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Women's fight for equality
Portrayal of gays in media
Women's fight for equality
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For years, LGBT issues weren’t as accepted as it is now. Many things in the media, books, and music excluded Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people, and the few that did, didn’t help the movement as much. You have books that kill off lesbian characters, gay men were stereotypicality feminine, nobody believed in bisexuality, and transgendered people lived their lives as drag queens. The lives of LGBT were kept a secret, nobody knew what would happen if this secret was revealed. Now, we have gained knowledge and started treating LGBT in the media better, not as great as it should. The song, “Born This Way”, by Lady Gaga brings the issue of pro-LGBT and self-love front and center for the world to listen when analyzed using a cultural lens. The primary issue is that throughout the years, LGBT people were looked down upon and not accepted for who they are. Religion was one of the primary sources for the anti-gay movement. Media wouldn’t show gays on television, books that feature LGBT characters would always be killed off for no reason except because of who they were. Marriage was seen as a bond between man and women and that boy must like girls or they’ll “burn in hell.” Now, LGBT characters are on most television shows, along with books. Gay marriage was finally legalized in 2015. The fight for LGBT is far from over. As many believe that once …show more content…
Getting LGBT representation on television was an important part of the LGBT movement. With shows like Queer As Folk, Modern Family, How to Get Away with Murder, etc. representation has opened up for LGBT people. One major problem involving media and LGBT representation is the “Bury Your Gays” trope in which a LGBT (mostly a lesbian character) is killed off for no reason other than being a lesbian. We’ve seen this with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Orphan Black, and The 100. The media’s view of LGBT people are both positive and
Over the course of U.S. history there have been many social movements. The most prominent one may be the Civil Rights Movement. African-Americans stared this movement because they felt they should be recognized as citizens; they should have all they basic rights of living and be treated as equals and not fall subject to injustice. Millions of people joined the movement and they stood up for what they thought was right. From this movement stemmed groups like then, The National Association for the Advantest of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC). Racism was something this movement wanted to erase, not only that but equality for everyone. The battle to end injustice was a long and hard and did not end without struggle. The same could be said about the Gay Rights Movement. This movement was started because there wasn’t equality between homosexuals and heterosexuals, and they were being mistreated in various ways. Many of homosexuals involved in the movement became known as the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. They fought to have equal opportunity in America and were met with obstacles they had to get over. Within both movements there were people who were too set in their ways to ever want to change; they did whatever they could to put a stop to the change. The goal of each group was equality, which, after a great amount of suffering, was granted to them. The people involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement both faced similar problems such as discrimination, religious persecution, violence, and legal injustice, some of these problems were handled the same way; other, another way.
LZ Granderson is a homosexual male who works as a sports columnist for CNN and ESPN. In his TEDx Talk he addresses various misconceptions people have about the Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgender (LGBT) community, such as discovering oneself and the difficulty of telling other people. Granderson presents himself as a member of the LGBT community as well as an activist for marriage equality. He shares multiple anecdotes and pictures in order to encourage his audience to see that members of the LGBT community are humans that deserve the same rights as everyone else.
The depiction of transgender women characters in mainstream television has been offensive, insulting and derogatory. An article from GLADD called “Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television”, examines 102 episodes and storylines on mainstream television that contained transgender characters since 2002. Of these, more than half were characterized as containing negative representations of transgender. In 2007 only 1% of television series had a recurring transgender character, which has slowly increased to 4% in 2013.
When television first appeared back in the 1940's, times were very different. What we would consider completely normal today would have seemed quite taboo just a few decades ago. For example, in 1953, Lucille Ball was not allowed to say the word "pregnant" while she was expecting baby Ricky and it wasn't until the 1960's show Bewitched, that we saw a married couple actually sharing the same bed. Considering how conservative the television networks were back then, it is not hard to deduce that something as controversial as homosexuality would be far from discussed or portrayed at any level. It was only in 1973 that television premiered its first homosexual character. Over the next three decades the emergence of gay and lesbian characters in television has increased and decreased as the times have changed. Due to the resurgence of conservatism that came back in the early 1980's, homosexual topics were again reduced to a minimum. Since that time though, as many people can see, there has been a rise of gay and lesbian characters on television. One might think after a first glance at the previous sentence that there has been progress among gay and lesbian communities to have a fair representation in the media. However, if one looks hard at the circumstances surrounding their portrayal, many people may start to believe that if there has been any progress then it has been quite minimal.
As the years have passed, homosexuality has become a very controversial topic. The fact that day by day they fight for equality just to be happy, I think it is an injustice that many people refuse to give them the rights they deserve.
