Lgbtq Stereotypes

The LGBTQ community has been becoming more and more of a topic in today’s society. In the 1970s the LGBTQ movement took hold and began to educate the world on why they deserved to be treated equally. However, the LGBTQ movement is only now becoming more integrated into society, as well as the media. People associated with the LGBTQ community were consistently looked down upon within the media in earlier times, such as the 1970s. The few depictions of LGBTQ people were stereotypical and homophobic. Therefore, television has definitely made strides in the right direction to depicting the LGBTQ experience within its programming. LGBTQ people are being represented more and more, especially without the use of the special “one time thing/experiment” episode.

That does not mean that these characters do not fall into the same predicaments that hetero characters do in terms of writing.

In fact, nowadays writers seem to be so interested in adding these queer storylines that end up formulaic and lacking substance (Kessler, p.1). These queer characters are usually depicted as either [L]esbian or [G]ay, thus leaving the [B]isexual and [T]ransgender characters much more hard to come by. When portraying bisexual characters within a comedy they often fall victim to the male gaze, thus these characters are usually women. Not only that, but these characters are, “often portrayed as sexually uninhibited or unfaithful, and sometimes a character's bisexual orientation will not be acknowledged at all” (Beirne, Barrett). Transgender characters get even less mention in television because it is such a delicate subject within mainstream media. Therefore, transgender characters also fall prey to being used for their camp sensibility and often portrayed using negative stereotypes. Overall, although in recent years strides have been made to further the reception and acceptance of the LGBTQ community within households all over the world, television still has a long way to

go.
The use of comedy to portray LGBTQ storylines within a television show can be seen all the way back in to the 1970s. Television programs like the show Soap used humor to lighten the mood around such a touchy subject as the LGBTQ movement/community. Due to the overwhelming negativity surrounding the idea of a person being apart of the LGBTQ community, networks regulated the amount of queer programming and queerness within their programming for quite some time. Therefore, comedy shows historically are more likely to take on the topic of queerness because it is easier to talk about when the atmosphere is not so serious. Some more recent television series like Queer Eye For the Straight Guy have been able to use this comedic platform as a way to progress the queer storyline within the show. Instead of a television show that focuses on the hetero-normative relationships that we see in most sitcoms, “the gay characters hold the power, while the hapless straight men look to them for guidance” (Beirne, Barrett). In more recent years, dramas and “dramedies” have taken a stab at the usage of queer characters for more than just laughs. Grey’s Anatomy is a perfect example of one of these dramedies. The characters on this show not only represent that of the LGBTQ community, but also represent minority characters. The use of a LGBTQ character within the soapy dramedy that is Grey’s allows for the writers to delve into the depths of all society. The lesbian and bisexual characters that Grey’s presents in both comedic and dramatic formats allows for the audience to become enthralled into a new relationship that has rarely been discovered. It seems as though, “Grey’s Anatomy isn’t trying to rewrite the paradigm of TV or even its genre,” but at the same time it is able to incorporate majorly progressive and creative storylines that allow the show to move forward while still commenting on the atmosphere in today’s society (Hoskin).