GLAAD has released its yearly report analyzing the quantity and quality of LGBT character portrayals on television. Where We Are on TV 2015 found that of the 881 regular characters on broadcast primetime programming in the coming year, 35 are identified as LGB. That's 4%. Not one of the regular or recurring characters is transgender.

I guess that means we are not to expect Mrs. Hudson to pop up on Elementary this season.

The number of regular LGBT characters counted on cable increased from 64 to 84, while recurring characters increased from 41 to 58.

Now I know that you are wanting to shout about the award winning series Orange is the New Black and Transparent, but they fall into the new category.

For the first time, GLAAD counted LGBT characters on original series that premiered on Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. GLAAD found 43 series regulars and 16 recurring LGBT characters across 23 series.

There are no transgender characters counted on primetime broadcast programming, while only three recurring trans characters were counted on cable (2%). Streaming series boast the highest percentage of trans characters at 7% (4) with two notably being series leads (Maura on Transparent and Nomi on Sense8). Of the seven trans characters counted, only one was a transgender man.

The expansion of the television landscape into digital platforms is helping to spark needed changes, as content creators like Netflix and Amazon are making their mark with groundbreaking series like Sense8 and Transparent.

--GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis

Racial diversity among the LGBT characters is lacking: 71% of the LGBT characters on cable and 73% of the LGBT characters on streaming services are white.

Out of the 881 regular characters counted on primetime broadcast shows, 287 of them are people of color — a six-point increase from last year.

The critical and commercial success of series like Empire, Transparent and Orange Is the New Black can serve as an example to network executives that audiences are looking for stories they haven’t seen before.

There are still plenty of stories about our community yet to be told. LGBT people of color have remained underrepresented for years, and transgender men have been all but invisible in the media.

--Ellis

The report specifically praises Empire as "one of the most inclusive programs on broadcast television"...including the portrayal of a gay musician and a bisexual singer.

Bisexual representations shot up on both broadcast and cable this year, where the latter saw an increase from 10 to 18 bisexual men in its programming. However, the study argues that depictions of such characters tend to reinforce stereotypes associated with bisexual individuals (i.e. that they are untrustworthy, prone to infidelity, use sex as a means of manipulation or lack a sense of morality).

Orange is the New Black has more LGBT characters than any other show.

The number of Americans who personally know someone who is transgender has gone up, but an overwhelming majority (84%) of Americans learn about trans people through what they see in the media. It is imperative then that creators not only include trans characters, but also improve that representation by telling a wider variety of stories and empowering trans people to tell their own stories.

One way to do this is to introduce more transgender characters who are defined by more than just being transgender. A good example is Nomi on the Netflix series Sense8 who has the same type of dramatic storylines as other characters and is living her life beyond the “transition narrative” we have seen so much of recently.

We would also like to see Hollywood eliminate the use of some harmful and outdated tropes as it begins to integrate trans stories into shows and movies. These include:

• portraying trans characters as tragic victims;

• depicting the transition process as medically dangerous;

• portraying trans people as killers, psychopaths, and villains, who are o en mentally ill;

• and portraying the majority of trans women as sex workers, especially with no context given as to why trans women may be forced into sex work including widespread employment discrimination, among other factors.