10 TV Show Characters Who Were Gay All Along

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | September 3, 2014 |

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | September 3, 2014 |

Last month, it was revealed that The Walking Dead’s resident badass, Daryl Dixon , could be gay. The sexual preference wasn’t originally written into his profile, but if that happens, it’d be an interesting direction for an already-great character on a show that could use more direction. Sexuality doesn’t necessarily dictate a character, but it helps explain his lack of interest in Beth. Here are some other shows where characters were revealed to be gay or bisexual midway through, whether it was planned out or not.

Ellen Morgan, Ellen
After Ellen DeGeneres said she was gay, her titular show was re-energized when her fictional counterpart came out, too, in season four’s much-watched “The Puppy Episode.”

Oscar Martinez, The Office
The writers decided midway through season one that Oscar Martinez would be gay, which was brought up front and center in season two, when he takes the day off to spend time with his boyfriend, who Dwight thinks his roommate. Oscar’s homosexuality was also the focal topic for one of the show’s best episodes, “Gay Witch Hunt.”

Beverly Harris, Roseanne
During the not-real final season of the show, Roseanne dreamed that her mother, Beverly, turned out to be gay as a way of owning her sexuality. In the finale, however, we learned that it was actually her sister, Jackie, who’s gay.

Stephen Stotch, South Park
Butters’ dad was mainly a background character on South Park until the fifth season. That’s when poor Butters spied on his dad for his mom and discovered his dad’s secret life of gay bathhouses. Later on, Stephen admitted to Butters that he’s bicurious.

Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
College is when you discover yourself, right? That’s what happens to Willow in season four, when she fell in love with Tara Maclay after previously pining for high school crushes Xander and Oz. Willow and Tara’s love was so deep and true, the death of the former brought us dark Willow.

Dave Karofsky, Glee
We’re introduced to Karofsky, the typical football player bully, when he threw slushies at and picked on the glee club. But it was not until he started specifically targeting Kurt in the second season that we found out that he was also gay and was struggling with his identity.

Kerry Weaver, ER
All we knew about Dr. Weaver at the beginning was that she was both abrasive and compassionate, like her matter-of-fact demeanor and her fight for HIV positive workers’ rights in the hospital. That is, until season seven when she fell in love with Elizabeth Mitchell’s character Kim Legaspi.

Ronald “Mac” MacDonald, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Mac, who fancies himself a ladies man, harbors bisexual tendencies, including apparent romantic feelings for his BFFs; dating the beautiful Carmen, a pre-operation transexual; and the time when Charlie uttered out loud, “I know we’ve never said this as a group, but Mac’s gay,” as he wanted the gang to grease up bodybuilders in season nine.

Patty Bouvier, The Simpsons
It took 16 seasons (11 of which are worth watching!) for The Simpsons to finally reveal that Patty was gay. She tried to marry who she thought was the love of her life, but instead was a man pretending to be a woman, which she didn’t find appealing. Meanwhile, Smiths is still in the closest. Barely.

Todd Quinlan, Scrubs
Todd went from “that’s what she said” to “what’s what he and she said” in season five without skipping a beat.