By Thaakiera Ackerdien
Homophobia is a bias that has plagued the world of the media since “the media” first came into being. Although the concept of homophobia was not created by the media, it has played a role in perpetuating it. The media's portrayal of the LGBT community includes any media depicting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people. In terms of agenda-setting and framing, the general consensus in the media has always seemed to be “ignore it,” or “gay=bad.” This has generally changed in recent years, and we have seen the LGBT community represented in a much more positive light in recent times.
IN THE NEWS
To start off I’ll be looking at the media coverage of the Stonewall riots. In June of 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, was the birthplace of the gay liberation front following the Stonewall Riots. The riot did not even receive any televised news coverage, and if you were a New Yorker reading the papers at the time, you wouldn’t have even known that an entire civil rights movement was being birthed in your city. Depending on which paper you read, you would have been exposed to a slightly different angle of the events of Stonewall.
Before I get into that, it is important to understand where this negative press coverage originated from. In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. In the 1960s, there was virtually no representation for the LGBT community in the media, and if there was it was almost certainly negative. The coverage of the Stonewall riots reflected these beliefs held by the majority at the time. Which was one of discrimination, violence, and homophobia.
In the days following the raid of the Stonewall Inn, the media coverage by major papers such as the New York Times, The New York Daily News, and the New York Post had vastly given the megaphone to the police. They quoted exclusively police sources and offered little context, thus framing the event as lawless youth, and an almost unprovoked riot. This contrasts with the coverage by the alternate press, such as The Village Voice, which had embedded themselves among the protestors. Their front-page coverage included interviews and quotes from the protestors themselves, as well as two first-person accounts. Thus, they framed the story as an expression of liberation instead of a lawless rebellion.
However, even though The Village Voice’s coverage, though more balanced, still had an “anti-gay” tone, which angered protestors. Both the alternate and major press stories were long and written in detail, but with too much focus on the sexualities of the gay and transgender people involved, meant to highlight their differences, and separate them from “normal” people. For example, The Village Voice, in their front-page article of the riot, used words such as “dyke” and “fag”, which was just as offensive back then as it is now. This tells us that the majority of the press at the time chose to frame the story as an uprising of deviants and the “non-elite.”
All the articles published during this time dismisses the notion the raid was an attack on LGBTQ+ people and instead focus on the claim that the police raided the premises to seize illegal alcohol. We can thus conclude from the reporting of the Stonewall riots that the LGBTQ+ community and their issues have not been a top priority of news outlets, and that news pertaining to the community was often painted in a negative light up until recent years, therefore perpetuating the idea of homophobia to the masses.
IN ENTERTAINMENT
The world of entertainment, particularly Hollywood movies, is not immune to perpetuating the ideas and biases of homophobia. From the 1890s to the 1980s, Hollywood's portrayal of homosexual men and women has often been cruel and homophobic. During this period of filmmaking, gay characters were often depicted as blatant stereotypes, with the sole purpose of their appearance being their sexual orientation, lacking any growth or character development. These stereotypes were often used for ridicule and laughter and included character archetypes such as the “sissy,” a foppish and feminine male. This “sissy” character was used as reassurance for audiences, not being overly masculine or feminine. By ridiculing and mocking the gay, or rather “queer-coded” character, as characters weren’t allowed to be explicitly homosexual, the films of the time perpetuated the idea that being discriminatory to a queer person is okay, thus perpetuating the idea of homophobia.
From the 1930s to the 50s, there existed a “Hays Code” which prohibited films from portraying overtly queer characters. The 1960s and 70s saw the dawn of the gay liberation movements, brought about by the Stonewall riots, this led to an increase in visibility of the LGBT community. Although the community was becoming increasingly visible, this still did not stop media from carrying homophobic messages when depicting queer characters. Films such as The Children’s Hour (1961), Advise and Consent (1962), Midnight Express (1978) and Vanishing Point (1971), although containing gay and lesbian characters, chose to portray them as dangerous, violent, predatory, and even suicidal. It was not until the gay rights movement and the HIV/Aids epidemic of the 1980s that positive changes were implemented into the media landscape when depicting the gay community.
THE FUTURE AND SOME POSITIVITIES
From the 1990s onwards, the media representation of the LGBTQ+ community has improved quite a lot. This is true for both television, Hollywood movies, and news coverage. The increase of queer characters has also led to more accurate portrayals of said characters, with more realistic storytelling as well. As more LGBT rights and issues have come to light in recent years, news coverage of the community has also shifted dramatically.
Many would argue that the increase in the acceptance of queer characters was prominently exemplified by Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out on her ABC-sitcom, Ellen. The depiction of queer characters on television and in cinema has continued to increase since the 1990s. Shows such as Will and Grace (1998-2020) and Friends (1994-2004) have both been praised for their positive depictions of homosexual characters.
The 2000s also saw a multitude of television shows and films with positive depictions of gay characters such as Modern Family (2009-2020) and Glee (2009-2015) which both had positive depictions of gay couples with children and had a good representation of the gay and lesbian teenager in high school. The 2004 movie Brokeback Mountain grossed over $178 million, proving that movies depicting queer characters could be profitable for large Hollywood studios. With the rise of social media, the internet, and streaming services such as Netflix, we have been given even more positive depictions of LGBTQ+ people in the world of entertainment such examples include Pose(2018-present), Sense8 (2015-2017), Sex Education (2019-present), and many more, all positively depicting queer characters. We are seeing a positive change in attitude towards queer people, especially from the youth and on social media.
Even though the liberalization of attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community has occurred globally since the 1980s, there is still much progress to be made. Homosexuality and depictions of homosexuals in the media are still illegal in 72 countries worldwide, 11 of which impose the death penalty for homosexual acts.
Thus, we can conclude that the media, even though it didn’t create it, has played a significant role in supporting the idea of homophobia and perpetuating its ideas worldwide for many years, and still does in many countries today.
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