Tag Archives: Better Representation

New GLAAD Report States Streaming Services Lead LGBT Representation, But Queer Female Roles Still Fall Short On TV

The is week, GLAAD released its annual Where We Are on TV report; a comprehensive review of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) primetime characters in the 2015-16 television season.

This year marks the 20th year that GLAAD has tracked the presence of LGBT characters on television and for the first time, they have counted LGBT characters on original series which have premiered on the streaming content providers Amazon, Hulu and Netflix.

Of the 881 regular characters expected to appear on broadcast primetime scripted programming in the coming year, 35 (4%) were identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

The highest percentage of LGBT characters GLAAD has ever counted on primetime scripted broadcast programming was 4.4% in the 2012-13 season.

CEO & President of GLAAD, added Sarah Kate Ellis

Each of us lives at the intersection of many identities and it’s important that television characters reflect the full diversity of the LGBT community. It is not enough to just include LGBT characters; those characters need to be portrayed with thought and care to accurately represent an often tokenized community.”

The full report can be downloaded from the GLAAD website. However, here are some of its key findings:

Broadcast needs to step up its game

The number of regular LGBT characters on cable shows increased from 64 to 84 (out of 142 characters total), with 58 recurring LGBT characters (up from 41 last year).

GLAAD acquired data from streaming services for the first time (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu), and found 43 LGBT characters out of 59 regulars.

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In contrast, the broadcast networks have 881 regular characters — a mere 35 of whom are LGBT this year.

Streaming services offer the most trans representation

Trans representation is still relatively new to television — but online streaming services are leading the charge. GLAAD found that 7% of characters on streaming services were trans, and that Netflix and Amazon both showcase trans leads (on Sense8 and Transparent).

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There are no transgender characters counted on primetime broadcast programming, while only three recurring trans characters were counted on cable (2%).

Bisexual representation needs work

Bisexual representations rose on both broadcast and cable this year with a notable increase. Unfortunately, many of these characters still fall into dangerous stereotypes about bisexual people.

Racial diversity is still an issue

All three programming platforms need to include more racially diverse LGBT characters

With 73% of the LGBT characters appearing on streaming series being white and 71% on cable, it is clear that all three programming platforms need to include more racially diverse LGBT characters.

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Overall racial diversity is moving in the right direction with 33% (287) of 881 regular characters counted on broadcast programming being people of color, which is a six-point increase from last year.

Women are still underrepresented

43% of regular primetime characters are female (up from 40% last year), but this still doesn’t reflect the general population, where women make up 51%. Of the 145 black characters on broadcast primetime, only 41% were female (59 characters).

Disability representation is down

After increasing for two years, the percentage of characters portrayed living with disabilities decreased this year, to 0.9%. There is only one character across the combined pool of broadcast and cable who is HIV-positive.

GLAAD 2015 Report Highlights Lack of Representation for Lesbian, Bi and Trans Characters in Hollywood Films

Studios still aren’t doing enough to show lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters on screen, according GLAAD’s to the annual Studio Responsibility Index (SRI).

The report maps the quantity, quality, and diversity of images of LGBT people in films released by the seven largest motion picture studios and four major subsidiary studios during the 2014 calendar year.

GLAAD’s 2015 report found that just 17.5% of the 114 major studio releases it tracked last year contained characters that identified as either lesbian, gay or bisexual.

The vast majority – 65% – of these inclusive films feature gay male characters, many of them white.

Less than a third of the 20 films that contained LGBT characters featured bisexual roles, and just 10% had lesbian characters.

According to the study, there were no characters GLAAD determined to be identifiably transgender among any films tracked this year.

As television and streaming services continue to produce a remarkable breadth of diverse LGBT representations, we still struggle to find depictions anywhere near as authentic or meaningful in mainstream Hollywood film. The industry continues to look increasingly out of touch by comparison, and still doesn’t represent the full diversity of the American cultural fabric,”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO

Though the overall number of films containing LGBT characters has increased slightly from last year, Hollywood still presents a dire portrayal of diversity.

Most of the LGBT characters were cast in minor roles or were solely defined by their sexual orientation, rather than being a multidimensional character.

Half of the inclusive films contained less than five minutes of screen time for their LGBT characters. Only 32.1% of inclusive roles were people of colour, compared to 24% the previous year.

GLAAD introduced the “Vito Russo Test” in 2012, a set of criteria analysing how LGBT characters are represented in a fictional work, in the first SRI and continues to judge films by these simple guidelines. Named after GLAAD co-founder and celebrated film historian Vito Russo, and partly inspired by the “Bechdel Test,” these criteria represent a standard GLAAD would like to see a greater number of mainstream Hollywood films reach in the future.

