Warning: Spoilers for multiple TV shows
Hold on to your favorite lesbian characters on TV everyone because they are dropping like flies. It’s not surprising at this point that many of the lesbian characters on television get killed off; it’s been happening since TV decided to acknowledge that lesbians exist. However, with 10 lesbian and bisexual female characters killed in the past month alone, four of which were from shows on the CW network, this issue has come to the forefront of the media.
After the death of the recurring character of Lexa on The 100 (CW) at the beginning of March, the Internet has been buzzing about the constant stream of lesbian deaths on TV, the unfairness of them, and the harm they are doing to their viewers. The death of Lexa in particular sparked a lot of controversy because she was killed right after she and the protagonist, Clarke, finally resolved their sexual tension. Not only that, but she was killed with one of the most commonly used and most hated TV tropes: a stray bullet. This tactic has been used for “shock value” with other lesbian characters such as Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Delphine from Orphan Black (although apparently her death has not been confirmed), and at this point lesbians everywhere are ready to invest in some bullet vests just to make sure that they’re safe from the potential stray bullets television writers seem to think exist in abundance. Lexa’s death was also particularly inflammatory because the show has often stretched the believability of what is survivable in a post-apocalyptic world. Seeing Lexa die from something minor compared to other injuries on the show felt sloppy and disrespectful to the character and the audience.
Around the same time as Lexa’s death, The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Jane the Virgin, and The Magicians all killed off lesbian characters in particularly brutal ways including strangulation, suicide, and a stray arrow to the eye. The frequency and brutality of deaths to the already small representation lesbians have on television demonstrates a lack of care by the television industry. These shows seem to forget that they do not exist inside a vacuum, and that their storylines are interpreted in a wider social context. This makes these deaths into personal attacks towards the lesbian community. It has become so common that a lesbian character that happily survives her show is more shocking than the deaths that writers use for “shock value.” There is even a podcast called “Alice Isn’t Dead,” that was released in the wake of Lexa’s death, which proves this point.
Many viewers of The 100 felt traumatized by Lexa’s unexpected death. They spoke out about it saying it caused their mental health to suffer after being assured by the show runner that it was a safe space for them. In response, they have raised over $100,000 for the Trevor Project in order to help make a positive impact in the lives of struggling LGBTQ+ youth.
Despite this positivity that has come from such a negative act, something must be done about the way lesbians are treated on television. The “Dead Lesbian Syndrome” TV trope needs to be put to rest. Members of the lesbian community should not have to feel attacked by television, and should not have to abandon shows they love because they feel like there is no space for them. So everyone hold tight to Emily Fields, Arizona Robbins, Tara Chambers, and Nicky Nichols. They may not be long for this world, and maybe if you do we can see some change in the way lesbians are treated on television.