Monday, September 15, 2008
I have plenty of my real gay and lesbian friends here in Lawrence, filling my life with laughter and more drama than I can sometimes handle.
But where are my gays on TV, providing me with hours of canned laughter and scripted drama? In the 2007-2008 season, only 1.1 percent of the characters on broadcast TV identified themselves at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or transsexual, according to a study by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
This is much lower than GLAAD's 6.8 percent estimate of the number of Americans who identify themselves as LGBT, and it has even decreased from the previous season.
Damon Romine, entertainment media director for GLAAD, said that even though the number of characters on broadcast TV was down, the number of LGBT characters on cable increased from 15 to 40. Also, Romine said, the quality and range of LGBT characters on all networks was improving in plot and character development.
Romine said that many networks were hesitant to include LGBT characters because of a fear that the characters would not be accurately represented and that LGBT characters were usually represented as the victim or villain in many crime shows.
"Where are the gay cops, lawyers and forensic scientists?" Romine asked.
Three shows have fairly represented LGBT characters, he said. The drama "Brothers & Sisters" features a married couple of the same sex, and it's the only show to feature a gay character over 60. With an ensemble of more than 15 characters, though, I would be surprised if the same sex couple had time to cut the cake.
Two comedies are also paving the way for LGBT characters. "Ugly Betty" features an openly gay character and a transgender character. "Desperate Housewives" features an openly gay young man and a middle-aged gay couple that also got married this past season. I can remember how giddy I was when the young gay male character first appeared on "Desperate Housewives." I was desperate for some reflection of my life on TV.
When LGBT characters become few and far between on TV, LGBT viewers accept subpar representations of themselves, which come to reflect on how they view the community and the people around them.
So is this what we have to look forward to this coming TV season? Some trendy marriages between the same sex and an old gay guy? I miss my shows that involved being gay as a central focus of the show.
The closest show that's come close is reruns of "The Golden Girls." And trust me, it's going to be years before I break out the muumuu and quit attempting to find a fair, focused and adequate representation of the LGBT community on television.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta senior in journalism.
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