Is the Media Homophobic? Presentations of Gays and Lesbians in the Media

While much progress has been made in recent years of the presentation of gays and lesbians in the media, the way they are most often represented is problematic. Thirty years ago, gays and lesbians were severely underpresented, or even not shown in the media at all. Today, they are no longer shunned from the media and kept in secrecy. We now see gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders shown often in every form of media. In my opinion, they are often shown in a positive light: successful, wealthy, attractive, employed, and charming. The following pictures are from popular TV shows in which gays and lesbians are shown positively:

Eric: Gossip Girl

Emily: Pretty Little Liars

Sophia: Orange is the New Black

Leslie: Chicago Fire

With all of this in consideration, LGBT community is a minority, and with every minority comes stereotyping. These stereotypes, wrong and demeaning as they may be, are also often shown in the media that gays and lesbians appear in. Lesbians are often shown as either masculine females, or extremely hyper-feminine, and often portrayed to have an interest in heterosexual sex. Examples of this are: both Arizona and Callie from Grey's Anatomy and Carol from Friends.
Gay stereotypes shown in the media are no better. Gay men are often shown as feminine and extremely flambuoyant. They are often the butt of the joke. This is shown in the movie Mean Girls, in which one of the main characters, Damien (described in the infamous quote as "too gay to function"), is shown always wearing a pink shirt, caring excessively about his appearance, and using words such as "fierce", "fabulous", and "own it" in a feminine voice. His only friends are girls and he is shown throughout the whole movie without a love interest. He is pictured below:

 

 

In conclusion, while gays and lesbians are misrepresented in the media, the media is making slow but sure progress in their representation. Slowly, stereotypes are being broken down. The stereotypes that are shown that are mentioned above, though, are wrong and demeaning to the LGBT community, which is why I commend people behind the media that are beginning to show gays and lesbians in a positive light. The video below features many more examples of my points proven above: