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"Media Portrayal of LGBTQ+ People" edit

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The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate.  (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The media portrayal of LGBTQ+ people refers to the varying and evolving ways in which the media depicts or portrays the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and related communities. The initialism LGBTQ+ is commonly used in North America and other English-speaking countries; it attempts to include all non-heterosexual sexual orientations and variations represented in shorthand. Although the initialism originated in North America, media representation of LGBTQ+ communities may be examined on a global scale, with varying degrees of tolerance.

Historically, the portrayals of LGBTQ+ communities in media have been negative, reflecting the cultural intolerance of LGBTQ+ individuals; however, from the 1990s to present day, there has been an increase in the depictions of LGBTQ+ people, issues, and concerns within mainstream media in North America. The LGBTQ+ communities have taken an increasingly proactive stand in defining their own culture with a primary goal of achieving an affirmative visibility in mainstream media. The positive portrayal or increased presence of the LGBTQ+ communities in media has served to increase acceptance and support for LGBTQ+ communities, establish LGBTQ+ communities as a norm, and provide information on the topic.

Gwendolyn Audrey Foster admits, "We may still live in a world of white dominance and heterocentrism, but I think we can agree that we are in the midst of postmodern destabilizing forces when it comes to sexuality and race." Through Judith Butler's book Imitation and Gender Insubordination (1991), she argues that the idea of heteronormativity is reinforced through socio-cultural conditioning, but even more so through visual culture which promotes homo-invisibility.


Breakdown of LGBTQ+ Representation[edit] edit

Broadcast television

Year Lesbian Gay Bisexual Women Bisexual Men Transgender Women Transgender Men Expected Series Regular LGBTQ+ Characters Expected Recurring LGBTQ+ Characters
2017-2018[1] 21 40 16 6 1 2 58 or 6.4% of all characters 28
2018- 2019[2] 32 39 25 8 3 2 75 or 8.8% of all characters 38
2019- 2020[3] 40 38 21 9 2 4 87 or 10.2% of all characters 30


Cable television

Year Lesbian Gay Bisexual Women Bisexual Men Transgender Women Transgender Men Expected Series Regular LGBTQ+ Characters Expected Recurring LGBTQ+ Characters
2017- 2018[4] 47 72 38 10 3 2 103 70
2018- 2019[5] 53 90 40 16 7 0 215 94
2019- 2020[6] 65 74 48 13 14 4 215 94

Streaming sites

Starting in the 2015–2016 season, GLAAD started including original content created on the streaming sites Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix in the Where We Are On TV Annual Report.

Year Lesbian Gay Bisexual Women Bisexual Men Transgender Women Transgender Men Expected Series Regular LGBTQ+ Characters Expected Recurring LGBTQ+ Characters
2017-2018 [7] 25 17 21 2 5 0 51 10
2018- 2019[8] 37 39 19 9 7 3 75 37
2019- 2020[9] 46 64 21 14 5 4 109 44


New Queer Cinema edit

In their book Queer Images[10], authors Henry Benshoff and Sean Griffin address the history of LGBTQ+ representation in motion pictures. Benshoff and Griffin note that much of the film portrayals beginning in the 1980s illustrate both the progress of LGBTQ+ rights in the United States of America and the resentment against them.[10] They refer to films that perpetuate Hollywood tropes of a "Killer Queer" such as: Dressed to Kill (1980), Psycho (1960), Windows (1980), The Fan (1981), Prom Night (1980), Deadly Blessing (1981), Sleepaway Camp (1983), and Heart of Midnight (1988). All of which attempt to depict LGBTQ+ characters as inherently evil and aggressive.[10]

In Chapter 8 of Queer Images, Benshoff and Griffin highlight the rise of LGBTQ+ independent films. With new developments in television and home video technologies, LGBTQ+ filmmakers were granted opportunities to document, produce, and distribute their own motion pictures.[10] This shift to independent filmmaking altered the trajectory of self representation for LGBTQ+ artists and creators, allowing them to direct, star in, exhibit, and sell their own films.

