Showtime debuted “The L Word” in 2004, a new drama series about the lives and loves of a small, close-knit group of lesbian women living in Los Angeles. Central to the show are Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals) and Tina Kennard (Laurel Hollomon), a lesbian couple who, after seven years of dating, want to have a child by artificially inseminating Tina.

The character of Bette Porter is biracial, of black and white descent. She has a loving but complicated relationship with her older, black half-sister Kit Porter (Pam Grier). Bette and Tina struggle to find a suitable sperm donor until one day, Bette announces that she’s found the perfect man. Tina is shocked when the donor turns out to be black, and she realizes that she hadn’t fully processed the possibility of having a part-black child. Bette is surprised and hurt that Tina would be so uncomfortable with having a biracial baby, but Tina finally comes around and she is successfully inseminated. Bette and Tina take Bette’s father out to dinner to share the good news. It’s clear that Melvin is still uncomfortable with his daughter’s sexuality, and when he hears they are going to have a baby, he declares that there’s no way he can see this child as his grandchild. He scoffs at the idea that he should feel a kinship with the baby just because it’s part-black, since there’s no biological connection between them whatsoever.

We commend “The L Word” for tackling difficult racial issues and portraying this mixed race family with depth and complexity.