The Vito Russo Test criteria:

  1. The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT).
  2. That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. the character is comprised of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight characters from one another).
  3. The LGBT character must be tied into the plot in such a way that their removal would have a significant effect. Meaning they are not there to simply provide colorful commentary, paint urban authenticity, or (perhaps most commonly) set up a punchline. The character should “matter.”

Eleven of the 20 major studio films that featured an LGBT character passed the Vito Russo Test.

While we were pleased to see Warner Brothers show real improvement in its LGBT-inclusive films in 2014, they also recently released the comedy Get Hard, one of the most problematic films we have seen in some time. This glaring lack of consistency seems to be common amongst almost every major film studio, showing a need for greater oversight in how their films represent – or don’t represent – significant portions of their audience. Only when they make those changes and catch up to other, more consistently inclusive media portrayals will we be able to say that America’s film industry is a full partner in accelerating acceptance.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO

GLAAD’s 9th annual Network Responsibility Index (NRI) will be issued this summer. This report will analyse the LGBT-inclusive images presented by the five broadcast networks and 10 cable networks during the 2014-2015 broadcast season. The Where We Are on TV report, forecasting the expected presence of LGBT characters for the upcoming 2015-2016 television season, will follow in the fall.

Study Shows 2014 Has Seen an Increase in Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on Mainstream TV

Television has increased its depiction of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters, with the edge going to cable and the Internet over broadcast networks, according to a study released by GLAAD.

“Television networks are playing a key role in promoting cultural understanding of LGBT lives around the world, and are now producing some of the best LGBT-inclusive programming we’ve yet seen. As they move forward with new programs and storylines, networks must also keep an eye towards diversity and strive to include significant transgender content comparable to those efforts being made by their online competitors, such as Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and Amazon’s Transparent.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President and CEO

The overall on-screen progress comes as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has made social and political strides that include legalization of same-sex marriage in some U.S. states and the end of a military ban on openly gay service members.

In the 2014-15 season, the study by GLAAD said that 3.9 percent of 813 characters regularly seen on prime-time network scripted series will be lesbian, gay or bisexual, a total of 32 characters.

That represents an increase over last year’s 3.3 percent, but is down from the 4.4 percent record high for LGBT depictions on network series in 2012.

Among the networks, Fox again emerged with the highest percentage of lesbian, gay or bisexual regular characters, 6.5 percent, with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Glee” among the programs contributing to the tally. ABC, which had tied with Fox for first last year at 5.4 percent, dropped to 4.5 percent.

NBC is at 3.8 percent, up almost 3 points from last year, while CBS’ shows had 3.2 percent gay, lesbian or bisexual characters, up from 1.9 percent from last season. The CW has no regular LGBT characters, the gay rights group said.

Among cable TV shows, there were 64 regular LGBT characters, up from 42 last season. HBO has the most characters, followed by ABC Family and Showtime. One transgender character, on ABC Family’s “The Fosters,” was found by the study.

Tom Ascheim, President of ABC Family said…

“To be relevant to our audience, we must reflect the world as they experience it, and we know that experience is based on valuing loving relationships, no matter the gender.  This acknowledgment is especially gratifying because it means we are representing their view accurately. We will continue to deliver programming where differences are acknowledged and celebrated.”

Tom Ascheim, President of ABC Family

Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming added…

“This recognition from GLAAD belongs to those in the writing room, on set and in the editing bay but we are honored to be their partner and provide a home where they can tell their stories. At HBO we feel if we are not telling diverse stories then we are missing out on some of the best stories.  It is a part of our history and an ongoing commitment. “

Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming.

President of MTV and Logo TV said Stephen Friedman

“For MTV to fully connect with young people, we have to represent our entire audience in all its brilliant diversity, which includes people of every sexual orientation and gender identity. We’re honored to receive GLAAD’s recognition, and are committed to airing the stories of LGBTQ young people – to provide our audience characters they can relate to, and to bring new voices from the LGBTQ community into living rooms across the country.”

Stephen Friedman, President of MTV and Logo TV

GLAAD also studied other aspects of diversity on network TV. Despite several new high-profile broadcast series starring women, including Alfre Woodward as the U.S. president in NBC’s “State of Affairs” and Tea Leoni as secretary of state in CBS’ “Madam Secretary,” the percentage of female characters has declined to 40 percent, down 3 points from last year.

Ethnic characters on network shows make up 27 percent of the total, compared with 23 percent last season, with 1.4 percent depicted as people with disabilities, a slight increase from 1 percent in 2013.