LGBTQ Representation In The Media

It’s only natural for people to project themselves onto the characters they view on TV or in the movies. However, being LGBTQ means that there are nearly no characters to relate to. There is a lack of LGBTQ representation in the media which has a negative effect on the queer community.
LGBTQ people have had to protest for basic rights throughout all of history, so demanding to be recognized by the media is just another thing the community has to fight for. Although things have gotten easier, worldwide many LGBTQ people are not allowed to marry, adopt children, own a house together, or simply exist without persecution from society. However, in the US the LGBTQ community has made great strides in being recognized and accepted. This could only

Such raids were not uncommon in New York City. In such raids, patrons of the bar typically cowered at the back of the room or ran away to prevent having their names, addresses, and photos printed in the next day’s newspaper. The Stonewall raid was different, however, in that bar patrons chose to fight back against police. In another unusual turn of events, the riots did not simply die out in the early morning hours of June 28. Instead, skirmishes between police and homosexuals and their supporters continued over the next two days. More important, the riots set into motion actions that were to mark the real beginning of a gay and lesbian protest movement (Newton

As of 2016 LGBTQ people made up only 4% of the characters in TV shows and 17.4% in major movie releases (GLAAD Figure 1). This number is incredibly disappointing because the queer community is nearly 13 million strong in the US alone, and yet they are so incredibly under represented in the media. It is very clear that under representation of the LGBTQ community is a real problem despite claims of the opposite. TV and movie producers have maintained that LGBTQ representation is in a “good place” because they have graced the public with maybe two quality queer characters who they’ll kill off later in the season, waiting just long enough to make sure the LGBTQ audience is invested in the show. As a result of being told that they should be happy with the mediocre content they are given the LGBTQ community has resorted to extreme measures. LGBTQ audiences have refused to watch shows and movies that don’t do queer characters justice, forced producers to recognize the harmful depictions of queer characters through widespread negative media, and even begun creating their own content with queer characters they can actually relate