006)
Cause of Death: Mouth duct-taped shut and beaten to death by gay-bashers, found with a pool cue in his ass
Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas, Veronica Mars (2006)
Cause of Death: Killed himself
Salim, Sleeper Cell (2006)
Cause of Death: Failed bomb attack at the Hollywood Bowl by an FBI agent
Cory, Dante’s Cove (2006)
Cause of Death: Magic
Sir William Compton, The Tudors (2007)
Cause of Death: Sweating sickness / the plague
Marco, Dante’s Cove (2007)
Cause of Death: Murdered by a woman disguised as an animal
Tom Friendly, Lost (2007)
Cause of Death: Shot
Walker McElroy, Sordid Lives: The Series (2008)
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Alex, In Treatment (2008)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Omar Little, The Wire (2008)
Cause of Death: Shot by a child from a rival gang
George Boleyn, The Tudors (2008)
Cause of Death: Executed by decapitation
Mark Smeaton, The Tudors (2008)
Cause of Death: Tortured and beheaded for treason he did not commit
Steve, Reaper (2008)
Cause of Death: The devil caused a building to collapse on him.
Alan Corbett, Supernatural (2008)
Cause of Death: Abducted and stabbed through the neck
Agent Phil Schlatter, Weeds (2008)
Cause of Death: Tortured and shot by drug kingpin who then hung his body on the US/Mexico border fence as a warning.
Neil Grayling, Bad Girls (2008)
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Felix Gaeta, Battlestar Galactica (2009)
Cause of Death: Executed by a firing squad
Ianto Jones, Torchwood (2009)
Cause of Death: Murdered by aliens
1112, The Prisoner (2009)
Cause of Death: Suicide
909, The Prisoner (2009)
Cause of Death: Murdered
Joseph Laslie, Kings (2009)
Cause of Death: Suicide, possibly murdered by his boyfriend’s Mom and set up to look like a suicide
Kash Karib, Shameless (2009)
Cause of Death: Knocked out by his son, thus unable to escape when the building he was in went up in flames
DEA Agent Ray Till, Weeds (2009)
Cause of Death: Murdered by drug dealers while attempting to avenge his boyfriend’s death
Dale Tomasson, Big Love (2010)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Barca, Spartacus: Blood & Sand (2010)
Cause of Death: Throat slit by a Lanista who believed that Barca betrayed him
Pietros, Spartacus: Blood & Sand (2010)
Cause of Death: Hung himself after he became a slave for another gladiator who used him as a punching bag after Pietros mistakenly believed that his lover had left him.
Dan, Being Human (2010)
Cause of Death: Accidentally bitten by his vampire boyfriend and killed
Dr. Reid Oliver, As the World Turns (2010)
Cause of Death: Hit by a train
Eddie Fourinier, True Blood (2010)
Cause of True Death: Kidnapped and staked by a girl addicted to V
Talbot Angelis, True Blood (2010)
Cause of True Death: Staked during sex by a vampire seeking revenge for Talbot’s boyfriend murdering his family
Godric, True Blood (2010)
Cause of True Death: Suicide, walked into the sun
Ray Fiske, Damages (2010)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Gustavo Fring, Breaking Bad (2010)
Cause of Death: Bomb set by his enemy
Chad Warwick, American Horror Story: Murder House (2011)
Cause of Death: Shot, set up as murder-suicide
Lionel Trane, United States of Tara (2011)
Cause of Death: Car Crash
Roman Wild, Alles was zählt (2011)
Cause of Death: Brain tumor
Fer, Física o Química (2011)
Cause of Death: Shot
Patrick, American Horror Story: Murder House (2011)
Cause of Death: Savagely beaten to death and sodomized with a fire iron
Lee Fallon, The Big C (2011)
Cause of Death: Cancer
Jackson Walsh, Emmerdale (2011)
Cause of Death: After becoming paraplegic from a car accident, begged boyfriend to euthanize him
Auctus, Spartacus: Blood & Sand (2011)
Cause of Death: Slayed in the arena during combat
Max Arciniega, Breaking Bad (2011)
Cause of Death: Was murdered in 1989 by druglord henchman while his boyfriend was restrained and force to watch him die. Story told in flashback.