The 1990s saw surge of gay characters in both television and movies. From Ellen Degeneres and her character Ellen Morgan coming out under much scrutiny on the TV show ‘Ellen,’ to Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett comedically playing off each other in the motion picture ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ Sure, gays and lesbians have been around forever, especially in Hollywood. But never has there been a time to be more out. With the popularity of shows like Will and Grace, which feature leading gay characters, as well as Dawson’s Creek and it’s supporting character of teenager Jack McPhee, we are slowly seeing gay and lesbian characters creeping into the mainstream media.
Within the past several years gay and lesbian rights has become a huge issue. Gays and lesbians have started to come out of the ''closet," and proudly admitting their sexuality. In the past few years gays and lesbians have been fighting for the right to marry, and adopt children. So far there is only one state that allows gays to become married. People have become more and more open minded with homosexuality. Twenty years ago homosexuality was looked down upon (in general), but now our society thinks that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. Our nation has started to move away from God, this is why people think that homosexuality is all right. If people are not close to God and do not follow Him, then they are not going to abide by His standards.
On the 14 February 2014, Ellen Page a nominated Oscar actress came out as gay in a speech that can be recognised as one of the most famous and well known speeches of current times and history. In this essay I will explain how Page’s fame profile and leading influence in the film industry and the world, her vocabulary and language applied in her speech, the deliverance and presentation of the speech and the topic of discrimination amongst the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LBGT) itself contributes to the overall popularity of the speech. It is combinations of the speaker and the words that create memorable speech.
People in this era are so stuck in the slavery days and days where people couldn’t be who they are that they can’t see past the revolution that has occurred while they were still in the time warp. The right to freedom of opinion and expression are a hot topic with lesbian women. They feel as if their opinions and input doesn’t matter because they have chosen to be with someone of the same sex. Unfortunately, we are still working to ensure respect and human rights obligations today.
Society has sculpted gay into a word used to criticize and bully people who did not “fit in”. Most commonly these people were members of the LGBT community. Today, millions of people are standing up for member of the LGBT community after many years of being oppressed. Only in the past few years has society started to accept people who identify themselves and their sexuality different than the norm. Third wave feminists have been fighting for LGBT members to be able to be who they truly feel they are without being ridiculed for it. In fact, in 2014, the US Supreme Court passed a law prohibiting the denial of same sex marriage in the United States; a huge breakthrough for third wave feminists and the LGBT community (Same Sex Marriage Laws). It is no doubt that the fight for equal and fair treatment of the LGBT community has come a long way and every day is another step closer to the goal.
...ia is another key player in reshaping how the society views homosexuality and same-sex couples and in the future there might be more and more shows with a focus on LGBT individual. This media change can be predicted because popular media is already starting to show same-sex couples in a positive light. Good Luck Charlie, Shameless, The New Normal, Spartacus, Glee, Game of Thrones are just a few popular media sources that have had a LGBT character on it since From Outlaws to In-Laws: Gays and Lesbian Couples in Contemporary Society article was published. The changes seen in the last four years with in the legislation, media and societal attitude show that time is the real solution because as time goes forward people tend to become more and more open minded and in the near future LGBT individuals will hopefully become accepted within society with full legal standing.
Sexual orientation is “the clear, persistent desire of a person for affiliation with one sex rather than the other”, otherwise known as sexual preference. (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com) Prejudice against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals (otherwise known as LGBT people) remain widespread in American society. LGBT people have always been a target for discrimination. Like other forms of prejudice, this discrimination is based on a hostile attitude toward a specific group and in this case minority. The current strides in the controversy of the legalization of the same sex marriage is a prime example of this discrimination. Sexual orientation prejudice has damaged the reputation and wellbeing of these individuals, and therefor overstepped the boundary between discrimination and downright hatred.
Issues faced by those struggling with sexual orientation and gender identity have become more public in today's society, thanks partially to changing societal views and an increased level of acceptance of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). However, despite the increase in visibility and acceptance in society, these individuals still experience much negativity, including discrimination, oppression, and violence and victimization because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The treatment of the LGBT community in American Society is a social injustice. What most people think is that they just want to be able to marry one another and be happy but that’s not it. They want to be treated like humans and not some weird creatures that no one has ever seen before. They want to be accepted for who them are and not what people want them to be and they deserve the right to be who they are just the same as any other human being. After all the discrimination they have endured they should be allowed to be who they are and be accepted as equals just like people of different skin color did in the times of segregation. We have a long way to go as a country but being the greatest country in the world in the eyes of many great America will make big steps to make things fair.
Media portrayal of the LGBT community is varying. It may be very positive and a “good” portrayal or negative and instead focuses on the stereotypical aspects of the LGBT community. One definition of a good LGBT television portrayal is one that depicts an LGBT character without over glaringly obviousness of their sexual orientation, or without adding many LGBT stereotypes that are all too often added.