Tag Archives: LGBT 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.

Iconic Movie Moments With Queer Twist

When it comes LGBT representation in film we often get a bum deal.

Things are starting to change, acceptance is growing momentum, and roles are beginning to open up in mainstream movies. However, what would some of Hollywood’s most beloved films look like with a queer twist?

Artist, Kriti Kaur, took up that challenge – drawing this stunning set of illustrations – that turn 8 iconic cinema moments into same-sex couples.

Kaur came up with the idea for these images after thinking about a way to portray the universal nature of love, no matter what one’s sexual orientation or gender identity may be.

She told HuffPost Gay Voices

I came up with this when I was trying to brainstorm ideas about portraying the concept of love and how it stays the same regardless of people’s gender identities. And I do think that when people think of love, they look back to these famous films that showcase how powerful and amazing it can be. Recreating those moments with LGBT couples just made sense!”

1. Pretty Woman

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2. Casablanca

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3. Clueless

Kriti Kaur 02


4. Grease

Kriti Kaur 04


5. Dirty Dancing

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6. Love Actually

Kriti Kaur 05


7. Titanic

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8. It’s A Wonderful Life

Kriti Kaur 08

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.

The Bold and The Beautiful Introduces Its First Trans Character

If there’s one thing we know about daytime TV shows, it’s that by design they are ridiculous. Storylines are complex in an effort to get us tuning in each and every day. Is so and so’s cousin really the father of their best friend’s ex-girlfriend’s baby? Did that character’s long lost sister really kill her adopted step-brother? In the world of daytime TV those situations are entirely plausible.

Things go similarly complicated last week on the CBS’ daytime show The Bold and the Beautiful when the show introduced its first trans character, Maya.

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The character, Maya Avant is also a woman of colour and in other circumstances, her addition would be fantastic since trans representation is lacking on our TV screen.

The problem is, in Maya’s previous storylines (she’s been in the show since 2013), the character confronted the fate of the daughter that she gave birth to. The fact that it’s now being revealed that Maya was born with male sex organs means that viewers will be forced to forget Maya’s past altogether.

Representation is good and important, but when it doesn’t make sense, it feels as though characters are just being shoe-horned in for the sake of a diversity quota.

Furthermore people also have some issues with the fact that Maya isn’t being played by a trans actress.

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However, Karla Mosley, the actress who plays Maya, says that she’s been consulting GLAAD on how to get the role right. She also told US mag Us Weekly the following:

“As someone who is an artist and an activist, I know how important trans issues are — how it’s life and death for people at this point. The more that we in Hollywood can help people to understand what it is to be transgender, what that experience might be like for someone, and just to normalize it, I think we have the possibility of really changing some hearts and lives.

I think that that’s probably part of why they came to me with this. In addition to the fact that it really fits Maya’s story in this kind of amazing way that no one could’ve ever predicted, I think that they also knew that I would be totally ready and willing to talk about these things in an open way.”

While it’s hard to agree with Mosley that the trans identity fits Maya’s story, it is good to hear that she knows how important Maya’s portrayal is. The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS so tune in then to see how Maya’s story plays out.

US President Continues Support For LGBT Community, Telling Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Bans Are Unconstitutional

Since his political beginnings, Barack Obama has continued to support LGBT rights, and not only pushing through same-sex marriages in a number of states, but he has made American history by references and backing the community in his speeches.

He did so again, on Saturday, in a ceremony celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

Not only this, but Obama’s Administration has filed a Supreme Court brief announcing its belief that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.

“The laws they challenge exclude a long-mistreated class of human beings from a legal and social status of tremendous import. Those laws are not adequately justified by any of the advanced rationales. They are accordingly incompatible with the Constitution.”

The administration is stating bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, and it adds that LGBT people are “a long-mistreated class of human beings.”

The nation’s top court will hear oral arguments on four same-sex marriage cases April 28.

Lesbian Adventure Game ‘White Robe Love Addiction’ To Launch On PS Vita

When it comes to LGBT representation, it’s a well known fact that video games do it badly. Very few games feature LGBT characters as side characters, let alone as playable ones.

Notable game series include The Sims, Dragon Age and Mass Effect which have all allowed players to have same-sex romances since they were created. But these games take breaks – and they are just three video game franchises (all published by the same company, I might add) – and so there’s very little to choose from.

More: Gay and Lesbian Characters in Video Games

But there may be at least one game to tide you over if The Sims 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition aren’t up your street – a game called White Robe Love Addiction. Straight out of Japan, White Robe Love Addiction is actually a visual novel (these are essentially interactive stories) and so it features very little gameplay, but if you’re looking for femslash romance in the video game space, it’s one of few examples.

