Nicole Pacent's character on Criminal Minds, Rebecca Wilson, recently got engaged to her partner, Dr. Tara Lewis, played by Aisha Tyler. In response to that iconic moment on the hit CBS series, Pacent shares an exclusive statement with Out.Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment delivered three times a week straight (well) to your inbox!"After nearly 20 years acting in and self-generating indie queer media, it's hard to put into words just how much it means to me to be part of the queer love story on a mainstream juggernaut like Criminal Minds," Pacent tells Out. "In the show's 18-season run, my character, Rebecca Wilson, is the first recurring LGBTQ+ character who is neither victim, nor villain. The relationship between Tara (Aisha Tyler's character) and Rebecca is written in a way that reflects the real-life highs and lows of a normal queer couple."Pacent continues, "Despite the extraordinary personal and professional circumstances they find themselves in as colleagues at the FBI, Tara and Rebecca so clearly love, respect, and fight for each other, and their chosen family so clearly loves, respects, and fights for them right from the jump. The result, I have found, is what I have been fighting for all these years: Queer people and queer love normalized for a mainstream audience, and written in a way that makes our community feel seen, supported, and included in shows that mean so much to them."See on InstagramPacent also acknowledges the intensified anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric taking place in 2025. She writes:"Especially now, when LGBTQ+ rights are so glaringly under attack, and many networks and streamers are, as a very prominent queer writer/producer put it to me recently, 'allergic to identity-based content,' I feel all the more grateful to be part of the wonderful creative team at Criminal Minds who continue to prioritize characters and storylines that reflect the diversity of the world as it is, not as the current administration wishes it would be.And, I mean, what can I say? As a lifelong actor, as a human struggling through this time in our country's history, every day that I get to tell this story with the brilliant firecracker that is Aisha Tyler every day that I get to work with this ensemble of stellar humans and absolute legends on Criminal Minds That's a day when I'm reminded that there's still so much good, and still so much worth fighting for."We love a great sapphic moment in mainstream media and really appreciate allies like Pacent.Criminal Minds airs on CBS and is streaming on Paramount+.