Mansour Al-Zahrani, Homeland (2011)
Cause of Death: Bomb
Tyler Barrol, Revenge (2011)
Cause of Death: Shot in the back
Paul, Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (2012
Cause of Death: AIDS
Rasmus, Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (2012)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Bill Forbes, The Vampire Diaries (2012)
Cause of Death: Stabbed and throat slashed
Issak Sirko, Dexter (2012)
Cause of Death: Shot in the gut
Jesús Velásquez, True Blood (2012)
Cause of Death: Boyfriend forced to stab him to death while possessed by a witch.
Renly Baratheon, Game of Thrones (2012)
Cause of Death: Stabbed by a shadow creature
Russel Edgington, True Blood (2013)
Cause of True Death: Staked
Steve Newlin, True Blood (2013)
Cause of True Death: Forced into the sun
Kyle Bishop, Smash (2013)
Cause of Death: Hit by a car
Doug Carter, Hollyoaks (2013)
Cause of Death: Bomb explosion, died in boyfriend’s arms
Rick Macy, In the Flesh (2013)
Cause of Death: Stabbed by his father
Jacob Wells, The Following (2013)
Cause of Death: Throat slashed
Paul Torres, The Following (2013)
Cause of Death: Smothered with a pillow by his best friend / fake boyfriend after developing sepsis from a stab wound
Daniel Davenport, Dracula (2013)
Cause of Death: Suicide because he couldn’t live without his boyfriend, who ended their relationship to secure his position in The Order
Stephen James Laurent, Dracula (2013)
Cause of Death: Executed for betraying The Order
Thomas Hamilton, Black Sails (2014)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Paxton Curtis, How to Get Away With Murder (2014)
Cause of Death: Suicide. Jumped out the window.
James Novak, Scandal (2014)
Cause of Death: Shot for knowing too much.
Stanley, American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014)
Cause of Death: Murdered with knives and axes by a group of the “freaks” he’d been exploiting and killing off.
Dell Toledo, American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014)
Cause of Death: Shot in the head
Andy, American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014)
Cause of Death: Stabbed and dismembered
Dr. Johann Pryce, Hemlock Grove (2014)
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Alejandro Rubio, Devious Maids (2014)
Cause of Death: Robbery gone wrong at his engagement party (he was marrying a woman).
Deniz Öztürk, Alles was zählt (2014)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Joscha Degen, Alles was zählt (2014)
Cause of Death: Beaten and killed by gay bashers
Daniel Douglas Langston, Scandal (2014)
Cause of Death: Murdered by his wife
Michael Corrigan, House of Cards (2015)
Cause of Death: Hangs himself with a scarf to protest the persecution of gay people in Russia
Will Drake, American Horror Story: Hotel (2015)
Cause of Death: Murdered by his new wife’s vampire ex-girlfriend
Alex / Alistair Turner, London Spy (2015)
Cause of Death: Murdered shortly after falling in love with the man who would eventually find Alex’s body in a trunk.
Lance Sullivan, Cucumber (2015
Cause of Death: Blow to the head from a guy he was about to hook up with.
Elias Harper, Quantico (2015)
Cause of Death: Suicide. Jumped out a window after being outed as a terrorist.
Will Horton, Days of Our Lives (2015)
Cause of Death: Brutally strangled by a serial killer
Paul Woodrugh, True Detective (2015)
Cause of Death: After being blackmailed by his lover, went on what was essentially a suicide mission to avoid being outed, which led to him being shot and killed by a police officer.
