Neda Ulaby looks at the current landspe of gay characters on televisn, om the hight brows of Downton Abbey to the surprisgly welg world of realy shows.
Contents:
- ON AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY REPORTER AT A MAJOR NEWSPAPER
- THE JOURNALIST WHO CHANGED HOW WE SEE GAY AMERI
- WHEN GAY JOURNALISTS WERE CLOSETED: A HISTORY OF AIDS COVERAGE AT 'THE TIM'
- HOW GAY MEN SAVED US FROM MPOX
- WHO'S GAY ON TV? DADS, JOURNALISTS, INVTIGATORS AND FOOTMEN
ON AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY REPORTER AT A MAJOR NEWSPAPER
The first openly gay printial ndidate to mount a major mpaign has attracted an equally pneerg prs rps. * gay man and a gay journalist *
Frank BniColumnist, The New York Tim@FrankBniFormerly the chief rtrant cric for The New York Tim, Bni ma history 2011 by beg the Grey Lady's first out gay lumnist.
The Emerson College assistant profsor is also a producer of the upg film Michael, based on his Tim Magaze piece about his "ex-gay" iend. Kate FaganWrer, ESPN@KateFagan3ESPN ntributor and lumnist Kate Fagan wr about basketball (and genr and sexism and homophobia) om a place of knowledge and ep, personal appreciatn. Amerin Charl Perez of ABC News is one to particularly note - he published his book 'Confsns of a Gay News Anchorman' (2011) after his oral of beg fired om a posn Florida when he was intified as beg gay.
THE JOURNALIST WHO CHANGED HOW WE SEE GAY AMERI
For example, France, there is L'associatn s journalist LGBT, and Ameri there is the Natnal Lbian & Gay Journalists Associatn. Among the roughly dozen reporters on the b that day, five were gay—part of a terie of LGBTQ journalists verg the first mastream openly gay printial ndidate. A number of gay natnal rrponnts have foced on Buttigieg, too, a list that clus Josh Lerman, an NBC News natnal polil reporter; Chris Johnson of the Washgton Bla; Jeremy Peters of the New York Tim, and the Washgton Post’s Chelsea Jan and opn wrer Jonathan Capehart.
For others, ’s tentnal: They put their hands up, fascated by the chance to ver the first openly gay top tier printial ndidate. Over the past 12 months, om New Hampshire to Iowa, the gay reporters on the Buttigieg beat have wnsed and reported on anti-gay hecklg at stops D Mo, Iowa, and Marshalltown, Iowa.
“Havg so many LGBTQ reporters verg this mpaign has helped facilate a more thoughtful and nuanced nversatn about what means to be gay 2020.
WHEN GAY JOURNALISTS WERE CLOSETED: A HISTORY OF AIDS COVERAGE AT 'THE TIM'
In November, on a three-day b tour of Iowa, I asked Buttigieg what meant to him that the majory of reporters routely verg him were also gay. ” “We knew to ask if he expected any tensn at the Thanksgivg table om some of his ls gay-iendly -laws, ” Bixby, who was there, says. ’ It’s, ‘Pete is gay and I’m gay, so I know that a qutn about this specific experience is gog to produce an tertg or illumatg answer.
It was a ary veteran and person of fah “who jt let me know ’s OK to be a Christian veteran gay Amerin, but I did not grow up wh a lot of out gay people my life, ” he rpond. “It’s helped facilate really ep, thoughtful nversatns about what was like to be the closet up until his 30s, what was like g out, how affected him as a young man, how affects him today on the mpaign, ” Smh says of the fact that gay reporters are verg the mpaign.
As a black and gay journalist, the Post’s Capehart has had an even more sgular wdow to Buttigieg’s mpaign, particularly as he has stggled to w over black voters. In a November 2019 lumn headled “The ugly lie about black voters and Pete Buttigieg, ” Capehart tackled the stereotype that Ain Amerins stat such as South Carola are homophobic.
HOW GAY MEN SAVED US FROM MPOX
“You are verg somethg that is unprecented, which is a major openly gay printial ndidate havg to ntend wh protters shoutg vulgari about their sexualy at them durg a mpaign event, ” says Lerman, who documented the episo for NBC News. “The fact of the matter is that gay rights issu, same-sex marriage, other issu like that, are still matters of public ntroversy our untry, ” says Lerman, who pched his edors on verg Buttigieg around his lnch April after Buttigieg had raised $7 ln the first fundraisg quarter.
Mark Meier, a gay Washgton-based munitns profsnal who lnched the Draft Pete movement on social media 2018 but who now supports Sen. “Early on, straight embeds were aaid of beg lled homophobic and gay embeds, many of whom look like Pete, gave him overwhelmgly glowg attentn.
WHO'S GAY ON TV? DADS, JOURNALISTS, INVTIGATORS AND FOOTMEN
It wasn’t only their shared inty as gay whe men but also Buttigieg’s return to his Midwtern hometown after attendg llege.
Bixby says this is one of the first electns which gay reporters are wrg about the tersectn of sexual inty and the mpaign trail. It’s Gary Hart, ’s Bill Clton and ’s Print Tmp, but I feel like as a gay reporter, I might have an unrstandg of the relatnship to sexualy and sexual orientatn and what has to do wh other aspects of a person’s life. Havg other gay, queer, LGBTQ reporter iends who you see at ralli or bat or foms or on the b, mostly, mak a ltle more bearable to ver any ndidate, ” Bixby says.
Part of the fun of this has jt been ’s shaken up so many of my assumptns on what means to be gay Ameri, and what means to be a gay polician Ameri. Shilts, often hailed as one of the natn’s first openly gay reporters for a major daily newspaper, was not the first choice on the list.