Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which turns 26 today, blazed a trail for LGBTQ+ characters on TV, dusting tired gay stereotypes and proving heroes can be queer and badass.
Twenty-five years ago, on 10 March 1997, a chosen few sat down in front of their televisions and were introduced to a plucky high-schooler and her gang of misfit friends.
To those viewers, she may not have seemed like much. A wise-cracking teen who had a seemingly never-ending collection of halter-neck tops and shawls. Oh, and she fought vampires.
But Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, became one of television’s most enduring and inspirational characters (even if her clothing choices were the real Big Bad, to be honest).