Kit Porter, Bette’s half sister (same father), is a straight, voluptuous, black woman, who is a recovering alcoholic in the music industry. During the first season, Kit "dates" a transgender man (Female to Male), Ivan (see the characters section on supporting characters), but there is no real intimacy and he eventually fades from the scene. In the second season, Kit begins dating Dr. Benjamin Bradshaw (supporting characters), who also disappears. She then dates Angus, her sister's nanny, in the third season. He proposes to Kit, who declines based on the fact that the most important people in her life are not allowed to legally marry. Is it only a matter of time before he disappears as well? Could be, as he cheats on her in the fourth season, causing Kit to start drinking again, and to find solace in Papi, though there is no intimacy. As of the end of the fourth season, Kit is not in any relationship, but there seems to be a potential for her to either hook-up with Papi or to get back together with Angus.

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Kit's media images start off fairly sexy, though her season 1 image seems sort of white-washed and air-brushed to make her look younger and thinner, but also less black (more white). The text on the image, "making amends," refers back to her alcohol addiction. The fact that the only real woman of color starts the first few episodes of a new show with an addiction could be seen as a racist stereotype.

In the third season her hair is straightened, perhaps in an effort to make her look more Western (less African). This continues with her season 4 image. At the same time Kit is busy telling a post-hormonal Max that "she" needs to be true to "herself" and embrace her womanhood. Kit goes into a speech about "what if I were try to try to become white?" in episode 309, which is interesting considering the change in her hair from the first two seasons.

Below is the original cast photo, prior to the show airing. Kit's original image is extremely stereotyped; she is made to look more hip-hop, with her baggy khakis, braided hair and a red bandana underneath a hat.

Image taken from Pam Grier Net (http://www.pamgrier.net/the_l_word.htm).