Censor the Good

Our discussion on Monday got me thinking about the portrayals of homosexuality in television, movies and literature, and how it relates to the image of gays that the nation is more broadly left with. Lillian discussed the It Gets Better campaign as a response to the suicides of gay teens and as an antidote to these media depictions. I wondered if it could be true that there are no positive, happy models of gay life on television or in popular literature.

When I mapped out my vast knowledge base of fictional gay characters, I found that they fell into three major categories:

1) Sad/Troubled/Coping with Their Sexuality

-Marco/Degrassi

-Callie Torres/Grey's Anatomy

-Rickie Vasquez/My So-Called Life

-Brokeback Mountain in general

-Noah and Luke/As the World Turns

-Latter Days

2) Whorish/Destructive/Terrible People

-Queer as Folk in general

-Latter Days again

-The L Word

3) Irritatingly Flamboyant Character there for Laughs or to teach us a lesson about tolerance

-Jack/Will and Grace

-Marc and Justin/Ugly Betty

-All of the gay men in He's Just Not That Into You

-Rupert Everrett in My Best Friend's Wedding

-Everyone in Noah's Arc

-Kurt from Glee

Actually, the only character who came to mind that didn't illustrate a stereotype or a painful struggle was Kevin from Brother's and Sisters. Out of dozens of gay characters, that's a little bleak.

Why exactly has this practice of censoring the positive parts of gay life become so institutionalized? The comedic novelty of gay characters seems to have initially been a way to make it okay for heterosexual audiences to accept gay people in the media. The constant depiction of the gay struggle on the other hands seems to serve as a reminder to gay and straight audiences that there is still a long way to go in securing equal rights. But there is very little to reassure gay audiences that, while there is still a long way to go, joy and normalcy are still achievable.

Maybe censorship of the good has caused some to forget it exists.