Portrayal of Gays in the Media

Brent Hardy

Social Problems/Trigg

March 18, 2003

 

            The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community has faced many problems in their fight for equal treatment.  Conservatives and religious groups have protested over any attempt to give the homosexual community “equal protection under the law.”  Sodomy laws are still on the books in many states.  Age of consent laws are mainly used to prosecute gay couples.  Very few states have hate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation, whether real or perceived.  While more companies include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies, very few offer benefits to same-sex partners.  Of those companies that include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies, very few have clauses that protect transgender employees.  In a society where it has been said that gays are the only group you can malign in polite company, the media can have a strong effect on how the public perceives the homosexual community.

            Prior to the late Sixties, the media never mentioned homosexuality.  However, when the police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York, causing riots and the birth of the militant gay rights movement, the media had to take note.  However, the newspapers depicted gays as stereotypes and generally degraded them.  Language such as “queen power” and snide remarks about gender non-conformity peppered such articles as the July 6, 1969 article on the Stonewall riots in The New York Daily News.[1]  Such articles also attempted to undermine gay protesters by making their plight seem ludicrous.

            As time passes things stay much the same.  While in modern times many advertising companies cater to the gay community, many others still make gays the punchline of jokes that are often tasteless and simply not funny.  Transgendered persons have been especially used as the butt of jokes in the classic “she turns out to be a he” ad as the man that picks up what he believes to be a woman leaves in disgust.  Prison rape was another joke that was popular in the 2002 advertising year with such companies as 7-Up, Bud Light, and IKEA airing suggestive ads.[2]  Stereotypes also serve to emasculate the gay community, making all homosexual males seem like sex-crazed sissy wimps and all lesbians into flannel-wearing bull dykes.  Such advertisements only entrench homophobia into our collective consciousness

            The news media, though, seems to think that as little mention of gay issues as possible is the best route to take.  They seem to think that if you don’t mention the problem then it doesn’t exist.  While major news stories such as the AIDS quilt in Washington D.C. met wide coverage, things such as Gay Pride parades and other such events receive little, if any, attention, especially in the Deep South.  Many companies do not want to be seen as supportive of the gay community, and know that they will receive accusations of condoning homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle from conservative groups if they advertise such “pro-gay propaganda.”  

            Unfortunately, the media still has far to go in presenting homosexuals in a neutral light.  While ground breaking companies such as MTV (who has paired with GLSEN, a national foundation dedicated to educating the public about gay issues) help dispel the stereotypical portrayal of gays in the media and the homophobia that goes along with it, many ad companies find it profitable to exploit the homosexual community by offering it acknowledgement while at the same time making fun of it.  The media has great power to make the world a better place for gays, but it continues to abuse this power for its own self-gain.