Madam Secretary (2014–2019) is an American network political drama that aired on CBS. The show stars Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, an ex-CIA analyst who becomes a public figure overnight when President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine) — her former CIA boss — chooses her to become secretary of state after the previous secretary was killed in a plane crash.
The series follows Secretary McCord’s career as she navigates tense international crises, negotiates landmark agreements, becomes a trusted member of the President’s inner circle, and eventually ponders a presidential run herself. The show balances Elizabeth’s professional and family life, with her husband Henry (Tim Daly), a religious scholar, sometimes-spy, and ethicist, and her three adolescent/young adult children, Stevie (Wallis Currie-Wood), Alison (Kathrine Herzer), and Jason (Evan Roe). These storylines become increasingly interwoven as Henry becomes an advisor to President Dalton and Stevie becomes the assistant to Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek).
Madam Secretary features two openly bi characters, Blake Moran, Elizabeth’s preternaturally trusty assistant, and the fiery Kat Sandoval (played by Sara Ramirez), one of her chief policy advisors.
In season three, Blake’s sexuality, which had previously seemed to be gay but was left somewhat ambiguous, is revealed to be bi. He gets into an argument with an ex-boyfriend, a gay man who rejects bisexuality. The altercation leaves Blake so upset that he holds up Elizabeth’s motorcade to come out as bi in a touching speech where he pours out his heart about bi erasure, biphobia, being misunderstood, and keeping other people at arm’s length. From that point on, we see Blake as an openly bi man. In the later seasons of the show, Blake befriends Elizabeth’s eldest daughter, Stevie, and the relationship begins to develop into something more. The two share a kiss, but then mutually decide not to pursue romance and to remain plutonic. Blake goes on to fall in love with a man and become engaged, though due to his perfectionist obsession with planning his dream wedding, the engagement stretches on forever.
In season four, Kat states that she is bi. In a later episode, Elizeth’s Chief of Staff Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus) remarks that he had assumed Kat was a lesbian based on her appearance (short hair, masculine clothes). Kat reasserts her bisexuality and notes also that she chooses to express herself in a gender-nonconforming way. While her own personal life is not deeply explored through its own storylines, throughout her time in the series, Sandoval carries herself as an openly and proudly bi woman and takes a particular interest in championing LGBT issues.
Notably, the series embraces the terms “bisexual” and “bi”, having characters openly own their bisexuality rather than simply acting it out but leaving it unnamed.