According to Wikipedia [1], comedy TV shows with LGBT characters by decade (which is probably a good proxy). Ellen's "coming out" episode was in 1997.
70s: 12
80s: 11
90s: 28
00s: 45
Willing to wager the trend is similar to movies.
We had (just the ones I can recall off-hand, but had to lookup years):
Paris is Burning ('90)
My Own Private Idaho ('91)
Fried Green Tomatoes ('91)
Philadelphia ('93)
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar ('95)
Jeffrey ('95)
Birdcage ('96)
Bound ('96)
In & Out ('97)
Boys Don't Cry ('99)
Of course, most of these role were filled by cis people.
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According to Wikipedia [1], comedy TV shows with LGBT characters by decade (which is probably a good proxy). Ellen's "coming out" episode was in 1997.
70s: 12 80s: 11 90s: 28 00s: 45
Willing to wager the trend is similar to movies.
We had (just the ones I can recall off-hand, but had to lookup years):
Paris is Burning ('90) My Own Private Idaho ('91) Fried Green Tomatoes ('91) Philadelphia ('93) To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar ('95) Jeffrey ('95) Birdcage ('96) Bound ('96) In & Out ('97) Boys Don't Cry ('99)
Of course, most of these role were filled by cis people.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comedy_television_series_with_LGBT_characters