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Below you’ll find a collection of links to news articles, studies and blog posts related to the state of LGBT representation in the media.

Sex(uality) Sells: Hollywood is capitalizing on LGBTQ+ characters, for better or worse

(Blastr) – Characters who happen to be gay have become a brand new form of tokenism. They are not, themselves, token characters – their characterization exists outside of their gayness – but they are being used to appeal to a certain demographic. Rather than serving the role of traditional token characters, Trini and LeFou do not support tired stereotypes or to allow the creators an out for borderline jokes at their expense. But, much like their token predecessors, these characters also do not exist because said creators think representation is important or meaningful. They get butts in seats, they stir up controversy, but they are inoffensive. You cannot rightfully fear them because they don’t do or say anything scary. You cannot hate them because they don’t actually do any of the things you hate.

But at the same time, you can’t really champion them, because they aren’t really doing or saying anything at all.


Blastr

Ryan Murphy on the Hollywood closet: “I was traumatized but I didn’t realize it” [VOX]

(Vox) – Murphy recently appeared on the debut episode of Vox culture critic Todd VanDerWerff’s new podcast, I Think You’re Interesting, and he related a painful and personal story about the obstacles and homophobia he had to face before he could represent queer characters onscreen.

[…]

They were interested in gay people who were tragic. They were interested if you were gay and you would kill yourself. Or if you would try and commit suicide. They weren’t interested in gay sensibility, or the language of being gay, which is sometimes not just gay characters.


Vox

GLAAD Report: 2016 Was A Year Of Representation But Also, Mostly, Murder For Lesbians On TV [AUTOSTRADDLE]

(Autostraddle) – I think one of the reasons Lexa’s death caused so much outrage is that she seemed like the ultimate symbol of queer women having arrived. She hadn’t come onto The 100 as a Queer Character; her relationship with Clarke evolved naturally, the way it would between any straight characters. She was complicated and layered and beloved. Her death, and the landslide of lesbian/bi deaths that came after it, were crushing because they shook the hope out of us.

And it was more than just a feeling. One of the bleakest things about this year’s Where We Are On TV report is the acknowledgement that lesbian representation on broadcast TV dropped 16% since last year and lesbians on cable are down 2%. On cable! This is the first year since The L Word began that lesbian representation has gone down on cable TV. While bisexual women are getting a small boost in visibility, it’s often coming at the cost of damaging cliches. (Looking straight at you,Gotham!) And women, in general, are still trailing behind men on TV. We only make up 44% of regular characters, but we make up 51% of the population.


Autostraddle

Record Highs for Black, Transgender Characters on TV, GLAAD Report Finds [THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]

(The Hollywood Reporter) – On the flip side, GLAAD blasted broadcast networks for their proliferation of the decades-old “Bury Your Gays” trope in which gay or bisexual female characters are killed off at a higher rate in order to further the storylines of straight leading characters. The trope went mainstream this past broadcast season following the deaths of lesbian or bisexual characters on shows including The 100, The Walking Dead and more. GLAAD said that broadcast series specifically “failed queer women” this year, with more than 25 lesbian and bisexual characters being killed off of scripted TV on both broadcast and streaming series since Jan. 1.


The Hollywood Reporter

TV Is Better for L.G.B.T.Q. Characters than Ever—Unless You’re a Lesbian [VANITY FAIR]

(Vanity Fair) – There are more L.G.B.T.Q. characters on TV than ever, on a wider range of platforms, and playing a huge array of roles. It’s never been a better time to be a queer person looking to see yourself on TV—that is, unless you’re a lesbian.

GLAAD’s annual report on L.G.B.T.Q. representation is out for the 2016–2017 season, and as always, it’s a mixed bag of good news and bad news. Nearly 5 percent of all TV characters are L.G.B.T.Q.; trans representation alone has more than doubled. But the report also confirms that Dead Lesbian Syndrome has been very real this year, as the lesbian ranks have plummeted.


Vanity Fair

2016 GLAAD Report: LGBTQ Characters Hit Record Highs, But TV Is Still Burying Its Gays [VULTURE]

(Vulture) – Beyond the quantitative data, GLAAD also pointed to the persistent and problematic “Bury Your Gays” trope — that is, the tendency for television shows to kill off their queer characters, usually for the growth and edification of a straight character — particularly as it relates to women. GLAAD reports that 25 lesbian and bisexual female characters died on television since the beginning of 2016, counting Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) in Wentworth, Cara Thomas (Florence Pugh) in Marcella, and Camila Barrios (Danielle Vega) in East Los High as examples. Indeed, there were a number of other controversial deaths this year, including Merritt Wever’s Denise on The Walking Dead, Alycia Debnam-Carey’s Lexa on The 100, and Samira Wiley’s Poussey on Orange Is the New Black.


