If you’re not aware of it by now, there’s a notorious trope in popular culture (mostly television) called ‘Bury Your Gays.’ It’s basically how it sounds and it dwindles down to one thing in particular: queer characters suffering.

Throughout television history, the community has – for some reason – been subjected to more death and torment than their straight counterparts, and most of the time it’s for no reason whatsoever.

Yes, authentic representation has come a long way in recent years thanks to the increase in queer writers taking the reigns and telling queer stories (what a concept!), but of course, there’s still a long way to go until the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope is dead and, well, buried. Check out our list below of LGBTQ+ characters who deserved much, much better.

Make sure you have some tissues or a hanky, whatever, because some of these deaths are hard to revisit. (Also, this list isn’t comprehensive and it will be updated from time to time, please let us know which unfortunate fictional queer souls deserve to be here too).

Candy Ferocity (Pose)

In what will be remembered as one of the most heartbreaking hours of television ever produced, season two episode four of Pose found Candy (Angelica Ross) cruelly and brutally murdered in a motel room. At her funeral, the spirit of Candy returned to speak with those she had left behind, including Billy Porter’s Pray Tell, Indya Moore’s Angel Evangelista, and her parents who she had had a fractious relationship with regarding her transition. It ended with Candy finding peace in the ballroom up in the clouds, lip-syncing the house down to Never Knew Love Like This Before. For those watching at home, there wasn’t a dry eye in the land. Look, we understand why creator Ryan Murphy chose to include this storyline, to reflect the harrowing statistics of trans women – particularly Black trans women – and their murders in the United States. But, it still hurts. Thanks to Ross’ electric performance, Candy became one of Pose’s most beloved characters and, like her Ballroom sisters, deserved the happiest of endings.

Dani (The Haunting of Bly Manor)

Anyone else unable to listen to Sheryl Crow’s I Shall Believe without spontaneously combusting into tears? For the second instalment in Mike Flanagan’s Haunting franchise, Victoria Pedretti stars as Dani, a young au-pair hired to look after two children in an eerie country house. Upon her arrival, she begins to see hostile apparitions that insist on – spoiler alert!!! – haunting the premises. Although Bly Manor is as spine-chillingly scary as its predecessor, Hill House, the series is, at its core, a love story. As the miniseries progresses, Dani falls in love with Jamie (Amelia Eve), Bly Manor’s dry-witted gardener, which was met with widespread acclaim from critics and viewers thanks to the complete lack of homophobia in the storyline. (The series was set in the 80s, so homophobia was expected.) Sadly, their relationship comes to a tragic end when, after five years of living in harmony, Dani returns to Bly Manor and drowns herself in the lake to prevent Viola (the ghoul) from hurting Jamie. After all Jamie had gone through in the series – recovering from her ex, looking after those painfully irritating kids and being preyed upon by Viola – did she really deserve to go out this way?

Denise Cloyd (The Walking Dead)

We will never forgive whoever sits in that goddamn Walking Dead writers room for what they did to Denise. NEVER! One of the most kind-hearted characters in all 11 seasons of the zombie drama, Denise (Merritt Weaver) – a doctor for the Alexandria Safe-Zone – was murdered mid-conversation by Saviours member Dwight, whose attempt at killing Daryl resulted in him misfiring and shooting Denise through her right eye with a crossbow bolt. Seriously, why? This didn’t need to happen, at all. Like a majority of characters in the list, the writers’ treatment of Denise received overwhelmingly negative reviews online, particularly because her blossoming relationship with Tara (Alanna Masterson) provided us with a bit of purity. We get it, it’s a zombie apocalypse and people’s throats are gonna be torn to shreds while others will have stray arrows fired into their eyes, but Denise’s death felt cruel. Ratings have plummeted in recent years, so… justice?