Aiden, The Originals (2015)
Cause of Death: Heart ripped out by Dahlia
Lucas Parker, The Vampire Diaries (2015)
Cause of Death: Forced to merge with his older brother Kai, which killed him
Varick Strauss, Ray Donovan (2015)
Cause of Death: Struck with a fire poker by his father-in-law/boyfriend
Jack, The Fosters (2016)
Cause of Death: Beaten to death by his foster father
robho3
Isn’t that uplifting
am_psi
An interesting list, but I don’t think this is the problem that it’s being made out to be. Many of these were minor guest characters on shows where people die every episode, but have gay main characters that endure. Soap operas are notorious for killing off characters, not just gay ones, as a means changing storylines or to explain actors departures. Others listed here were gay characters that had lasted through their entire series, only to die in the final episodes or finales. The dramatic nature of television dictates that people are going to die. It would be patronizing, and worse boring, to insist that gays somehow be magically immune from death.
straypup
Deniz Öztürk, Alles was zählt (2014)
Cause of Death: AIDS
Joscha Degen, Alles was zählt (2014)
Cause of Death: Beaten and killed by gay bashers
Someone said in Mimi1985d’s tumblr “Neither did Joscha die after the beating nor did Deniz die of aids or whatever.”
Kieru
This to me is nothing more than a very greedy vocal minority. Characters die… a good series, especially one that plans to run for several years, has to cycle through its cast or risk boring the audience.
If a character dies but it is written in such a way as to make sense… I don’t mind. If I’m invested in the show (or that character) it may be a shock, but it’s not something to get offended over. It would be different if a character were created solely to be killed off in short order.
But look at The 100. We had a season and a half involving Clarke and The Commander as lovers. The Commander was killed off in a way that was consistent with the shows brutality, and in a way that made sense given the plot lines that were beginning to collide. Yet it was dismissed entirely as a show killing off “another lesbian”.
Also… hell… 108 over 39 years? That averages to less than 3 LGBTQ+ characters being killed off per year. Hardly worth being outraged over. Game of Thrones has probably killed off 108 LGBTQ+ characters in its first two seasons.
Kieran
Gays on TV and Hollywood movies. If they’re not crying, they’re dying. Moral of the story: Being gay is tragic and ends badly.
Masc Pride
@Kieran: Seems to end mostly in AIDS. And the handful that didn’t die from AIDS probably would’ve died from AIDS if they hadn’t been killed. Small favors? lol
Spike
And str8 characters are never killed off? This is silly.
newfoundma
Forgot Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones. Had his head squeezed in.
Aromaeus
Of course straight people are killed off however you are comparing a group of people who outnumber us at least 100 to 1 in the general population and maybe 10 to 1 in the show cast. You have a minority which is under represented on tv and film, an even smaller number that aren’t walking stereotypes or 1 dimensional or background characters being killed off often without much fanfare. It does speak to some underlying views of that minority and their value on some level.
Kangol
Don’t forget gay prison boss Simon Adebisi (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who was killed off *Oz* in Season 4. Other the other hand, gay/bi character Tobias Beecher, played by Lee Tergesen, survived the entire 6-season run.
I’m sure there are more.
Masc Pride
@Kangol: Adebisi wasn’t gay. Both Adebisi and Schillinger RAPED other inmates to emasculate and own them. Prison rape is about power and humiliation, not physical attraction.
Kangol
@Masc Pride: Point taken. His interaction with Kenny Wangler was certainly homoerotic, though, and that went beyond intimidation. The character, if not outright gay (he was certain bisexual in his sexual activity, even falling for the white woman Shirley Bellinger, at one point), was certainly queer in how he presented in the prison, baring his chest, rolling his pants up, etc.
ngequality
Ricky or Rick Shroder, The Andromeda Strain (2008) – His character, I can’t recall if he was Army, Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine, was closeted; Died after an underground lab he was in was contaminated with a unknown bacteria and fell into radioactive water.
Re: Angels In America
You really sure you want to include this film? Pacino’s character was based on a life real person who did die of AIDS; thus I’m not sure what the complaint is other than maybe you would have wanted Pacino’s Cohn to become a gay rights icon instead of a coward and hypocrite, which Roy Cohn was in real life.
ngequality
And why stop here. The Fosters; just last year, the show was heralded for featuring a same sex kiss between two young adults. This season, the young couple was forced to break up because one of them moved to a new city and poor Jude spent the past season hoping Jack would be his boyfriend. Except Jack before he died suddenly announced he wasn’t gay.