Set to be released on (Sony’s handheld games console) PS Vita in April, the game focuses on a group of women who are looking to become nurses. In typical trophy fashion, the women are often clad in short skirts, garters and other clothing decisions clearly made for ‘maximum titillation’. (When I said it offered queer representation, I didn’t mean it offered the best representation, but alas.)

If you can overlook the God awful character design, there might be a story here for you to latch onto. The lead is named Asuka and we play as her during time at nursing school (around three years) during which we meet Itsuki, Sakuya, and Nao. Itsuki and Sakuya are the lead queer couple, even being described as “the most perfect couple in the whole school.”

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Itsuki has green hair, is the school’s lothario and her skills include “sexual harassment” which is more than a little concerning. Sakuya meanwhile, is devoted to her studies despite the fact that she was pressured into enrolling in nursing school. As for Nao, very little is known about her but it’s been confirmed that her and Asuka become fast friends.

Unfortunately, as Japanese gaming press has been very reluctant to cover the queer angle of the game, we can’t confirm whether Asuka herself will get to to have a romance with a classmate or if players will only be able to witness the relationship between Itsuki and Sakuya. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that White Robe Love Addiction will receive translation into English so you may want to brush on your Japanese before importing it.

White Robe Love Addiction will be released on April 30th, 2015 for PS Vita.

LGBT Comes To Obama’s State of the Union Address

US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was historic moment for the American LGBT community, and marked the end of an exceptional 12 months for global LGBT awareness.

In his speech, the President declared that Americans “condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.”

This marks the first time a president has used the words transgender and bisexual in a State of the Union address, and the the explicit use of the term lesbian rather than the generic gay.

This shout-out is a considerable victory for both bisexual and transgender Americans, who have struggled to achieve mainstream recognition for decades.

“That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

We do these things not only because they are the right things to do, but because ultimately they will make us safer.”

President Barack Obama

Mr Obama also praised the rapid progress on same-sex marriage across the United States over the past year.

“I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long. I believe this because over and over in my six years in office. I have seen America at its best…

I’ve seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in ten Americans call home.”

President Barack Obama

Hollywood is Still Not Up to Scratch When it Comes to LGBT Representation

Shock! Surprise! Utter disdain and disgust for Hollywood’s continued failure to represent the diverse moviegoers who pay to see their films!

All emotions that we’re still feeling in 2014, despite people of colour and women being the most frequent cinema ticket buyers and LGBT buying power reaching $830 billion in the United States alone. Alas, even with TV shows’ improved success when it comes to representing LGBT characters, movies just can’t get it together.

We could chalk it down to the fact that it’s a lot easier bump off a character – through a death or just by writing them out of the show – if the show gets too queer for its heteronormative boots or that the characters in TV shows can grow into their non-heterosexual or non-cisgendered selves through a beautifully written bit of character development, but when no one’s (noticeably) avoiding TV shows just because they have queer people in them, why on Earth isn’t Hollywood up to scratch yet?

And it’s not even as though LGBT characters aren’t there either as according to GLAAD’s second annual Studio Responsibility Index, across the films from the 7 major studios they surveyed just 17 films with LGBT characters passed GLAAD’s benchmark. That benchmark is the Vito Russo test and it determines that a film must have an LGBT character who isn’t defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity and that they must be tied to the plot in such a way that if they weren’t there you’d notice it.

That’s not a lot to ask but these 7 studios still mucked it up as two (Paramount and Warner Brothers) received “failing grades” and no one received top marks of “excellent” which isn’t surprising when you consider the fact that some of these films not only included anti-gay slurs (there are instances where these might be necessary – e.g to highlight the discrimination a character is facing – but I don’t think that’s the case here) and one (Anchorman 2 from Paramount) decided to throw around trans slurs just for comedic value.

Understandably, GLAAD has recommended completely valid things such as LGBT characters being leads, not just support and they’ve recommended that LGBT characters in films are made more diverse too as the lack of queer female characters and queer people of colour has clearly been transferred from all of those other erroneous times when Hollywood has failed to put (straight) women and people of colour in their films either.

It’s also worth noting that things might have been different if GLAAD had been willing to take smaller studios into account as despite leaving them out due to the fact that most smaller studios’ films are marketed less and shown in less theatres, they do tend to get it right most of the time, likely on account of the projects being seen as ‘risky’ anyway and therefore the ‘risky’ inclusion of LGBT characters is probably alright.

That’s really tragic to type, if I’m honest and it’s just as tragic to know that the same old heterosexual slice of life is being shown in cinemas time and time again so here’s to crossing our fingers, wishing on our lucky stars, horseshoes and clovers that next year’s GLAAD report will suggest that for queer characters in Hollywood, things are really getting better.