The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons is to play a gay rights activist in a new film.

In Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s HBO film The Normal Heart, the actor famed for playing the socially awkward Sheldon Cooper will star alongside many A-list stars.

The film will take place during the HIV crisis in New York City in early 1980s.

Parsons will play Tommy Boatwright, a gay activist, the role that he played in the 2011 Broadway revival of the Tony-winning Larry Krammer play.

In a major vote of confidence, Fox announced today that it has renewed Glee for two more seasons.

The show, currently in its fourth year, includes several LGBT characters including gay glee club members Kurt and Blaine, lesbian cheerleader Santana, and transgender student named Unique.

Lesbian actress Jane Lynch won an Emmy in 2010 for her performance as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester and openly gay actor Chris Colfer won a Golden Globe Award in 2011 for his performance as Kurt.

As a kid growing up in the 1970s, Ryan Murphy didn't see very many gay people on television - except maybe Paul Lynde.

Campy and snarky, Lynde held court on TV's Hollywood Squares for more than a decade and often poked fun at his barely concealed homosexuality.

Premium cable network has ordered a ‘complex’ relationship drama from the creator of Glee and American Horror Story.

Ryan Murphy, who also created gay relationship comedy The New Normal, has been given a pilot order for Open.

Anderson Cooper was ranked fifth in OUT magazine's annual top 50 list of powerful gay men and lesbians - the first year he made the list as an openly gay man.

Cooper had made the list year after year - one year even appearing on the cover of the magazine with Jodie Foster - but it wasn't until last summer that Cooper he publicly acknowledged being gay.

Foster, despite her very public coming out speech at the Golden Globe Awards in January, did not make the top 50 list which was unveiled today.

After decades of development, The Normal Heart will begin shooting in New York City later this year to air on HBO in 2014 with Ryan Murphy as its director, the network announced Friday (4 January).

The film is written by Larry Kramer who also wrote the largely autobiographical Tony Award-winning play on which it is based. It is about the rise of the AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984.

After one week of parenthood, television producer Ryan Murphy on Monday (1 January) has shared a photo of his newborn son with his Twitter followers.

'Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes,' Murphy tweeted. 'Logan is one week old and doing great. Happy new year!'

In the photo, Logan is dressed in a white outfit with '2012' written on it and is covered by a pale blue, knitted blanket with his name printed in white.

The baby was born on Christmas Eve to Murphy and his husband David Miller. The identity of the child's mother is not publicly known.

The premise of the NBC comedy The New Normal is a gay couple played by Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha) planning to welcome their first child into the world.

On Christmas Day (25 December), the show's co-creator Ryan Murphy and his husband David Miller beat the fictional couple to the delivery room when they became the parents of a son.

The couple sent the birth announcement out to friends via email, according to E!Online.

Glee star Darren Criss, who plays gay character Blaine, has posed as a topless Santa for a Christmas calendar.

The 25-year-old will join other stars of the hit US show for the saucy Men of McKinley calendar.

The show's creator Ryan Murphy posted the photo on his Twitter page saying 'Merry Christmas'.

The fourth season of Glee returns to our screens on 24 January.

Speaking to OUT about filming the new series, Criss said: 'Every day is really special because we spend it doing what we love.

Matt Bomer, the hunky star of TV’s White Collar, is set to guest star on NBC’s The New Normal as the ex-boyfriend of the character played by Andrew Rannells.

The show’s creator Ryan Murphy has broken the news on Twitter: 'Guess who’s coming on The New Normal as Bryan’s sexy ex-boyfriend? The one and only Matt Bomer!!!'

In it, Rannells plays one-half of a gay couple (his partner is played by Justin Bartha) who are expecting a child by a surrogate mother with whom they have created an unusual blended family.

Busy Ryan Murphy, the force behind TV's Glee, The New Normal and American Horror Story, has yet another project that he's working on these days: the long-awaited film version of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart.

He's got nothing but admiration for the outspoken Kramer who wrote the largely autobiographical plays about the rise of the AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984.

Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s new NBC series The New Normal will not be shown by the network’s Utah affiliate KSL-TV because of its gay content.

Owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the CEO Jeff Simpson said the show which features a gay couple does not match up to its ‘brand’.

‘From time to time we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another,’ Simpson said. ‘The dialogue may be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive.