The Evolution of LGBT Portrayal in TV and Film

Happy Pride Month, all! I love Pride Month and everything that comes with it; the celebration, the festivities, the prestige. Pride Month is the ultimate beacon of positivity. Now sadly, there are a bunch of people in society who aren't really crazy about Pride Month and have their things to say against it. To those people, I'll only say this. There's a special place reserved for people who are against Pride Month. I'm too much of a gentleman to say it here, but I'll give a few hints: it rhymes with "bell," and I'm not talking about the city in Michigan.

Anyway, this story is one I've had in my mind for over a year. Originally, I was planning on focusing on the portrayal of the trans community, and how that's evolved in the last 30 years, but I decided to focus on the entire LGBT community as a whole. We have seen our share of LGBT representation in TV and in movies for many decades, but like every marginalized community, they had been subjected to backwards stereotypes for the longest time.

You know, it seems like the (mostly) White Hollywood bigwigs just love to hurl those stereotypes towards marginalized communities. Black characters have been stereotyped for a century now, and of course, Latinx and some other characters of color were white-washed decades ago. When it comes to the LGBT community, it was the same old stereotypes. Gay men were always portrayed as being extra effeminate, gossipy, and even catty towards women. Two examples come to mind: Lee McDermott from Desperate Housewives, and Kurt Hummel from Glee.

Kevin Rahm portrayed Lee for five years on the series, with the character debuting along side husband Bob Hunter during Season Four. Lee was definitely one of the best characters on the show, but let's face it, he was--at times--a walking stereotype, especially due to his penchant for gossiping. The same could definitely be said for Glee's Kurt Hummel, absolutely stereotypical. Here's the thing: both shows are created by LGBT icons: Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives) and Ryan Murphy (Glee). Regarding Cherry, he also went on to create Devious Maids and Why Women Kill; I first binged the former back in 2016 before I started watching Desperate Housewives, but I have yet to watch Why Women Kill.

As for Ryan Murphy, Nip/Tuck made me a huge fan of his, and after that and Glee, he gave us American Horror Story and Scream Queens. However, I do find myself questioning Murphy's mindset, not only because one of his shows perpetuated LGBT stereotypes, but also because Murphy didn't really speak out against Emma Roberts after it came out that she hurled transphobic comments towards AHS co-star Angelica Ross.

Lesbians have been immensely stereotyped for sure, and it's the same labels--TV and film writers depicted lesbians as being masculine, often into sports and having short hair--absolute pigeonholing. A lot of lesbian characters had also been portrayed as living a "dark and depressing" lifestyle. Seriously, why do they always portray LGBT characters as being "damaged"? Here's another thing TV and film writers do with LGBT characters: they, sadly, kill off a lot of them. There's a trope out there known as, "Bury Your Gays," and TV and movies have seen a lot of lesbian characters knocked off over the years.

The most glaring example is one of the best remembered characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tara Maclay, played by Amber Benson. Tara, as we all remember, was in a relationship with Willow Rosenberg, but in Season Six's "Seeing Red," Tara was killed off. That death really did a lot of damage. Not only was the "Bury Your Gays" trope activated, but it was Tara's death that turned Willow into an immensely demonic villainess, so yeah, it was a very problematic move that is still getting criticized over 20 years later--and it should be criticized.

The main photo features a big moment in TV history, and I remember hearing about this when it happened. The character of Bianca Montgomery (the daughter of Susan Lucci's Erica Kane) was introduced in 1988 as a child, and it was in 2000 that Eden Riegel began her long run as the character once Bianca turned 16. During Eden's run, Bianca came out as a lesbian, and she eventually met and married Lena Kundera; a relationship that included a memorable and passionate kiss in a 2003 episode of All My Children--the very first lesbian kissing scene on an American soap opera. In addition to that bit of positive history, there were no stereotypes played out, thank goodness.