What of the lesbian foster parents? A cancer story arch. Really?
Shameless: Last year, Mikey comes out; This year, Mikey goes to prison. Meanwhile, Ian is gay and bipolar, which only means his character, if he hasn’t been written off already, is bound to kill someone sooner or later…
He BGB
Most are cable shows and for people less than 30 so I didn’t see these shows. At least most aren’t stereotypical flamboyant queens that annoy people and you’re relieved when they die. Although I liked Beverly on W&G.
MacAdvisor
“(N)eck snapped by the mayor’s tail,” there’s a cause of death one doesn’t see regularly.
As Roy Cohen wasn’t a fictional person and really did die of AIDS, I don’t think the writer had much control over his fate.
JamJewel
Jack, The Fosters (2016)said he wasn’t gay before he died so not sure why he’s on the list.
lykeitiz
@MacAdvisor: Yes to both of your points! Another favorite cause of death: Murdered by his new wife’s vampire ex-girlfriend.
And the Roy Cohn thing stuck out to me too. It’s kind of hard to change the ending when the “character” was a real person.
@Kangol: @Masc Pride: Adebisi was at least Bi. If it was only about domination, why would he throw parties in his cell with all the effeminate boys that looked like T-Dances? Everyone, including Adebisi, wore colorful scarves as I recall.
Interesting article!
imperator
“They killed Gay Character X!” hardly seems like a legitimate complaint for shows that are first and foremost dramas predicated on lots of violence where virtually anyone might be killed (and sometimes practically *everyone* ultimately is).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Game of Thrones, Spartacus, Hemlock Grove, True Blood, Supernatural, Oz– *nobody* is safe on those programs. If a gay character is killed on them, it’s probably less because they were gay and ‘targeted’ and more *because everyone in the show they were on is a target.* The straight character body-counts are also astronomical. You tried to redeem your criticism of Six Feet Under (despite acknowledging it’s a show where everyone dies) by pointing out that Keith was ‘young’ and got murdered; he was also working a job that was a danger magnet.
And as for Ray Cohn, as others have pointed out, that isn’t writers of fiction deciding to off him for being gay– that’s what historically happened.
We’ve had enough problems with visibility and representation and non-slanderous depictions in media without invoking the specter of targeted malice where there is no concrete reason to believe it exists. If you’re cast as an extra in any story wherein there’s a death every episode, then gay or straight, your character’s likely to die because the overarching narrative is that *all* life is cheap or expendable or uncertain.
trell
I agree. The editorial seems a bit loaded towards the ‘Gay people are killed off in TV shows = They deserve better”.
Like some people have commented, several of these shows are ones where nobody is safe, or where there is some sort of mass culling of characters, and several people are killed off all at once.
There are other shows where the killing of a mainstream character is not only central to the plot, but also highlights an important issue that needs to be addressed. In these cases, the death of the gay character is usually less of an afterthought, and more a statement that viewers, both gay & straight, can unite about.
Case in point: Lance Sullivan’s violent death in Cucumber (Banana, Tofu) was a key point in this TV series. It was extremely well done, pivotal to the storyline, and highlighted the ‘Gay Panic’ legal defence strategy. (Where a sexually confused person kills a gay person, and claims temporary insanity due to their condition)
How about a list of prevailing LGBT characters in TV shows? There are more than you might think!
Aromaeus
A lot of you are missing the bigger point entirely. We as a group are already underrepresented in tv and film so when we finally get a character to identify with and they are killed (often needlessly) it affects us more because we have to look so hard for representation. Even if it’s a show where people dying is the norm you need to have more than one token gay guy every couple of seasons then. You can’t even blame numbers because I live in a small ass hick town and I know I’m not the only gay person here. I don’t work in a particularly progressive area but there are at least 5 gay guys where I work not including myself. If your show only has 1 gay character who gets very little to any screen time, a crappy storyline and then you kill them in some utterly brutal fashion that is a problem. That isn’t representation, that’s not even doing the bare minimum and we deserve better. This also goes for racial minorities on tv.
