Historically, the portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people in media has been largely negative or absent, reflecting a general cultural intolerance of LGBTQ+ individuals; however, from the 1990s to present day, there has been an increase in the positive depictions of LGBTQ+ people, issues, and concerns within mainstream media in North America. The LGBTQ+ communities have taken an increasingly proactive stance 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.
Research has used quantitative results to show the "positive direct effects of LGBTQ+ television exposure on resilience and identity affirmation."
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster said in Performing Whiteness: Postmodern Re/Constructions in the Cinema (2003), "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." In her book Imitation and Gender Insubordination (1991), Judith Butler argues that the idea of heteronormativity is reinforced through socio-cultural conditioning, but even more so through visual culture which promotes homo-invisibility.
Overview Although LGBTQ+ individuals are generally indistinguishable from their straight or cisgender counterparts, media depictions of LGBTQ+ individuals often represent them as visibly and behaviorally different. For example, in many forms of popular entertainment, gay men are portrayed stereotypically as promiscuous, flashy, flamboyant, and bold, while the reverse is often true of how lesbians are portrayed. Media representations of bisexual and transgender people tend to either completely erase them, or depict them as either morally corrupt or mentally unstable. Similar to race-, religion-, and class-based caricatures, these stereotypical stock character representations vilify or make light of marginalized and misunderstood groups.
Gay and lesbian families are commonly misrepresented in media because society frequently equates sexual orientation with the ability to reproduce. Gay and lesbian characters are rarely the main character in films; they frequently play the role of stereotyped supporting characters or are portrayed as a victim or villain.
There is currently a widespread view that references to gay people should be omitted from child-related entertainment. Such references almost invariably generate controversy. In 1997, when American comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out on her popular sitcom, many sponsors including Wendy's fast-food chain, pulled their advertising.
However, milestones to the lesbian and gay communities such as the book Vice Versa and DeGeneres coming out have encouraged other LGBTQ+ people to come out and feel better about being themselves.
Despite the stereotypical depictions of gay people, the media has at times promoted acceptance with television shows such as Will and Grace and Queer Eye. The increased publicity reflects the coming-out movement of LGBTQ+ communities. As more celebrities come out, more LGBTQ+-friendly shows develop, such as the 2004 show The L Word. With the popularity of gay television shows, music artists and gay fashion, Western culture has opened its eyes to the gay community.
This new acceptance from the media can partially be explained by the contact hypothesis. With more shows promoting the acceptance of gay people, audiences are able to view a more correct depiction of LGBTQ+ communities.
In the United States, gay people are frequently used as a symbol of social decadence by celebrity evangelists and by organizations such as Focus on the Family.
LGBTQ+ people in the media are often highly misrepresented, usually categorizing all of them into just lesbian and gay identities. Then, people have created stereotypes for lesbian and gay characters. This action contradicts the whole purpose of the fictional characters of LGBTQ+ people. It may allow some people to understand that LGBTQ+ people are more common than they realize; however, it still reinforces stereotypes and negative stigmas.
History United States Early twentieth century The first representation of same-sex interactions was a portrayal of two men dancing with each other to violin music in 1895, with Edison Short's ca. 17-second long early experimental sound film The Gay Brothers, though both that title for the film and whether it actually was meant to have any homoerotic undertones is disputed. Through the early twentieth century, portrayals of homosexuality in media was uncommon, and when represented it was often used as a comic device; for example Sissy Man in Stan Laurel's silent film The Soilers in 1923.
The 1930s brought a new increased presence of LGBTQ+ people in media. In 1934, the strengthening of the Production Code was created in attempt to reduce the negative portrayals of homosexuality in media; however, this made little headway in the movement. Throughout the 1930s–1960s, an increase in the presence of Christian-based morality was seen, and portrayals (positive or negative) were highly censored or removed. Many negative sub-contexts remained regarding homosexuality, such as in Alfred Hitchcock's films, whose villains used an implication of homosexuality to heighten their evilness and alienation.
In news media, homosexuality was rarely explicitly mentioned, and it was often portrayed as a sickness, perversion or crime. In the 1950s community magazines such as The Mattachine Society, One, and The Ladder connected lesbian and gay communities around the United States by providing readers information and access to LGBTQ+ perspectives that could not be found anywhere else. Transgender communities used magazines such as Sexology and Transvestia, as an essential source of understanding identity and broadening their communities.