A moment that stands out to me on TV came from one of my favorite sitcoms, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and it centered one of the show's most memorable and popular characters, Rosa Diaz, played with immense hilarity by Stephanie Beatriz. The fifth-season episode, "99," saw Rosa respond to Charles Boyle's questions about her dating life after Adrian Pimento was, "I'm dating a woman. I'm bi." What made it even more epic was that Rosa came out in her typical gruff manner that we all know and loved.

I had seen interviews from Beatriz regarding Rosa's coming out, and it was personal for her, as the episode aired a year after the actress came out as bisexual in real life. The occurrence also drew awareness of yet another very alarming attribute: the severe lack of bisexual representation on TV and movies. Even as recently as that moment in 2017--not even a decade ago--bisexual characters were few and far in between, but thankfully that has changed, and bisexual representation has increased and evolved.

As I said before, I originally was going to focus solely on trans portrayal in TV and film, and here's what inspired this:

Very recently, I was bingewatching the original 90210 series, and that included the fifth season finale, "P.S. I Love You." Part of the episode saw Steve Sanders spot a tall woman who catches his eye, and that leads to a date late one night. While Steve and the woman, named Elle, make out, Steve learns that she's trans. How does Steve react? He runs off panicked. That's just one of a number of problematic things regarding that episode's trans portrayal. Elle was played by one of my favorite actresses, Monika Schnarre. I have seen Schnarre on a lot of projects, and one that caught my eye was the Beastmaster TV series, in which she played the enigmatic and quite evil Sorceress. My favorite role of Schnarre's was her one-shot appearance on Sinbad as demonic villainess Alana.

However, Schnarre's casting as Elle was part of a long time problematic trend regarding trans portrayal. I'm just going to flat out say it: Hollywood was very transphobic for a long time when it came to casting trans characters. For one, they flat out refused to cast trans actors. Secondly, as a result, when it comes to transwomen characters, they cast ciswomen with "certain features." Basically, in the eyes of Hollywood, if a woman is very tall and has strong features, they can play transwomen easily. That is so damn backwards.

And do not get me started on the blatant misgendering! Regarding Elle, she was misgendered a lot by Steve after the reveal, which also included Monika Schnarre lip-syncing while a male voice spoke, so the writers misgendered Elle, too. There is a reason why I haven't watched Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in years! That movie, one of the many that launched Jim Carrey's film career, featured one of my favorite villainesses in the form of Lois Einhorn, played wonderfully by Sean Young. However, when it was revealed that Lois was trans, oh boy. Repeated misgendering, deadnaming on a loop, so many transphobic reactions. I was about nine or ten when I first saw this movie, and even then I noticed that Lois was blatantly being misgendered and deadnamed over and over.

This was also done on an episode of NCIS that featured Jamie Luner as a transwoman; so much misgendering and deadnaming there as well. Regarding the lip-syncing, that happened on an episode of Tales from the Crypt that featured Shelley Hack as a transwoman. The climax saw Hack lip-sync while voice actor Cam Clarke provided a male voice. Thankfully, we are seeing more trans actors in roles; actors such as Chaz Bono, Elliott Page, Candis Cayne, the aforementioned Angelica Ross, and Laverne Cox, among others.

From the looks of it, there is immense progress and evolution when it comes to LGBT portrayal in TV and films. The stereotypes are decreasing, thank goodness, and we've seen networks like Lifetime and Hallmark show out and make history with movies featuring LGBT couples as the centerpiece. Regarding the former, last year gave us, You're Not Supposed to Be Here, which starred Diora Baird and Chrishell Stause as a couple with a child on the way. I remember beaming over this, because I've always wanted to see Lifetime thrillers with LGBT representation at the forefront. Nearly all of my fiction stories are fantasy Lifetime movies, and a number of them have LGBT representation.

All I ask is that the evolving continues. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's stereotypes being perpetuated. We have seen so much history involving the LGBT community in TV and in film, and we are seeing so many positive steps in the right direction. It needs to continue. Keep going forward!