Law & Order: SVU prides itself on uplifting the voices of survivors, but it has one lingering problem regarding characters that season 25 can still fix. However, when the series first premiered back in 1999, it mainly centered around white, female victims, with the occasional male murder victim thrown in. The first male sexual assault victim was not featured until season 3’s “Ridicule,” and as the title suggests, his case was not taken seriously by most people around him. There were also few detectives of color included in the cast during this period; from season 2 onward, Fin (Ice-T) replaced Monica Jeffries (Michelle Hurd) as the sole Black detective.
Over the past 25 years, SVU has consistently improved the diversity of both victims and detectives. Male victims and victims of color became more common, and sex workers and gay and transgender victims were treated with more respect. Law & Order: SVU has been renewed for season 26 and will be going into that new season with the most diverse cast of detectives in its history. Benson and Fin are joined by newcomer Curry, a Black woman, and Velasco, who is Mexican. However, there areno openly LBGTQ+ detectives in the main cast despite the progress made in representing LGBTQ+ issues through current stories, and season 25 needs to correct this.
Law & Order: SVU Has Only Ever Had 1 LGBTQ+ Detective
Some of Law & Order: SVU’s episodes based on true events include LGBTQ+ characters. Fin has had a gay son since season 7 and Noah Benson came out as bisexual during season 23. Including LGBTQ+ characters in other aspects of the story than simply being victims has helped combat negative stereotypes. However, the only LGBTQ+ detective in the series’ history was written out at the end of season 23 and Law & Order: SVU currently has no LGBTQ+ detectives. This omission undercuts the series’ support of LGBTQ+ equality and must be corrected.
Kat Tamin (Jamie Gray Hyder) was Law & Order: SVU’s first bisexual detective. SVU wrote her as a multi-dimensional character rather than a token bisexual character. She was a passionate, hard-headed young detective who clashed with Benson because she didn’t do things by the book and sometimes made cases more difficult to close. Although Kat provided strong representation for the bisexual community, she was abruptly written out at the beginning of Law & Order: SVU season 23after getting shot and the detectives who succeeded her have all been straight and cisgender.
The SVU universe lost a lot when Kat was written out. Not only was she bisexual, but she was also Latina, another group that is underrepresented on TV. Kat also offered support to transgender victims to a degree that has not been seen since, though the series has had several trans-supportive storylines since Kat’s departure. SVU attempted to recreate the dynamic between her and Benson during season 24 with Molly Burnett’s character but not the bold LGBTQ+ representation that Kat offered. Fortunately, the series still has the opportunity to correct this serious mistake as it heads into season 26.
Law & Order season 26 updates don’t currently include adding an LGBTQ+ character, but it would be a fairly simple fix. The squad has recently added two new female detectives, and neither of their sexual orientations has been made explicit. Law & Order: SVU could follow up on a recent story in which they stressed that attacking someone who was falsely perceived to be gay is a hate crime by demonstrating that the assumption that everyone is straight is also fallacious and problematic. The series could do this by revealing one of the new detectives to be queer.
Bruno has already been established as a character with an ex-wife. Bisexual men are less common on television than bisexual women, so it would offer representation of a lesser-known group if Bruno were revealed to be bisexual. Failing this, either Curry or Sykes could be revealed to be queer, since little is known about their personal lives or relationships at this point. Adding this dimension to any of these characters would help resolve the problem of lack of LGBTQ+ representation on the team as long as it was written authentically rather than seeming to be tacked on arbitrarily.
Law & Order: SVU Could Address This With A Guest Star (But It Might Not Be Enough)
Rather than adding a new character, Law & Order: SVU could introduce a cop that the main detectives work with for a few episodes who happens to be LGBTQ+. This would be better than no representation at all, but would not be as strong as adding an LGBTQ+ main character. Guest stars, even if they appear in multiple episodes, are on-screen for a limited amount of time. After the guest appearance was over, SVU would again be left with a lack of LGBTQ+ representation. Having someone join the cast permanently who is LGBTQ+ is a far better solution.
Law & Order: SVU has had recurring LGBTQ+ characters in the past and already has some on canvas now. Adding guest characters who are LGBTQ+ would not be much different than what the series is currently doing. However, it could inadvertently send the message that LGBTQ+ people don’t deserve to be part of the main cast if the only characters who are LGBTQ+ are guests or recurring characters.
While adding LGBTQ+ guest stars would be a step in the right direction, Law & Order: SVU must do more than that. Adding a permanent cast member who is LGBTQ+ would provide the type of representation the series has lacked since Kat was written out. SVU has supported survivors of all races, genders, and sexual orientations through its powerful stories. Correcting the lack of LGBTQ+ voices in the main cast would resolve a glaring omission that undercuts its intention to support all survivors, including those in the LGBTQ+ community.
