How long is the fad of "let's throw a gay character into this movie/TV show for no reason" going to last?

They will continue to put token gay characters into movies until you stop noticing it. When it becomes unremarkable that a character is gay, they won't be tokens anymore. This might take a while. We're just about there with Black characters (or characters played by black actors that could be played by any race). Strong women characters still give some people the terrors (cf. reaction to Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road). Leading romantic roles are rare for Asian Men. There's a lot of work yet to be done diversity wise. We won't be done until minority people stop saying, "I'm getting so bored with movies with nothing but white heterosexuals in traditional roles."

LOL until aliens land on earth is the truth! It shouldn't really matter as long as they are shedding light on a topic that should be talked about. I worked with Portia DeRossi (Ellen's girlfriend) on a movie where she played straight married woman so what is the difference? That a side their are really good movies like that are made by LGBT Filmmakers that are worth watching. Don't need to watch the Hollywood "Forced On Us Shows" or  "Movies"... just support the more art house filmmakers who want to tell real stories IMO!  I say this because my friend created a great LGBT movie about a topic that anyone can relate to: http://goo.gl/6aDwDH

It will probably last as long as until aliens land on Earth, then it will be about how they're putting an alien into films and TV... I deeply dislike tokenism, especially in the modern media. Characters should be organic to the story, they should have a reason for being, not put there because it's the 'cool' thing to do. That said, I do feel things are moving in this direction, which is OK with me!