Chapter 11 of Queer Images addresses the resources devoted to LGBTQ+ causes in the Hollywood film and media industry. Benshoff and Griffin note that LGBTQ+ representation has often been limited to background or supporting characters, typically dependent on discriminatory stereotypes.[10] This lack of complex LGBTQ+ characters demonstrates the reluctance for social and institutional acceptance and development.

Chapter 12 of Queer Images lists an array of LGBTQ+ independent films that received recognition by professional entities such as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Furthermore, the authors suggest that corporate profitability, geographical location to theaters, and community standards contribute to inaccessibility of LGBTQ+ independent films.[10]

In the book titled New Queer Cinema, author Michele Aaron explains the name New Queer Cinema (NQC) and the movement of LGBTQ+ films which penetrated the film industry in the early 1990s. [11] Aaron illuminates the attitudes of defiance which many independent films demonstrated in rejecting positive imagery or stereotypes of LGBTQ+ people in media.[11] New Queer Cinema explores the cultural significance of queer identities and the critical resistance to normative behaviors of society.[11] Aaron states that films created during this time must meet the following requirements in order to be considered NQC.

The film must give voice to marginalized or underrepresented LGBTQ+ stories, defy cinematic conventions, resist positive imagery, disregard historical stereotypes, and defy death often in terms of AIDS.[11] Aaron states that much of the progress seen within the Hollywood film industry is due to the work of filmmakers and crews of NQC. Consequently, shifts in marketing have been implemented to target LGBTQ+ audiences.[11][10]

WebTV edit

The rise in web-based television, streaming, and other entertainment networks grant both affordances and limitations on LGBTQ+ representation in media. In Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television, Christian suggests that the freedom of online networks presents new forms of cultural representation outside the traditional media system.[12] Independent creators, entrepreneurs, and audiences are shaping the media networks in which they engage with.[12] The alternate possibilities of online networks such as Open TV contribute to the increase in diverse storytelling and representations of marginalized communities.[12]


In The Value of Representation: Toward a Critique of Networked Television Performance, professor and author Aymar J. Christian explores the foundations on which he established the platform Open TV in 2015 based in Chicago. Christian notes that by altering production, exhibition, and legacy (linear, one-to-many) media infrastructures, networked Internet distribution can challenge LGBTQ+ representations.[13] Open TV provides an intersectional framework in which media representations of LGBTQ+ people can be challenged, assessed, and created.[13] Christian argues that local and small-scale media development redefines the political and social values of representation in TV and art. Furthermore, Christian highlights that such representation methods illuminate the historically overlooked value of local communities and performances of culture. [13]

Production and development inequalities are embedded within legacy media networks, yet corporate structures often profit from cultural representation.[13] Christian questions the value placed on cultural representation and how it is intertwined in the economics of media creation and distribution.[13]

As an advance to media representation theory, Open TV provides LGBTQ+ individuals, ciswomen, and artists of color the opportunity to create, distribute, and exhibit independent pilots, original series, or syndicated series.[13] Open TV centers the production and exhibition of artworks around artists and their communities.[13]

See also[edit] edit

References[edit] edit

  1. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV Report - 2017" (PDF). GLAAD. 2017–2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2018" (PDF). GLAAD.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2019" (PDF). GLAAD. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV Report - 2017" (PDF). GLAAD. 2017–2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2018" (PDF). GLAAD.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2019" (PDF). GLAAD. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV Report - 2017" (PDF). GLAAD. 2017–2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2018" (PDF). GLAAD.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "GLAAD - Where We Are On TV - 2019" (PDF). GLAAD. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Benshoff, Henry M., & Griffin, Sean. (2006). Queer Images: A history of gay and lesbian film in America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. Chapters 8, 11, and 12.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b c d e Aaron, Michele (2004). New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. pp. 3-14.
  12. ^ a b c Christian, Aymar Jean (2017). Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television. New York: NYU Press. pp. Chapter 3.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Christian, Aymar Jean (2017). "The Value of Representation:
Toward a Critique of Networked Television Performance". International Journal of Communication.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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