Do you have LezWatch.TV Frequently Asked Questions? We have answers!

Table of contents

Who are you?

We are a team of TV loving queers who got annoyed by all the queer deaths, banded together, and made a database.

It’s a toaster. With a rainbow. It’s a tribute to the toaster joke in the groundbreaking “Puppy” episode of Ellen.

Where is [show] or [character]?

The LezWatch.TV database is continually growing with new shows and characters being added all the time. If you notice something missing please contact us and we will look into it.

Do you list transgender characters?

Yes. We list both trans men and trans women, as well as non-binary characters and anyone on the gender spectrum who does not identify as cis male. Our database is inclusive of a diverse spectrum of the queer community.

Why is this site called ‘LEZ’ watch TV if you include non-lesbians?

Because of the pun. Lez … Let’s … We thought it was cute.

While the site founders (Mika and Tracy) do identify as lesbian, we aim to be as inclusive as possible in regards to the sexual orientation of characters included in the database.

Why don’t you track cis-men?

We don’t want to.

We love our cis male queers, and some of us ‘ship them as hard as we do female characters. But we started this site to track female characters as we felt they were wildly underrepresented. As time went on, we broadened that to cover trans men and non-binary characters in order to be more inclusive of the myriad representations of the less tracked genders.

If you want to make a male version of this site, we would love to see it and link to it! You can use any of our code (all listed on our resources page) and turn it to suit your needs.

Why don’t you list all characters who have threesomes?

The first time we really tackled this was with Mariana on Good Trouble, who had a threesome with a married couple. Since that is her one and only foray into the possibility of bisexuality, we don’t list it. Basically, a single sexual experience does not define people. If it did, every lesbian who had sex with a man would have to be bisexual. What defines a character is simply their overall actions after.

Or, as we often say, a single threesome does not a bisexual create.

Why do some shows have stars?

We developed a star system to rank the level of openly queer show creators, story lines, actors and characters.

  • Gold Star – A show with openly queer creators, majority queer characters, out queer actors and stories made for a queer female audience. Examples are The L Word, Take My Wife and Pose.
  • Silver Star – A show with openly queer creators, queer characters and stories made for a queer female audience, but may have no out queer actors or also has a significant number of stories geared towards a non-queer female audience. Examples are Queer as Folk, RED and Steven Universe.
  • Bronze Star – A show with openly queer creators, some queer characters and plots, made for a general audience. We also use this star for shows focused on a queer main character and their stories but has no out queers involved with production or acting. Examples are Sense8, American Horror Story and Janet King.

There is a secret ‘anti’ star, which we have reserved for shows that were made solely to pander to queers. Thankfully, we don’t have any of those yet.

Why do some shows have hearts?

A heart on a show indicates it’s a show we officially love. We wanted to make it easy for visitors to find the best shows for queer representation. The criteria for getting a heart is a high-quality show with plenty of screen time given to positive LGBT characters and stories and no shock-value deaths.

What do the ratings mean?

  • Realness – Are the queer characters portrayed in a realistic manner? This is in regards to the characters’ queerness being representative of the experience of a real life queer people. Being an alien, superhero or an android does not factor into or affect this rating.
  • Quality – Is the show good for queers? This is in regards to the show doing a good job of queer representation and showing queer characters as 3-dimensional people. Overall show quality also factors into this rating.
  • Screentime – Do queer characters and stories get equal screen time compared to straight characters? This is in regards to how often we will see queer representation on the show overall.

How do you determine if a show is worth watching?

The main factor in determining if a show is worth watching is if it’s a good, entertaining and enjoyable show overall. The personal opinion of the author does play a role in this decision. We try to have the final ruling made by a person who has watched and has in depth knowledge of the show whenever possible.

What is a ‘show score’?

We mathematically calculate, based on all those ratings, the hearts, the stars, and the ‘worth it’ call, etc. a number value for a show. The maximum score is 100, which would require perfect ratings, a thumbs up, a gold star, and for us to love it, while also having no tropes and either all characters played by queer actors, or all characters having no cliches.

In addition, we use public APIs to bring in the scores from other, reliable, sites.

For more information, please read our detailed description of how show scores are calculated.

Why do some characters have two names?

