Timeline

The timeline of The L Word and Generation Q.

Where there are contradictions within the shows, precedence is given to statements made on-screen by the characters over physical date references (i.e. precedence is given to the writers over the set designers/prop masters).

Before The L Word

Bette and Alice on a date in 1996

Bette and Tina meet in 1996

Alice and Dana meet in 1999

Year	Events before The L Word (pre-2003)
1948	Phyllis Kroll is born.
1951	Sharon Fairbanks is born.
1961	Carrie Walsh is born in Staten Island, New York.
1968	17-year-old Sharon Fairbanks is a competitive dressage rider; she kisses her female best friend but is rejected.
1969	Pippa Pascal is born on April 4 in Los Angeles, California.
	Bette Porter is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Maxine and Melvin Porter.
1973	Dana Fairbanks is born in Orange County, California, to Sharon and Irwin Fairbanks.
	Alice Pieszecki is born in Los Angeles, California, to Lenore Pieszecki.
1979	Kit Porter gives birth to David Waters; 25 years before "L'Ennui" (TLW 1x07).
1980	Shane McCutcheon is born in Austin, Texas, to Gabriel McCutcheon.
	Phyllis and Leonard Kroll get married; in "Livin' La Vida Loca" (TLW 4x02), Phyllis says she has been married for 23 years, but in "Literary License to Kill" (TLW 4x11), Molly Kroll says her parents have been married for 25 years.
1988	8-year-old Shane has a crush on Tiffany Gardner and realizes she is gay. Howie Fairbanks is born in Orange County, California, to Sharon and Irwin Fairbanks; 16 years before "Looking Back" (TLW 1x11).
1989	A young Jenny Schecter is gang raped by a group of older teenage boys in Skokie, Illinois. 9-year-old Shane is abandoned by her mother and put into foster care. 16-year-old Dana attends tennis camp and falls in love with another girl "Ralph".
1990	10-year-old Shane runs away from her foster family and ends up living in a church shelter in Austin, Texas.
1991	Bette is an undergraduate student at Yale University. She switches her major from comparative literature to art history after being inspired by Pippa's senior thesis. Bette was originally said to be an undergraduate student at Yale in 1985 in "Lifesize" (TLW 3x06), but this was retconned to 30 years before "Light" (GQ 2x07) in Generation Q. Bette tries to reconnect with her mother Maxine but regrets it; 30 years before "Lobsters, Too" (GQ 2x05).
1992	Marina Ferrer marries Count Manfredi della Francesco Ferrer; 12 years before "Lap Dance" (TLW 2x02).
	At Yale, Bette has a boyfriend who she imagines is her female art history professor when they have sex; Bette realizes she is gay. Bette sleeps with another woman for the first time in her junior year.
	Alice and her boyfriend Greg are in a college rock band called Butter, and Alice's attraction to their bass guitarist Tayo leads her to realize she is bisexual.
1994	Bette is an MFA student at Yale and shares a house with undergraduate student Kelly Wentworth. Kelly was originally said to have rejected Bette's advances around 20 years before "Least Likely" (TLW 6x02), which would put the year around 1988, but this was retconned in Generation Q. Bette attends a lecture series by Allyn Barnes and is inspired to pursue a career in the arts. Bette's master's thesis is about one of Allyn Barnes's earthworks.
1995	Shay McCutcheon is born in November in Oregon City, Oregon, to Gabriel and Carla McCutcheon.
	Bette begins working for The Drawing Center in Manhattan, New York. Alice begins working for LA Magazine in Los Angeles, California.
1996	Bette moves to Los Angeles and opens her own gallery. She meets Alice and they date for 6 weeks in 1996. Bette meets Tina Kennard at an art opening in Bette's gallery; 7 years before "Pilot" (TLW 1x01). Bette breaks up with Alice to pursue Tina.
	Shane and Clive take to prostitution on the streets of Los Angeles for six months; one of Shane's customers pays for her to go to hairdressing school.
	Alice gets her hair done at a salon and meets assistant hairdresser Shane. Alice asks Shane out for coffee so as to get gossip about the celebrities who frequent the salon.
1999	Alice is hired to interview tennis player Dana. She invites Dana to Bette and Tina's Millennium Y2K party, where Dana meets Alice's other friends including Shane and Kit. Jamie Chen is a student at the University of Southern California.
2000	Bette closes her gallery and becomes the Director of the California Arts Center; four years before "Labyrinth" (TLW 2x05). Felicity Adams is an undergraduate student at Howard University; 20 years before "LA Times" (GQ 1x04). Now a superstar artist, Pippa publishes an op-ed in The New York Times calling the art world racist; she is blacklisted and disappears from the art scene.
2003	Tina quits her job as a film studio executive, and Bette and Tina start trying to get Tina pregnant using Sean Heaney's sperm; around 6 months before "Pilot" (TLW 1x01). Robin's fiancée, Claybourne, cheats on her on their wedding day.

