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MTV's 'Faking It' is introducing television's first ever intersex character. Lauren , played by actress Bailey De Young, has androgen insensitivity syndrome and is genetically male but has female sex characteristics. The show is one example of the many TV programs featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters. Here's a look at some of TV's most memorable LGBT characters:

On "Soap," Jodie Dallas became one of TV's first LGBT characters. Played by Billy Crystal, Dallas was gay but had relationships with women throughout the ABC show's four seasons, which aired during the late '70s and early '80s. Dallas also fathered a child named Wendy.

Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) adopted a baby girl named Lily on the pilot episode of "Modern Family" in 2009. The pair made plans to adopt another child during the third season of the ABC show.

Dr. Callie Torres (Sarah Ramirez) and Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) were married during seventh season of "Grey's Anatomy" in 2011. The pair also have a baby girl they share with her father, Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane).

Lafayette Reynolds, played by Nelsan Ellis, works as a cook and gay prostitute on the HBO series "True Blood."

On "Brothers and Sisters," which aired on ABC from 2006 to 2011, Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) proposed to Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane). The pair had two children, Olivia and Daniel.

Wilson Cruz played Rickie Vasquez, a gay 15-year-old, on "My So-Called Life." Despite garnering a cult following, the show only lasted one season on ABC.

After playing bisexual Alex Kelly on "The O.C.," Olivia Wilde played Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on Fox's "House."

Max Blum, played by Adam Pally, is openly gay. His friends persuade him to come out to his parents during the first season of "Happy Endings."

Calvin Owens, left, played by Paul James, originally struggled to come out to his Omega Chi fraternity brothers on "Greek," which aired on ABC Family from 2007 to 2011.

A major storyline in "Pretty Little Liars" has been the discovery by Emily (Shay Mitchell) of her sexuality and her coming out to her family.

Gay characters Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) and Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) and lesbian character Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) are some shining stars on Fox's "Glee." The teens deal with bullies, coming out and dating on the musical dramedy.

"Glee" introduced its first transgendered teen character in 2012. "Unique," shown here singing, is played by actor Alex Newell.

Critics hailed the realistic portrayal of the relationship between David Fisher (Michael C. Hall, left) and Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick) on "Six Feet Under."

Michael K. Williams played Omar Little, a well-known Baltimore criminal, on "The Wire." In March, President Barack Obama told Bill Simmons that Little is his favorite "Wire" character: "I mean, that guy is unbelievable, right?"

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(CNN) -- For the first time, three networks have rated "excellent" in an annual survey of LGBT portrayals on television, the LGBT media advocacy organization GLAAD said Wednesday.

In its annual Network Responsibility Index, GLAAD said that ABC Family, HBO and MTV all earned its top grade for its LGBT representations on their original programming in the 2013-14 season. The networks air such shows as "Faking It" (MTV), "Looking" (HBO) and "The Fosters" (ABC Family).

On the other end of the spectrum, A&E, History and TNT all earned "failing" grades. (TNT and HBO are both divisions of Time Warner, as is CNN.)

ABC, The CW, Fox, NBC, FX and Showtime earned "good" marks, and CBS, TLC and USA received "adequate" grades.

"Television networks are playing a key role in promoting cultural understanding of LGBT lives around the world, and are now producing some of the best LGBT-inclusive programming we've yet seen," said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.

In the future, said Ellis, GLAAD will also be making transgender content a key part of earning an "excellent" grade.

The organization also put out its Where We Are on TV report chronicling the number of LGBT characters in the current television season.

For 2014-15, 3.9% of prime-time broadcast scripted series regulars will be lesbian, gay or bisexual, an increase of 0.6% from last season. Broadcast scripted series have 33 recurring lesbian, gay or bisexual characters; cable scripted series have 64 regulars and 41 recurring lesbian, gay or bisexual characters.

Transgender characters have major roles in two series from streaming services: "Orange Is the New Black" (on Netflix) and "Transparent" (from Amazon).