Why do we watch so many episodes of Law & Order even though their record with LGBTQ people has been pretty middling? I don’t know, friends, besides that Law & Order SVU is an incredible fantasy series about Olivia Benson, a magical police detective who cares deeply about the victims of sexual assault and wants to find and punish their attackers at all costs. Or maybe it’s because Olivia Benson is your root. Maybe it’s all the hot women in business attire. Or maybe it’s because it’s a reliable formula of a show that we simply cannot resist, like a banana split, but much more disturbing. Everybody is especially heinous in their own way, you know?
TELL ME YOUR SCORES IN THE COMMENTS!!
Before you go!
Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen,
will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?
Join AF+!
Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.
Riese has written 3238 articles for us.
I scored 67%. All the questions I missed involved the men. I can’t be expected to pay attention to everything.
fair, fair
I’m disappointed in myself for not getting a 100% on this.
I blame my residual bitterness about how mediocre the Stephanie March return episode was.
That was such a bland return! Not cool, SVU.
I’m not a fanfiction girl, but I legit wrote Benson/Cabot fanfiction (after reading lots of it).
I never saw it until Loss, and then suddenly I REALLY saw it.
We need a quiz that is just seminal Benson/Cabot moments!
BUMBUM Bum bum bum ba-dummmm
BUMBUM Bum ba-da-da bummm bummmmmm
This was a fun one! I’m embarrassed by how well I did.
SVU is tryyyyyyyyying to be less awful about some stuff? They recently had an episode with a trans man who was actually played by a trans man. It’s pathetic that it took this long after so many LGBTQ storylines over the decades, but I think it was one the first times. Did they finally get the memo? (Also he was quite a good actor, so hopefully the gig got him some exposure for other opportunities)
Medical Examiner Melinda Warner has been gay in my dreams since at least 2009 so I chose the answer in knew was correct in my heart even if it was wrong in this quiz because I have to live my truth.
This quiz was great, extra great job Riese!
why isn’t anybody telling me their scores! I GOTTA KNOW
Nice work, gumshoe!
Quiz Grade: C
Score: 15
Percentage: 71%
52%, but to be fair, who can remember the 83349 characters and 3962 episodes from this franchise?
38% !
I have seen maybe two episodes and largely spent that time getting excited about that noise that plays on a scene change.
But anyway I enjoyed this quiz and it reminded me of one of the finest AS posts ever!
71%! Go me! How did I not know about Serena Southerlyn though.
you know i’m gonna blame the fact that it didn’t happen until her last 30 seconds of screen time
That’s the only one I actually knew. Because I watched the original Law & Order on and off for years but never watched SVU.
Given that I’ve barely ever watched this show:
Quiz Grade: E
Score: 6
Percentage: 29%
I love this show and I sucked at this quiz. 8-)
I got a crappy score – 62%. To be fair, I don’t care about any of the later seasons of SVU. After Elliot left, I didn’t care anymore. But even his last couple of seasons were meh in my book. Basically, when I see an SVU episode, I decide whether I want to watch it based on who the ADA is. If it’s Cabot or Novak, I’m in. I know Mariska Hargitay as Benson is like the gayest role ever, and I’m sure Mariska is a very nice person, but that just doesn’t do it for me. Probably the same reason I’m not hot for Xena/Lucy Lawless. All I want to do is have a beer with her and talk all night.
Now, Alex Cabot/Stephanie March…oh, lawdy. She can overrule my objections any day she likes. Ms. March, you are a total complete stranger and I am so embarrassed by how intensely I am attracted to you. I’m sorry for being a creeper. Who’s threatening you, Ms. Cabot? Is it that mob boss? Is it that politician who molested a kid? Just say the word, Ms. Cabot, and I will turn his insides into his outsides, just for you. Damn, I guess I really am a cat…
Seriously though, when I was in rural China for like a year and had little connection to the outside world, I would hit up fanfic.net because the plain text pages loaded so easily and none of it was blocked by the Great Firewall. I think I read almost every Benson/Cabot “hurt/comfort” story on the site that year…
I was a Benson girl for so many years, and then I paid attention to Stephanie March’s legs in the Season 4 group shot for SVU for the first time.
Oh dear.
Terrible!
Quiz Grade: E
Score: 11
Percentage: 52%
I was laughing hysterically every time I got an answer right because I haven’t watched Law & Order in years. But you never forget some of those episodes.
Also, before Kate Moennig was on the L Word (after Young Americans) she did an episode of original recipe Law & Order and it is probably 1 of my favorite episodes ever not because of her but the case was just so interesting. And the SVU episode she did was another favorite in that world.
I got a C with 71%, a little disappointed in myself because SVU is my favorite show, but to be fair most of the questions I missed involved Criminal Intent, which I never watched.
LOVED this! Quiz Grade: D – Score: 13 – Percentage: 62%.
Nice work, gumshoe!
Quiz Grade: E
Score: 8
Percentage: 38%
Kinda good since i haven’t watched this show at all.
62%. Most of the ones I missed were about non-SVU shows. Plus I haven’t watched new episodes in years. I totally would if they brought Alex or Casey back though <3
Quiz Grade: C
Score: 15
Percentage: 71%
This is not such a great score for me considering that I think of myself as a big fan of the Law & Order series. Clearly I need to do a rewatch of SVU since there are some episodes in this quiz that I don’t remember seeing and it seems like I didn’t catch a lot of the gay stuff during my first viewing.