Media are frequently accused of lack of objectivity, favouritism, and missing balance in representation of social issues. When it comes to rights of minority groups, the point becomes particularly acute and attracts much attention. The LGBT community refers to people with non-traditional sex orientation, including homosexuals, transgenders, bisexuals, and lesbians. The media portrayal of the LGBT, therefore, means various manners in which platforms depict these people. In as much as the term is linked to North America, its relevance can be analyzed on a global scale. The degree of tolerance, however, varies across regions. In the past, the LGBT were mostly discussed in a negative light, but the recent strides by these individuals and their proactive position in the society have resulted in some positive shifts in perception towards them. As a result of the growing acceptance, this group has gained recognition among scholars, with some of them shedding more light onto the destabilization of traditional norms as related to sexuality and race.
Media Coverage of LGBT Events
The negative misgivings around the LGBT community have become elaborate particularly due to the notions promoted through media outlets. Most events aired on media about this community have been majorly focused on the negative aspect. Despite the negativity, notable cases of positive limelight on this community have also taken precedence in some popular shows such as the Ellen show. People opposed to media coverage on LGBT issues argue that they promote troubling sexuality and nudity, most of which, according to these voices, is inappropriate. On the other hand, the societys perceived inappropriateness is linked to the long-standing conservative values. Those values are represented not only in research made by the media, but also, sometimes, in academic writing as well. Previously, students could write anything regarding this issue in their papers, no matter how inappropriate it would be. Now, every respected college or university has strict policies about LGBTQ coverage. Professional online writing services follow those instructions and demands to the dot and promote appropriate LGBTQ society coverage. For example, this custom sample is provided by our partner SmartWritingService, to help students with writing similar academic papers online.
On one hand, recently, the society has been very supportive of the LGBTQ society and has even learned to appreciate their rights. Not only in workplaces but also in educational institutions, even on the level of the state, people from this community have been accepted, and oaths have been taken to protect them at all cost. On the other hand, the feedback has been rampant from families and religious institutions, which is ironic since these are among the building units in developing a society. The representation of the LGBTQ by several dominant media has become a tug of war since they have been portraying mixed reactions. Those who claim that the LGBTQ are not equal with the rest are termed as homophobic and constantly try to defend their masculinity while maintaining power and authority. In defending their position and heterogenic norms, they even resort to violence and assault queer individuals, something that the government cannot always predict and prevent.
An example of a negatively influencing media representation is a YouTube video clip that aims at warning the public against homosexuals residing in the area. It was created in the 1950s and targeted American citizens who supported gay rights and all the LGBTQ sympathizers. The piece depicts strangers who are too friendly to be homosexuals with bad intentions. The clip shows that this sexual orientation is a mental illness that is even contagious. However, the clip does not correctly portray what homosexuals stand for and makes massive faulty assumptions by giving conveying stereotypical ideas therein. Clearly, these people are not predators that seek to attack innocent members of the society. They just want to be loved and appreciated for who they are rather than judged for who they are not. According to Anderson, from the National Institute Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, LGBTQ representatives suffer more from verbal and physical violence compared to other individuals because of the general hostility towards them.
Another negative depiction by media on the people belonging to the LGBTQ community is a comic strip that displays homophobic cartoons. It was created by Signe Wilkinson and shows a picture of Carl Paladino, who runs for New York government while wearing a patch on his suit jacket expressing his hatred towards gays. Among the many policies that Paladino supports is the fact that for children to be successful, they have to be married and raise families of their own. This portrait targeted adult voters and the LGBTQ community. Wilkinson tries to show that the only way to have functional and happy households is to exclude any forms of families apart from heterosexual ones. This picture may be seen as a shot at the LGBTQ community since of these individuals engage in same sex relationships. However, according to Gates, in research on homosexual marriages, the results are different from what Carl Paladino illustrates. Gates claims that children brought up by such couples are no different from their counterparts who have both a father and a mother. No real distinction exists in how either would parent their minors. Hence, the LGBTQ community should not be prevented in this regard.
A positive media representation is seen in a Lexus commercial, which features four stories of LGBT individuals, who decide to come out, and depicts their decision to affect them. This commercial directly involves the family institution as well as the economy and targets the LGBTQ community and the consumer market for this brand of vehicles. The lives of these brave persons do not change much, and they continue to become successful in their different career paths. Although all of them are considerably distinct, none lets the backlash and discrimination be placed between them and their dreams. The moral lesson learned from this commercial is that it condemns the society for discriminating anyone who is different and shuns the negative stereotypes that label the LGBTQ community. The ad also motivates homosexuals to embrace the identity that they have regardless of the hate that they might face as a result.
Another positive media representation of the LGBTQ community is the campaign started by Dan Savage with his husband Terry Miller, called It Gets Better. The movement may be considered as a stand against suicide amongst queer teens and other members of the nontraditional group. The stand affected the family institution as well as the state and targeted the homosexual community as well as the society at large. This campaign involved posting a series of short videos on YouTube that criticized discrimination and criticism towards queer teens, who tried to find their sexuality. According to West, raising awareness on the evils of condemning the LGBTQ community is necessary, and the mentioned commercial campaign serves as an example. The author acknowledges that the IGB is just a start and part of the solution towards ending suicide cases among the young. A closer look into the message being passed by Savage in the video clips posted on YouTube is an important step, which will give one more understanding on the issue. The societys ability to appreciate these materials and lend a helping hand as well as contribute to the release of more videos would aid considerably in accepting the homosexual community globally.
In conclusion, the discussion boils down to two main aspects regardless of the positive or negative depiction of the LGBTQ community by the media. is the first one is the ability of the youth to maintain their perception while facing all these judgements and biases. The second one is the pervasiveness of various contexts and settings of the community as a whole. In this context, quite a few ways exist for handling the unequal representation of the LGBTQ community and its respective control, which can eventually turn to support of the now still marginalized group. One of the methods is raising awareness among the community on the benefit of treating everyone as their equal, including lesbians, gays, transgenders, and any other person with a sexual identity that differs from the mainstream one. In this regard, any discrimination of this community should be punishable by jail time or community service and probation. Ultimately, both small individual and general wide-scale efforts should be put in place towards equal media representation of the LGBTQ individuals. The latter, thus, should be depicted in the same way as their traditional orientation counterparts instead of being portrayed as a source of evil and potential threat to humanity and conservative values and norms. With the proper reinstated laws towards media equality and well-selected penalty to dangerous stereotypes towards the LGBTQ group, the world would be a safer and more favourable place for everyone.