Let’s Be Realistic, Television Needs More LGBT+ Representation
By: Jake Sanders
Let me start this with a qualifier, we are in an incredible time for LGBT+ representation on television. Most every show I watch has some kind of supporting or leading LGBT+ character and they’re more often than not realistic portrayals of actual people, not weird, tropey stereotypes like they used to be in the not so distant past. I would send you to check out Friends’ horrible portrayal of gay characters (Chandler Bing’s father), but even recently Modern Family’s gay characters felt more like caricatures of gays than real people. Meanwhile, House of Cards pretty much implied that there’s a whole lot of common ground between bisexuals and murderous sociopaths.
But now, it’s not just “gay” shows like Pose, which garnered 20 Emmy nominations and one Emmy award, that give genuine portrayals of LGBT+ characters. The Boys, a violent Superhero show, has a gay lead, and a relevant-to-the-real-world storyline about Vought. Vought International is a soulless mega-corporation that controls the Superheroes, seeking to monetize a character’s coming-out after they’re outed by one of the show’s villains.
In the international hit Elite, which excels in my favorite genre of “hot teen show with model looking actors that clearly aren’t teenagers”, a bunch of characters are bi, gay or lesbian without heavy-handedness. While some of them have coming-out arcs in the show, it’s not the only thing they do. The great majority of TV Shows now include some realistic LGBT+ characters. This gay character buffet-of-riches is probably why when a show exists with no gay characters, I can’t help but be jarred out of my suspension of disbelief and question the world of the show.
Like help me out here straights. I feel like LGBT+ people in about every space are generally common. You all have a gay friend at work right? In your social group there’s at least one of us right? One in six Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ after all. While we’re said to be anywhere from 5 percent to 25 percent of the United States populous, you’ll understand why Marvel having more aliens and gods than LGBT+ characters, is erasure of LBGT+ existence from their worlds entirely.
With Marvel, the motivation is obvious; create the most marketable and profitable product. Don’t make waves in certain international markets that are potentially homophobic or with a certain segment of their fandom, which can be toxic. However, implying Loki is bisexual with one line, isn’t inclusion. Asgard is a planet full of gods but somehow everyone is confined to heterosexual gender preferences except one villain? Out of more than 50 superhero characters over 20 years in the MCU, and a comic book canon of over 50 years, I’m supposed to believe none of these men wearing spandex are gay?
Even shows like Outer Banks or Ted Lasso, which I still love, posit a world without even minor LGBT+ characters. I like all of these shows I’m critiquing, and have either binged or watched them as they came out. I haven’t watched any of Ted Lasso Season 2 yet and if they have a gay I will be happy to be wrong there, but I didn’t see anything when I googled “Ted Lasso Gay” except other LGBT+ bemoaning the lack of representation in an otherwise perfect show.
I’m not saying every show has to have LGBT+ leads or a LGBT+ romantic storyline anchoring it. But when I watch TV that has no LGBT+ representation it does pull me out of the story to question, “really, this world exists and every single person there is straight?” And, to me, and at least 10% of the rest of the population, a world without gays is far more unrealistic than people with superpowers, treasure-hunting, death-defying teenagers or a football coach being hired to coach pro soccer. The bar has been raised for LGBT+ representation. Decent shows have an obligation to meet it, and tell stories that everyone can see themselves in.