Vulture

TV Diversity Hits Record Highs Onscreen in 2016-17 Season, GLAAD Study Reveals [VARIETY]

(Variety) – The report paid special attention to the so-called “bury your gays” trope, a response to the seemingly large number of LGBTQ characters killed off television shows in recent months. GLAAD found that more than 25 lesbian and bisexual female characters on scripted television have died since the beginning of 2016.

GLAAD also reported a dearth of racial diversity among LGBTQ characters on cable and streaming platforms, with 72% of all LGBTQ characters on the former platform counted as white and 71% on the latter.


Variety

There are more LGBTQ characters on broadcast TV than ever before, GLAAD study says [CNN]

(CNN) – GLAAD notes that 25 queer female characters across all platforms (broadcast, cable and streaming) have died since the start of 2016.

“Most of these deaths served no other purpose than to further the narrative of a more central (and often straight, cisgender) character,” Ellis noted. “When there are so few lesbian and bisexual women on television, the decision to kill these characters in droves sends a toxic message about the worth of queer female stories.”


CNN

“Orange Is The New Black” Broke Everybody’s Heart To Teach Idiots A Lesson [AUTOSTRADDLE]

, ,

Did this show need to sacrifice one of television’s few black lesbian characters in order to teach incredibly ignorant white people a lesson they really should’ve already learned by now?

Bailey is a sympathetic character and he should not be. There should be no question about who’s fault this murder was, the brutalization visited on the body of a black woman as brutality is visited on black bodies all across this country by white men in uniforms.

We already know the system is capable of murdering Poussey. That point has been proven for many seasons now. If we’re going to have to watch it, we shouldn’t be forced to empathize with the white man who wrought it. This loss is too devastating to also be grey. It’s too much to take in. We resent this story for not letting us rage with pure, unfiltered fury at Poussey Washington’s murderer.


Autostraddle

Featured

Sex(uality) Sells: Hollywood is capitalizing on LGBTQ+ characters, for better or worse

(Blastr) – Characters who happen to be gay have become a brand new form of tokenism. They are not, themselves, token characters – their characterization exists outside of their gayness – but they are being used to appeal to a certain demographic. Rather than serving the role of traditional token characters, Trini and LeFou do not support tired stereotypes or to allow the creators an out for borderline jokes at their expense. But, much like their token predecessors, these characters also do not exist because said creators think representation is important or meaningful. They get butts in seats, they stir…


Blastr

Ryan Murphy on the Hollywood closet: “I was traumatized but I didn’t realize it” [VOX]

(Vox) – Murphy recently appeared on the debut episode of Vox culture critic Todd VanDerWerff’s new podcast, I Think You’re Interesting, and he related a painful and personal story about the obstacles and homophobia he had to face before he could represent queer characters onscreen. […] They were interested in gay people who were tragic. They were interested if you were gay and you would kill yourself. Or if you would try and commit suicide. They weren’t interested in gay sensibility, or the language of being gay, which is sometimes not just gay characters.


Vox

GLAAD Report: 2016 Was A Year Of Representation But Also, Mostly, Murder For Lesbians On TV [AUTOSTRADDLE]

(Autostraddle) – I think one of the reasons Lexa’s death caused so much outrage is that she seemed like the ultimate symbol of queer women having arrived. She hadn’t come onto The 100 as a Queer Character; her relationship with Clarke evolved naturally, the way it would between any straight characters. She was complicated and layered and beloved. Her death, and the landslide of lesbian/bi deaths that came after it, were crushing because they shook the hope out of us. And it was more than just a feeling. One of the bleakest things about this year’s Where We Are On TV…


Autostraddle

TV Is Better for L.G.B.T.Q. Characters than Ever—Unless You’re a Lesbian [VANITY FAIR]

(Vanity Fair) – There are more L.G.B.T.Q. characters on TV than ever, on a wider range of platforms, and playing a huge array of roles. It’s never been a better time to be a queer person looking to see yourself on TV—that is, unless you’re a lesbian. GLAAD’s annual report on L.G.B.T.Q. representation is out for the 2016–2017 season, and as always, it’s a mixed bag of good news and bad news. Nearly 5 percent of all TV characters are L.G.B.T.Q.; trans representation alone has more than doubled. But the report also confirms that Dead Lesbian Syndrome has been very…


Vanity Fair

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