10 Most Important Modern LGBT+ TV Characters
1. Captain Raymond Holt - Brooklyn-99
Brooklyn-99 has established itself as one of the funniest sitcoms of modern times, and it’s helped reshape the comedy of our era.
Its managed to make jokes about racial profiling, trans people in prison, bisexuality, being gay, being black, police brutality... and that’s just for starters. None of this is done with an edgy, Family Guy/South Park ‘we laugh at everyone’ sort of attitude, either.
Brooklyn-99 is always in on the joke, and avoids ever punching down. There’s nothing especially wrong with South Park/Family Guy’s humour, but it’s certainly an older style of comedy. Brooklyn-99 is embracing the shift in climate without tripping over itself to be woke.
Bisexual Rosa Diaz gets an honourable mention here, but to keep the list to one character per series, it simply has to be Captain Raymond Holt.
Holt is a gay, black police officer who has risen to the rank of Captain of the 99th precinct, despite facing heavy discrimination throughout his career. Articulate, inwardly warm but outwardly stoic and fiercely loyal, Holt is one of the best characters on TV before his sexuality even enters the equation.
With this sincere portrayal added in though, he might be the most important LGBT+ character on TV right now.