That means they were introduced as one name and became another. Characters like Adam Torres, Nomi Marks, and Ms. Hudson were all introduced as the gender they prefer. Others like Moria/Max and Coach Beiste transitioned over the course of the show.

We strive to use the most recognizable name for the character. For example, Remy Hadley on House is better known as Thirteen. This is the same reason we use ‘Coach Beiste’ instead of Shannon or Sheldon.

How sure are you that the actors you’ve marked as queer are queer?

We only list actors as queer when they themselves have said so. This means statements in legitimate news interviews (i.e. not TMZ), their own tell-all books, or public statements. If there’s any doubt, we don’t out. This can result in the opposite problem, of course, misattributing heterosexuality and cisgender to known queers.

As of 2020, we changed our default for all actors to the “unknown” sexuality, until it can be confirmed in any direction.

We do our best to properly designate the actor’s preferred gender and sexuality, as well as pronouns. In some cases (like when they state themselves to be 48% lesbian) we default to queer. If you’re an actor and would like us to correct or modify your listing, please let us know. We would much rather define you by the terms you prefer.

And don’t worry if you want to use a term you think we don’t have. We’ll add it just for you. Everyone deserves to be who they are.

We apologize in advance for any misattributions and will correct listings as soon as they’re brought to our attention.

What’s “Bury Your Queers”?

Bury Your Queers is also known as “Dead Lesbian Syndrome” or “Bury Your Gays”. It basically means a disproportionate number of queers on TV die.

In the early days of queers on TV, characters were not allowed to have happy endings. If they were lucky enough to end up in a relationship it was abusive, perverse, or one had to die at the end. This also happened, in large numbers, to queers who weren’t in relationships, making being a queer character on TV in the US more deadly than being on the Titanic.

These days, there’s a thinly veiled ‘justification’ that ‘everyone dies.’ They try to make it look like the queer characters are a noble sacrifice, so they can claim they didn’t kill off a character as a ‘punishment’ for being gay, but instead that they were too worthy for this earth.

The problem is that since the 1970s, queer people have been seeing their television representations be disposable. Many of us strongly feel that this constant reflection in the media has a detrimental impact on our self-worth. In short, we don’t like it and we feel it’s harmful.

You know Bill Potts from Doctor Who and Yorkie and Kelly from Black Mirror aren’t really dead, right?

We know, and short of having a ‘kinda dead?’ category for the various sci-fi characters who are dead but only in body, we default to this: If the body is dead, then you’re dead. If your spirit moves to a new body, you’re a new character (and the old one is dead).

Why don’t you list characters who are queer in the source material?

This usually comes up with the MCU, comics, Doctor Who universe … or the Buffy comics. We don’t count source material as TV canon unless the show itself does. When you get into comics (or manga) and books, a lot of content is left out or even outright changed. Heck, the MCU is clearly a separate universe than the comics! All this means to you is that we cannot rely on them being valid history for the tv show.

There’s also the fact that we don’t want to give ‘credit’ to shows for having queers when you can watch the show and not see a single hint of that. Few things are as disappointing as implied queerness that ends in straightness.

How does ‘death’ work as a statistic?

We track death in two places. First, all shows have a tag ‘dead queers‘. Secondly, all characters have a tag ‘dead.’ On the death stats page, the show data is taken only from the shows and the character data only from the characters except in the case of when a character is on multiple shows.

Sara Lance died on Arrow, but she’s alive (again) on Legends of Tomorrow. Since she died but came back on Legends, only Arrow is listed as having killed a female queer. In that way, if Arrow kills off their remaining bisexual, Nyssa, it would become a show with 100% death score, while Sara remains Schrödinger’s bisexual.

Are you affiliated with any other site/group?

No. We are happy to know and support other LGBT entertainment, media and advocacy sites, but we are not organizers or members of any other groups or sites.

Are you an accredited press outlet?

Yes. We have been accredited for events including San Diego Comic Con, WonderCon, ClexaCon (Las Vegas, Anaheim, and London), QFX, Outfest, and FlameCon.

Can I write an article for you?

Absolutely! Head on over to our Article Submissions page and let us know.

At this time, LezWatch.TV is a 100% volunteer run organization and we cannot offer payment for submissions. None of us are making any money off this site and we don’t run ads. The site is hosted fully out of pocket and via the generous donations of supporters just like you.