When that sitcom began on NBC, it was seen as controversial. Several conservative groups claimed that it and shows like it would make homosexuality seem desirable.

Some groups said the same about “Ellen,” the ABC sitcom starring Ellen DeGeneres, who came out as a lesbian on the show and in real life in 1997. Ms. DeGeneres threatened to quit a year later when ABC preceded an “Ellen” episode that showed her jokingly kissing a friend with a message that warned, “Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised.”

That warning would not appear today, as complaints about gay characters on shows like “Modern Family” and “Glee” barely ever bubble to the surface.

When a group called One Million Moms tried to have Ms. DeGeneres fired this year by J.C. Penney, which had hired her to star in TV commercials, the company’s chief executive defended her and the group gave up. When the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly briefly made a fuss about the Unique character on “Glee” last month, criticizing the show for “shock value,” his comments gained little notice. (“Glee” is broadcast on Fox, whose parent company, News Corporation, also owns Fox News).

Still, when one of Mr. O’Reilly’s guests complained last fall when Chaz Bono became the first openly transgender contestant on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” Mr. O’Reilly supported Mr. Bono, who lasted six weeks on the show. Upon being voted off, he said he had participated in part because if there had been “somebody like me on TV when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.”

Perhaps wary of being perceived as moralizing, producers and writers in Hollywood — a predominately liberal town — say that the viewer support of gay, lesbian and transgender characters is just a happy byproduct of their storytelling.