In the early 1970s, producer Norman Lear, who died Dec. 7 at the age of 101, helped influence a tectonic shift in the representations of gay and lesbian characters on television. The common, humiliating portrayals were sexual perverts or punchlines to a joke, but Lear challenged those stereotypes when he brought gay men and lesbians … Continue reading ‘All in the Family,’ Norman Lear brought gay, lesbian characters out of the closet