The ending of Will & Grace has taken away two gay roles from our boob tubes this season—and those who care about equal representation for gays should be concerned.

Did you know that of all the regular characters on major networks last year, less than 2% of them in primetime were gay, lesbian or bisexual?  And the numbers don’t fare much better this year.  GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has been analyzing the numbers for several seasons now.  Of the 95 Fall shows announced so far (for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV), only 9 of the regular characters are gay or lesbian.  That’s down one from last year.  In other words, out of the 679 roles—only 1.3% are homosexual.

Keep in mind—this study only applies to the major networks.  Maybe that’s why cable is increasing in popularity.  We need to turn to shows like The L Word and Degrassi to see greater diversity.

Trivia question:  Of the 9 gay/lesbian roles this fall—only 3 are from returning shows.  What are those shows?  Answer:  Desperate Housewives (Andrew), ER (Carrie) and The Office (Oscar - the closeted gay).