In 2008, Berlanti created and produced the legal drama Eli Stone, which ran from January 2008 until July 2009.

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A huge fan of the openly gay singer George Michael, Berlanti persuaded the singer to appear in several episodes of the show as himself. Additionally, each episode of the show's first season was named after one of Michael's songs.

Berlanti also served as executive producer from 2006 to 2011of the award-winning television series Brothers & Sisters.

The show, created by the gay playwright Jon Robin Baitz, centers on a politically diverse California family and prominently features several gay characters, including an openly gay attorney (Matthew Rhys), his life partner (out actor Luke Macfarlane), and his uncle (Ron Rifkin), who eventually comes out as a gay man and later in the series learns he has been infected with the HIV virus.

In addition to Macfarlane, other out actors, such as Denis O'Hare and Richard Chamberlain, had recurring roles on the series.

The show won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Television Drama Series from 2007 to 2010.

In 2010, Berlanti created the science fiction comedy drama No Ordinary Family. The show, about a family whose members discover they have special powers, garnered mostly favorable reviews, but was cancelled after only one season due to low ratings.

Also in 2010, Berlanti directed his second feature-length film, Life As We Know It, from a script by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson. A rather conventional, and heterosexual, romantic comedy, the film, which stars Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl, received generally negative reviews for its "formulaic plot and poorly written script."

The following year, Berlanti produced and co-wrote the script for Green Lantern (2011), a film version of the popular DC Comics superhero series of the same name.

Explaining his interest in the film, Berlanti observed in an interview, "The thing I always really identified with about comic books--and only years later realized it had to do with my sexuality--was that they were outsiders but could look and seem like they were 'normal,' but yet they harbored this secret."

He continued, "I think that's what drew me to them and what's so emotionally evocative about them for me--that burden of feeling different. Also, so many times they're not of this world and yet they're forced to protect that world--something they're really not even totally a part of."

Berlanti has several more feature film and television series in production.

He continues to reside in Los Angeles, with his partner, the television writer Brian Young.

"It's been one of the easier, nicer parts of my life," Berlanti said of his relationship. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to just be together, whether it's going for dinner or hiking or whatever."

American television has made significant strides in its portrayal of homosexuals in dramatic series and movies, but cable networks have been more daring than the "big three" broadcast networks.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

Treatments of gay relationships on network soap operas have always been limited; recently, however, gays and lesbians have created their own soap operas to tell the convoluted stories of lesbian and gay entanglements.

Comic strips and cartoons have served for decades as a powerful tool of satire and humor; today numerous queer comic artists create works that are published in both mainstream and alternative media.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual film directors have been a vital creative presence in cinema since the medium's inception over one hundred years ago.

Although film may be a director's rather than a writer's medium, gay and lesbian screenwriters have made significant contributions to both mainstream and independent film.

A leading contemporary American playwright, Jon Robin Baitz produces works that are both morally serious and politically conscious.

Deeply closeted for most of his life, American actor Richard Chamberlain finally acknowledged his homosexuality in a memoir published in 2003.

Montgomery Clift was not only an extraordinary actor, but also an isolated and tortured, closeted gay man, who used drugs and alcohol to escape his pain.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a watchdog group dedicated to promoting accurate representations of the glbtq community in the media.

A product of Hollywood's star system, Rock Hudson became an international symbol of heterosexuality, wearing a mask until it was savagely ripped off when he was diagnosed with AIDS.

Popular singer and songwriter George Michael, who confirmed his long-rumored homosexuality after an arrest for "lewd behavior" in 1998, has devoted much effort to AIDS charities since 1992.

Screenwriter-producer-director Kevin Williamson is best known as the writer of clever, self-referential horror films and as the creator of the groundbreaking television series Dawson's Creek.