It has been a long time since sponsors pulled their ads for TV incidents like Billy Crystal playing openly gay Jodie Dallas on the sitcom Soap, two gay men embracing after having sex on the drama thirtysomething, and the first on-screen kiss between two women on L.A. Law.

And then there was first the gay couple featured in the short-lived Norman Lear sitcom The Hot L Baltimore, which resulted in a “mature themes” warning appearing at the beginning of each episode.

While representation on the small screen is still not exactly indicative of the 20 percent of Americans that identify as LGBTQ, according to GLAAD, progress is being made.

“In just the past few years, LGBTQ issues and representation have come to the forefront of comics, deep culture, television and many other mediums,”Vulture editor Abraham Reisman, said at the opening of Saturday’s New York Comic Con session The Future is LGBTQ. “While there is still bigotry and intolerance out there, all of us in this room are doing what we can to drone it out with love, acceptance and creativity.”

“One thing we have seen recently is there is a lot more representation among all ages of the LGBTQ community,” said Megan Townsend, GLAAD’s director of entertainment research and analysis. “And Disney Channel recently featured an episode of Doc McStuffins featuring two gay moms.”

“But we still need more stories featuring LGBTQ people of color, who have been historically left out or relegated to the sidelines,” she added. “We need more bisexual characters with more fully realized stories as opposed to being treated as the oddities in the room. And we need better stories for queer women where there is not a violent ending.”

Townsend was featured at the panel alongside Gabby Rivera (Marvel’s America), Steve Orlando (DC’s Justice League of America), Shadi Petosky (Amazon’s Danger & Eggs), Brooklyn Allen (BOOM! Studios’ Lumberjanes), Mariko Tamaki (BOOM! Studios’ Lumberjanes) and James Tynion IV (BOOM! Studios’ The Woods).

“I think we are seeing that there is success in real relatable stories that actually do have universal appeal,” noted Tynion IV,” a comic book writer also known for his work on the DC Comics Batman franchise. “Let ourselves be messy, and let us stumble. The world is changing at such a rapid rate and we need to be represented as a community of real people with real lives.”

“It is super important that we have multiple characters and a variety of choice, just like any other segment of the population,” added Petosky. “The days of the stereotype should be over.”

Rivera, the voice behind America Chavez in the Marvel universe, has another suggestion: “I think everything should be blacker and browner and more native and more original. There is so much richness and beauty and, even in our cool stories, we still have to remember to diversify. Maybe the attractive white gay boy should not be the focal point of everyone’s love affections. Open it up and give up a real look into the world as it is, and how it should be represented … straight and gay. Our world is a diversified melting pot, and everyone should be adequately seen.”

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