Stonewall riots (1960s)–1980s In 1969, a series of spontaneous uprisings in New York called the Stonewall riots took place as a resistance to the discrimination that LGBTQ+ people faced. This marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ movement that had taken an increasingly proactive stand in defining LGBTQ+ culture, specifically in mainstream media. LGBTQ+ activists began confronting repressive laws, police harassment, and discrimination. These demands for equal protection began to be viewed as legitimate news, but the legitimacy of the demands were still viewed as questionable.
LGBTQ+ political activists began to pressure Hollywood to end its consistent negative portrayals of homosexuality in media. Responding to the movement, growing visibility in films began to emerge. However, themes of the reality for LGBTQ+ people were minimized or totally obscured.
In news, the emergence of more explicit and serious segments of LGBTQ+ people began to emerge. In 1967, CBC released a news segment on homosexuality, a compilation of negative stereotypes of gay men. The 1970s marked an increase in visibility for LGBTQ+ communities in media with the 1972 ABC film That Certain Summer. The film was about a gay man raising his family, and although it did not show any explicit relations between the men, it contained no negative stereotypes.
The response to LGBTQ+ efforts for an increased positive presence and an end to homophobic portrayals of homosexuality in media, directly led to the members of the National Association of Broadcasters Code Authority agreeing to adopt the NAB Code, to guarantee that the LGBTQ+ community would be fairly treated in media. Although not a binding agreement, networks began to take precautions and consult LGBTQ+ communities before running programs portraying homosexuality. This led to the presence of LGBTQ+ characters beginning in prime time television, although in minimal amounts or in episodes that concentrated on homosexuality. Nevertheless, such presentations were greeted as signs of greater social acceptance.
1980s and the emergence of the AIDS epidemic With the emergence of the AIDS epidemic and its implicit relation to gay men, media outlets varied on their coverage, portrayal and acceptance of LGBTQ+ communities. The Moral Majority, the Coalition for Better Television, and the American Family Association began to organize boycotts against sponsors of television programs that showed homosexuals in what they viewed as a positive light.
Media coverage of LGBTQ+ communities varied during the 1980s depending on the location and therefore the nature of the market and management of the organization. For example, in San Francisco, The San Francisco Chronicle hired an openly gay reporter and ran detailed stories on LGBTQ+ topics. In contrast The New York Times refused to use the word "gay" in its writing, preferring to use the term "homosexual", as it was perceived as a more clinical term, and continued to limit its coverage of LGBTQ+ issues, in both verbal and visual form.
The AIDS epidemic forced mainstream media to acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ+ communities, and coverage increased. Some news coverage began to distinguish between "innocent" victims who had not acquired AIDS through homosexual contact and "guilty" victims who had. This coverage portrayed the LGBTQ+ community in a negative light and can be seen as a step back in the movement for equality. However, the AIDS epidemic forced the media to regard LGBTQ+ people in a more serious light. It also resulted in an increase in education regarding LGBTQ+ people and issues; editors and reporters began to learn more about LGBTQ+ communities and therefore became more sensitive to the tone with which they reported on their issues.
Furthermore, the increase in contact with the LGBTQ+ community lead to a greater emergence of LGBTQ+ figures in media as contacts were made during reports of the AIDS epidemic, as well as those speaking out and those who had contracted the virus themselves. This increase in contact led to an awareness of how homophobia was woven into the government's media responses to the AIDS epidemic and this paved the way for future movements.
"Bury your gays"
A recurrent pattern (a "trope") in the media portrayal of LGBTQ+ people is that queer characters face tragic fates, including death, much more often than straight characters. Across media, gay or lesbian characters tend to meet unhappy endings such as heartbreak, loss, insanity, depression or imprisonment. In many cases, they end up dying, either through suicide, homophobic attacks, illness or other means. Viewers called this trope "bury your gays" and "dead lesbian syndrome".
This reflection of once widespread homophobic storylines drew mainstream attention through publicized examples, such as the death of the character Lexa from the television series The 100 (2014-2020). The controversy and discussion resulting from these types of stories led some creators of popular fiction to consciously avoid harmful tropes and present more positive portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters.
News coverage of LGBTQ+ events