He doesn’t hide the fact that he’s gay - he has pride flags in his office and lovingly talks about his husband, Kevin. He’s a black police captain in New York who also happens to be gay. If the only exposure you had to black gay men was through TV shows, you’d think all of them are flamboyant and “extra” (which is obviously not true).Įnter Brooklyn 99’s Captain Raymond Holt. But unfortunately, representation is often accompanied by stereotypes, particularly when it comes to gay men, and definitely when it comes to black gay men. Now, 20+ years later, there are more LGBTQ characters on TV than ever. In the late 90s, Ellen DeGeneres’ character on her show Ellen came out as gay, becoming one of the first major characters to openly identify as queer on a sitcom.
