ABSTRACT
When it premiered in 2009, almost 10 million viewers tuned into the FOX series, Glee (2009-2015). Helmed by openly gay producer Ryan Murphy, Glee explored the world of high school “losers” who found community and meaning by participating in the school’s glee club. The show’s quirky aesthetics, melodramatic plots, campy humor, musical numbers, and celebration of difference made it especially appealing to GLBTQ youth. The show featured not one, but a number of gay teen characters, who along with their straight counterparts, navigated love, longing, and growing up. Fans of the show took to Twitter, Tumbler, Facebook, and fan fiction sites to celebrate the romance between gay teens Kurt and Blaine or between lesbian Santana and bisexual Brittany, respectively dubbed “Klaine” and “Brittana.” In 2012, during the show’s third season, Glee introduced an African-American, transgender woman character, played by Alex Newell. Newell was discovered by The Glee Project (2011-), a spinoff reality competition show with the coveted prize of an appearance on Glee. During the height of Glee’s popularity, its first three seasons, the show was capable of pulling in up to 12 million viewers, sold numerous downloads of the songs covered by the Glee Club on iTunes, mounted a successful touring stage version of the show, inspired an active and vocal fan base through social media platforms, and encouraged fans to identify themselves, in a play on the word “geeks,” as “gleeks.” It is doubtful that those advocating for improved media coverage in the early 1990s might have predicted a show that not just represented, but celebrated, GLBTQ identities. There can be no doubt that the past 20 years
have given rise to an era of unprecedented visibility for GLBTQ individuals, communities, and issues.
