Buffy the Vampire Slayerblazed an LGBT+ trail, dusting tired gay stereotypes and staking ancient evils that said TV characters can’t be queer and badass.
Twenty-four years ago, a chosen few sat in front of their boxy television sets, peeled off their TV dinners, and were introduced to Buffy Summers.
To viewers in 1997, she didn’t seem like much. A plucky, wise-cracking teen who had a seemingly neverending collection of halter-neck tops and shawls. Oh, and she fought vampires.
But decades on and Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, has become one of television’s most enduring and inspirational characters (even if her clothing choices were the real Big Bad, to be honest).