Representation is an extremely important issue in today's society. Gay and lesbian characters in the media play a huge part in how the LGBT community is perceived in society, and making sure that progress is being made is an important step in improving said perception. Without continuing progress, conditions for the LGBT community will never improve.

GLAAD, the national LGBT media advocacy group, is one of the main proponents of representation in pop culture. The group is dedicated to promoting healthy representation of LGBT characters and lifestyles, and has been working since 1985 to ensure that the LGBT community is a part of our country's popular culture.

In 2008, GLAAD created the Network Responsibility Index, a report that graded television networks based on the number of LGBT characters in its programming. By looking back at the previous season of television, the NRI catalogues the number and growth of LGBT characters across all major networks, then assigns a letter grade to each. Before the NRI, the 'Where We Are On TV' report was created to be used as a tool to accurately gauge the number of gay and lesbian characters in an upcoming season.

For the first time in the history of the Network Responsibility Index, three separate networks have received an 'Excellent' rating. ABC Family, MTV and HBO all received top honors, with ABC Family and MTV receiving their second 'Excellent' rating. Many networks improved upon previous grades, and only three networks failed to receive a passing grade: A&E, History and TNT.

The 'Where We Are On TV' report is also positive, citing an increase in the number of future gay characters on television. From last year, the percentage of LGBT characters will increase from 3.3% to 3.9%, and over 100 returning and recurring characters will be featured during the upcoming season. In particular, Fox saw a relatively high number of LGBT characters at 6.5%, with ABC and NBC following at 4.5% and 3.8% respectively.

While the new record is definitely welcome news, there is still room for improvement. Transgender representation is literally nonexistent, with zero transgender characters appearing in the upcoming television season. Sadly enough, this is a decline from just one transgender character featured on TV in the last year.

In response to this, GLAAD has announced that, in order to receive an 'Excellent' rating in the future, transgender characters must make an appearance on a network. Female characters also saw a decline over the course of a year, dropping for 43% to 40%.

While improvement is slow and the road is long, reports like the NRI and Where We Are On TV really do help. Representation is the next major step in cultural acceptance of LGBT lifestyles, and thankfully, most major networks really do seem to be trying to help.

Both reports are avaialbe to read on GLAAD's official site.