Tonya, The L Word

Tonya (Meredith McGeachie)

Tonya was introduced in season 1, she met Dana during the Dinah Shore Golf Classic for Women. Tonya was assigned as Dana’s hospitality assistant — an overly attentive sidekick — making sure Dana was at various Classic events, keeping fans at a distance, and doing other “gopher” errands.

After Palm Springs, Tonya tagged along with Dana and friends back to West Hollywood and moved in with Dana, but didn’t like Dana’s cat, Mr. Piddles. After the “mysterious” death of Mr. Piddles, Dana proposed to Tonya.

Early on, Tonya appointed herself Dana’s manager, arranging sponsorships and planning social events without Dana’s input. Dana also learned that the increasingly power-hungry Tonya had been taking 15% of Dana’s sponsorship income as a “manager’s fee.” As Dana tired of Tonya’s domineering behavior and realized she was little more than a gold-digging opportunist, she and Alice began flirting and then sleeping together, and she called the wedding off. Tonya told Dana that she was in love with Melissa Rivers (portrayed by herself) and was leaving her for Melissa. (2×06)

Tonya appeared briefly in Season 3, by that point, the relationship with Melissa was over.

Appearances:

• 10 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Dana Fairbanks 💀 (Erin Daniels, lesbian, regular)
• Melissa Rivers (Melissa Rivers, portrayed herself, bisexual, guest 1 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Regular)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.