Greg Berlanti Looks Back on Breaking LGBTQ Barriers on TV (VIDEO)

Greg Berlanti LGBTQ Characters
Courtesy Everett Collection; Sergei Bachlakov/The CW

When you think of groundbreaking moments in LGBTQ representation on television, many shows, characters and storylines come to mind, and you’ll notice that many come from prolific writer, producer, and creator Greg Berlanti.

Beginning with the groundbreaking story of teen Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) coming out on Dawson’s Creek in early 1999, Berlanti would go on to break ground with LGBTQ stories on shows like Everwood, Brothers & Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money, Political Animals, a slew of DC-comic book shows like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Black Lightning as well as Netflix’s You.

Berlanti, who has also been very involved with the Paley Center for Media and its preservation and celebration of all things television, was the perfect subject for a new Conversations in Pride one-on-one conversation with TV Guide Magazine’s West Coast Bureau Chief Jim Halterman, which was released on Monday by the Paley Center.

During the insightful chat, Berlanti talked about which LGBTQ characters he looked to when he was growing up, getting those characters and stories on mainstream television series and which of the many characters he wrote for were closest to himself.

Watch the full interview here:

For more on the Paley Center for Media, check out the website or watch more videos at the Paley Center At Home YouTube page.