The Vampire Diaries is notorious for bringing on black characters merely for fodder. When it comes to introducing 3-dimensional characters that viewers love they can find white actors to play the role no problem but need someone to be decapitated sure let’s kill the random black guy who wasn’t even in the shot 2 seconds ago.
money718
@Spike: Don’t get it either.
strix1
It took so long to scroll down here I forgot the topic…Oh yeah,,,OMG!! There is actually a group called “LGBT Fans Deserve Better?” Get a life people!! A couple points…First, Commander Lexa on ‘The 100’ although she was part of a few integral story lines, she was not part of the main cast, supporting cast members come & go…she went. Second, listing the QAF characters that died, QAF is a show that revolves entirely around the LGBTQ community, some will die. And finally, all the vampire shows…vampires we all know are straight, gay, and LGBTQ & XYZ – vampires attract death, it happens. Queerty, one word, THUMBNAILS.
martinbakman
Even though characters like Gustavo Fring and Omar Little were killed off, they were both awesome characters in their own unique ways, and were both key roles on their respective shows.
I still guffaw how many people didn’t get it that Gustavo Fring and Max were lovers. Even the dum clucks on Breaking Bad AfterBuzz TV were clueless about it.
Technically, if you care to split hairs, Iianto Jones was not gay. Buy yeah, he messed around with a non-heterosexual time traveler, but other than that had no interest at all in men.
OzJosh
For me, the most revealing thing about this list is that gay characters have fared no better under certain gay show runners (e.g. American Horror Story). You’d think they’d try a bit harder to fight the stereotype.
Dave Downunder
Haven’t seen all these shows but if the ones I have seen there are a few characters here that I didn’t even realise were supposed to be gay. I guess it was implicit rather than explicit in some cases.
Mikah92
It’s not necessarily about the deaths of the characters,it’s about the overflow of straight characters,which means LGBT characters being killed off is dwindling an already extremely small number.T.V and mainstream film is obnoxiously heterosexual.
Just like the time when T.V hardly had any racial diversity.People of color had to complain and make their voices heard for T.V to become more inclusive.
ngequality
Here’s another one: Jussie Smollett’s character, Jamal Lyon, had sex with a woman on Empire and rumor has it will be going straight for the new season. Not a new concept. It’s a storyline often repeated on many TV shows, including Law & Order. Anyone remember the episode with Kathy Griffin where she began as a lesbian and the show ended with her being straight or bi?
Bob LaBlah
The guy from the Sopranos got just what he asked for. His character was not worth crying for because he was nothing more than an animal how killed with as much remorse as one would have putting out a cigarette.
stinkbug
I can’t believe that you included Beaver from Veronica Mars. He was molested by the closeted perv mayor, but he never expressed any gay inclinations. He is a wounded and confused kid. His murderous rage and eventual suicide were handled very well by the writer-director.
frostlips
Shades of Blue -2016- Lieutenant Donnie Pomp was killed (corrupt gay villain type)
Slasher -2016- Justin Faysal, killed with rat poison – his husband attacked too
The Borgias -2013- Pascal, forced suicide
Vikings – 2015 – Athelstan – killed by jealous friend. {Although this character had intimate relationship with a woman, he was in love with a man, Ragnar, he betrayed his faith and country to be with him. Ragnar too converted from his religion for Athelstan. Ragnar spent the following season grieving and mourning him. Lots of things like that so its clear its not an ordinary pair of straight men being good mates. Also vikings didn’t have clear sexualities like we do now.}
jennifermg
Hello! Love this list/article as well as the one for lesbian or bi female character deaths.
I just wanted to let you know that I think you are missing someone for this list. On the Australian teen TV show “Dance Academy”, the gay/bisexual character Samuel/Sammy Lieberman died at the end of Season 2 (specifically episode 24, “The Prix De Fonteyn”). Cause of Death: Hit by a car. (Right before his chance to compete in a really important international dance competition, too. Like, they couldn’t even give him that, could they?)
Although his death was done respectfully in the show, and I cry every time I watch it, it still counts as a gay/bi character death.
I hope you see this and update the list!!