How the Media Has Helped Change Public Views about Lbian and Gay People | Scholars Strategy Network

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• HOW THE MEDIA HAS HELPED CHANGE PUBLIC VIEWS ABOUT LBIAN AND GAY PEOPLE

HOW THE MEDIA HAS HELPED CHANGE PUBLIC VIEWS ABOUT LBIAN AND GAY PEOPLE

8 percent out of 857 seri regulars on broadst TV openly intified as on the gay, trans, or queer spectm.

Many of the rol were emed “sufficient, ” such as a quick reference Get Out that the hoekeeper Gea might be gay, and a postmortem revelatn that two characters Alien: Covenant were a gay least televisn, looks like we’re makg progrs. Share of gay uple hoeholds the U.

Media reach among gay/bisexual men the U.

Banng of books wh homosexual or transgenr characters the U. 2021, by ageShare of gay uple hoeholds the U.

2018Media reach among gay/bisexual men the U. 2019Banng of books wh homosexual or transgenr characters the U. 8 percent) ntaed characters intified as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and/or queer.

Gay men rema the most reprented film by far wh 64 percent (ne) of the clive films featurg gay male characters. One of Disney’s eight films (13 percent) clud a gay character, and Sony rounds out the group wh one clive film of 25 total (four percent) also examed the film releas of four smaller, affiliated studs (Foc Featur, Fox Searchlight, Roadsi Attractns, and Sony Pictur Classics) to draw a parison between ntent released by the mastream studs and perceived "art hoe" divisns. At least 843 LGBTQ people currently serve elected offic across the Uned Stat, nstutg a 21 percent crease sce June 2019, acrdg to the LGBTQ Victory Instute’s “Out for Ameri 2020” cens of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer elected officials.

“In a world where our civil rights are unr attack, and many are qutng their place the world, the affirmg power of such reprentatn nnot be overstated, ” said Mondaire Jon, who recently won the Democratic nomatn New York’s 17th Congrsnal District and, if elected November, uld be the first openly gay Black man elected to of this crease was driven by what Victory lled a “rabow wave” — a surge LGBTQ ws the 2018 and 2019 electns.

The Victory Instute says that orr for LGBTQ people to achieve “equable reprentatn, ” there would need to be 22, 544 more lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people elected LGBTQ polil gas are not evenly distributed.

Senate, three more LGBTQ elected officials would achieve equy (5 senators total) legislatur, on the other hand, lag behd: One-hundred-and-seventy-three LGBTQ people would need to be elected orr to achieve equy, acrdg to Victory’s majory of the 843 LGBTQ officials — 54 percent — are gay men, followed by 30 percent lbians, 6 percent bisexuals and 5 percent queer vast majory of all LGBTQ officials are cisgenr — 94 percent. Ameri’s LGBTQ elected officials are mostly whe — 77 percent — followed by 10 percent Hispanic, 6 percent Black, 2 percent multiracial, 2 percent Asian or Pacific Islanr and ls than 1 percent each for digeno and Middle breakdown may soon change, as two Black gay men nng for Congrs move closer to victory, cludg Jon. “One of the most energizg featur of this mpaign is the sheer volume of msag I have received om members of the LGBTQ muny, young and old, sayg that my ndidacy as an openly gay, Black person has spired them to accept their own inti and live thentic liv, ” Jon said a text msage to NBC News.

“I’m so humbled to be a posn to provi reprentatn that I never had growg up, ” Jon other openly gay Black man nng for Congrs is Rchie Torr, currently the youngt member of the New York Cy Council, who has a strong lead vote returns for the Democratic nomatn New York’s 15th Congrsnal District, which is also overwhelmgly Democratic.

)While both Jon and Torr would be the Hoe's first openly gay Black members, they apparently would not be the body’s first gay Black honor is thought to belong to Barbara Jordan of Texas, who 1972 beme the first Black woman to reprent the South Congrs, and 1976 beme the first Black woman to be a keynote speaker at a Democratic Natnal Conventn. 5% of Amerins intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr.

In the Uned Stat and beyond, few shifts public opn have been as rapid and wispread as attus about lbian women and gay men. Virtual Contacts wh Gays and Lbians. The central qutn drivg our study is: Do the specific nature and ntext of a natn's media fluence attus towards homosexualy?

Increas reprentatns of gay people news, televisn, and movi started the 1990s – promently exemplified by Ellen DeGener’s g out on mastream Amerin televisn her portrayal of Ellen Men the ABC-s, Ellen. Portrayals of lbian women and gay men have ntued to crease over the two s sce they were featured popular shows like Will and Grace and Morn Fay; and the portrayals have and recently spread to shows for teenage dienc such as Glee and Teen Wolf.

Beyond entertament, the news media has also creasgly vered gay rights as such issu have bee policized. In 2014, works om Rsia Today to Al Jazeera extensively vered the gay rights bate surroundg the “anti-gay Sochi Olympics. In an creasgly ternnected world, we hypothize that effects om virtual ntacts through media exposure to portrayals of lbian women and gay men should hold cross-natnally, pendg on the natnal media outlets willgns to transm portrayals.

The dienc are ls likely to have formed firm opns about gay and lbian people. We believe that the young people’s exposure to gay and lbians the media cis wh ntacts younger people have wh gay and lbian people and issu through other avenu of socializatn.

However imperfect media portrayals of gay people may be – and however poor a substute for personal ntacts – the media do troduce new bat and new am of reference about homosexualy across multiple domtic ntexts.

Another route for change may have occurred as new media portrayals creased the terpersonal visibily of gay and lbian people and the likelihood that they would e out and openly reveal their inti to iends, neighbors, and -workers. Importantly, we are not argug that enhanced visibily generated by the media always improv the lived experienc of gay and lbian people.

Media portrayals may arrive ntexts already somewhat open to gay and lbian people, or ntexts where discrimatn and hostily hold sway.

In addn, given media portrayal n highlight more or ls sensatnal or ntroversial aspects of gay life, and ed often neglects the broad array of issu experienced by members of this diverse muny.

The takeaway of our rearch is that as the liberalizatn of attus towards gays and lbians has occurred many untri across the globe sce the 1980s, change has been enuraged part by munitns climat – wh and across natns – that allow for the ee transmissn of mory viewpots. To close gaps tolerance and cultural change, movements and lears mt enurage var forms of media to tell more accurate stori about lbian and gay people.