The L Word

Year	Events in The L Word (2003 to 2009)
2003	The L Word season one begins. One month passes between parts one and two of the two-part "Pilot" (TLW 1x01), as Tina is on a new ovulation cycle. Tina's insemination in "Let's Do It" (TLW 1x02) is successful; this would have been around November 2003.
2004	The L Word season one ends. Tina miscarries on the 12th week of her pregnancy in "Luck, Next Time" (TLW 1x09); this would have been around February 2004 as Bette later says Tina shut her out for 2 or 3 months before her affair with Candace. "Luck, Next Time" (TLW 1x09) takes place one week after "Losing It" (TLW 1x06) as Tina is 11 weeks pregnant in the latter. The Dinah Shore Weekend in "Looking Back" (TLW 1x11) takes place in April 2004; 3 weeks before Provocations opens. Provocations opens at the California Arts Center in "Limb from Limb" (TLW 1x13) in May 2004. Tina finds out about Bette's affair and leaves her; she is less than four months pregnant at the time. The L Word season two takes place. "Loneliest Number" (TLW 2x03) takes place one month after the end of "Limb from Limb" (TLW 1x13), as that is how long Tina has been living with Alice. "Land Ahoy" (TLW 2x10) takes place around one year after "Lawfully" (TLW 1x05). Melvin Porter dies in "L'Chaim" (TLW 2x12) from prostate cancer. Angelica Porter-Kennard is born in "Lacuna" (TLW 2x13).
2005	The L Word season three takes place. Six-month time skip between "Lacuna" (TLW 2x13) and "Lost Weekend" (TLW 3x02), as Angelica turns six months old in the latter. Dana dies in "Losing the Light" (TLW 3x10) on September 3, 2005, from breast cancer. She was 32 years old. Six-week time skip between "Last Dance" (TLW 3x11) and "Left Hand of the Goddess" (TLW 3x12). The L Word season four begins. "Legend in the Making" (TLW 4x01) begins the morning after "Left Hand of the Goddess" (TLW 3x12). "Livin' La Vida Loca" (TLW 4x02) takes place before Shay's 10th birthday in November.
2006	The L Word season four ends. "Long Time Coming" (TLW 4x12) takes place at the start of spring break in March/April, and it takes place less than a year after "Latecomer" (TLW 3x08).
	The L Word season five begins. Time skip of unknown length between "Long Time Coming" (TLW 4x12) and "LGB Tease" (TLW 5x01). "LGB Tease" (TLW 5x01) takes place after May 1st as Alice's new website is already up and running, and that was the date given for its launch in "Literary License to Kill" (TLW 4x11).
2008	The L Word season five ends and season six begins. The ending night of "Loyal and True" (TLW 5x12) carries onto "Long Night's Journey Into Day" (TLW 6x01).
2009	The L Word season six ends. Jenny commits suicide on January 18, 2009. Jenny's death takes place three months after the Lez Girls wrap party at the end of "Loyal and True" (TLW 5x12). Bette, Tina and Angie move to New York.

In between

Year	Events in between The L Word and Generation Q (2010 to 2019)
	Shane leaves Los Angeles and opens salons in Paris and New York.
	Bette and Angie move back to Los Angeles. Bette begins working as the Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs for the City of Los Angeles
2018	Alice and Nat meet at the LGBT Center and begin dating. An upset Gigi Ghorbani shows up at Nat's house to return her wedding ring.
2019	Alice begins hosting her own talk show. Bette and Tina finalize their divorce. Kit dies on June 8, 2019, from a heroin overdose. Bette begins an affair with Felicity Adams. Bette quits her job at the Department of Cultural Affairs and starts her mayoral election campaign.

Generation Q

Year	Events in Generation Q (2020 to present)
2020	Generation Q season one takes place. Angie is 16 years old in "Let's Do It Again" (GQ 1x01). "Let's Do It Again" (GQ 1x01) takes place around 25 years after Alice and Bette first met in 1996. "Lost Love" (GQ 1x03) takes place several weeks after "Let's Do It Again" (GQ 1x01). Shane turns 40 years old in "LA Times" (GQ 1x04). Alice's talk show is in its second season, and its season finale takes place in "Lapse in Judgement" (GQ 1x08). "Lapse in Judgement" (GQ 1x08) takes place two weeks after "Lose It All" (GQ 1x07). The L.A. mayoral election takes place at the start of "Lapse in Judgement" (GQ 1x08) on March 15, 2020.
2021	Generation Q season two begins. Angie is approximately one year away from turning 18 years old in "Late to the Party" (GQ 2x01). Alice's talk show is in its third season. "Lean on Me" (GQ 2x02) takes place approximately 17 years after "Limb from Limb" (TLW 1x13). "Luck Be a Lady" (GQ 2x03) takes place approximately half a year after "Less Is More" (GQ 1x02)/"Lapse in Judgement" (GQ 1x08). "Lake House" (GQ 2x04) takes place weeks after the end of "Lean on Me" (GQ 2x02). "Love Shack" (GQ 2x06) takes place one week after the end of "Lobsters, Too" (GQ 2x05). Angie's senior prom takes place in "Last Call" (GQ 2x10).