Non-White Representation of the LGBTQ Community in Television

              Nowadays, many television shows contain main characters that belong to the LGBTQ community. Popular shows such as Will and Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the Ellen Show, and Glee are all examples of series that people find entertaining. However, it is a rare or nonexistent occurrence in these shows to see representation of lesbian or gay couples that are not of a non-white ethnic background. The character Santana from Glee is one of the few exceptions to this exclusion of non-white LGBTQ representation in television, which goes to show that society still finds it difficult to not only cross the heteronormative boundary and embrace an LGBTQ view of life, but even more difficult for society to accept when these characters are of a non-white background.

            Much of the show Glee centers on the relationship between the two male homosexuals, Kurt and Blaine. Although these two face the same challenges that any high school student who has come out of the closet may face, they still seem to be rather accepted amongst their friends, family, and peers. However, when the show took a turn by putting emphasis on a lesbian couple, Santana and Brittany, acceptance was not so easily offered. At first, Santana was seen by everyone as a popular, beautiful, singing and dancing cheerleader who could easily get any guy she wanted in the school. Once she finally began her coming out process, she began facing difficulties.

            Santana is a young Mexican woman who was raised by her grandmother. Her grandmother taught her the traditional beliefs of every Hispanic family: the importance of growing up to marry a nice young man. When Santana comes out to her abuela, the reaction is anything but accepting. Her grandmother claims to be ashamed of Santana, and tells her she must lie about her identity in order to be socially accepted. Santana is kicked out of her house and forced to leave without any form of acceptance from her grandmother.

            In my opinion, this episode of Glee did a great job addressing the issue that most of us do not even think about: the risk of not only coming out, but also of coming out as a person from a non-white ethnic background. This episode demonstrated Santana having to deal with her personal identification not only as a young, middle class female, but also a lesbian of Hispanic origin. Just like Santana in Glee, most Chicanas and Chicanos of the LGBTQ community experience a traditional Catholic up-bringing that is not accepting of any lifestyle besides the heteronormative one: “Since lesbians and gay men have been forced out of our blood families, and since our love and sexual desire are not housed within the traditional family, we are in a critical position to address those areas within our cultural family that need to change,” (Last Generation, 159).  Here Moraga is saying that because she is a Chicana and therefore forced out of her family, she knows she must work to improve life for all members of the LGBTQ community in order to rid of the heteronormative view of the traditional family.

            Although Glee does a great job of addressing Santana as a Chicana woman in the LGBTQ community, I am yet to see a television show that depicts the struggles that a non-white man are faced with. In Almaguer’s article, he states: “Unlike the rich literature on the Chicana/Latina lesbian experience, there is a paucity of writings on Chicano gay men,” (Chicano Men, 109). In Chicano culture, masculinity is extremely important. The fear of coming out and therefore being demasculinized prevents Chicano gay men from being able to express their true identity. Because of the shortage of gay Chicano men willing to come out, there is an even larger shortage of representation of Chicano men in television.

            Over time, the growing acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community has allowed for a larger role of gay and lesbian characters in television. Although white gay and lesbian couples are a common occurrence in television shows, viewers are yet to see representation of non-white relationships. Until society is fully accepting of all members of the LGBTQ community, no matter what the ethnic background, television will continue to demonstrate relationships between white LGBTQ members only.

Bibliography

Almaguer, Tomas. "Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior." Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 3 (1991): 137.

Bonnie, Faller. "‘Glee’ Recap: Santana’s Grandmother Disowns Her After She Comes Out." Hollywood Life. 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2011/11/29/glee-recap-i-kissed-a-girl-season3-episode-7-naya-rivera/>.

Moraga, Cherrie. "Queer Aztlan: The Reformation of Chicano Tribe." The Last Generation. South End Press, (1993): 159.

Raising Awareness Through Media: Helpful or Harmful?

Media can play a huge role in raising awareness about bullying and violence in the queer community, but unfortunately, this isn’t always accomplished in a way that really captures the reality of this violence. A perfect example of this comes from the show Glee, in an episode entitled “Never Been Kissed”, in which Kurt, the only ‘out’ gay person at his school, deals with constant harassment and violence from a bully while everyone else remains silent, but eventually gains the courage to confront this person. While this may seem like a very empowering plot, there are quite a few flaws that make this episode inaccurate and maybe even a bit offensive.

Although I’m sure the intention of this episode was to address the issue of gay bulling, the writers chose to use very cliché and stereotypical examples of this. One of the first signs of this you see is when Kurt is pushed into a locker by someone most people would call a ‘jock’. This in itself only promotes the idea that masculine males are never accepting of LGBTQ identified people. This is furthered by the fact that Kurt, the only gay character on the show at this point, is portrayed as very feminine, though clearly not all gay men are. Also, when told to split into boys’ and girls’ teams, Kurt goes over to the girls’ side. This again is very assumes that Kurt considers himself more of a girl than a boy, rather than a boy who behaves in a feminine way. However, the most disturbing aspect of this episode is the phrases used to describe Kurt’s struggle. While these are supposed to show the hardships a lone gay male faces at school, this purpose loses meaning when Kurt says things like, “this is my hill to climb alone” or “you can’t punch the gay out of me”(“Never”). These sorts of portrayals of gay violence not only use stereotypical judgments about what the bully would be like, but also portray a stereotype of a gay male, which I personally find offensive.

In her article about queer life in the Chicano community, Cherrie Moraga talks of a queer Aztlan as tierra sagrada, or sacred ground (Moraga 151). This is seen as a place where queer people would no longer face persecution, or as a sort of paradise. This concept is also apparent in this episode of Glee. When Kurt visits an all-boys school with a zero-tolerance policy for queer bullying, it seems a perfect place for him to escape from the intolerance he faces at his current school. While a place like this would be considered ideal for many, this portrayal of it is quite misleading. Zero-tolerance policies may be present, but how to enforce these can be difficult and unclear, and many times, this bullying is still present, but is just not publicly seen. Nan Stein, in her article about bullying, argues that a zero-tolerance policy will group all incidents together without addressing the underlying issue of why someone is being bullied. However, a zero-indifference policy ensures that those in charge would, “notice the behaviors, comment on them, intervene, and make corrections accordingly” (Stein 32).

Using media as a tool to raise awareness about bullying in the queer community is definitely a way to get people to realize that these incidents are still occurring in our own backyard. However, using stereotypical representations of the people involved is not the way to do so. If the producers of Glee really want to help the gay community, they will have to start by addressing more realistic situations and stop these overdramatized, stereotypical plots.

“Never Been Kissed.” Glee. Fox. 9 Nov. 2010. Television.

Moraga, Cherrie. “Queer Aztlan: the Reformation of the Chicano Tribe” from The Last Generation. South End Press, 1993.

Stein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment, and Violence among Students” in Radical Teacher, No. 80. “Teaching Beyond Tolerance” Winter 2007 30-35

“Glee” on Bullying: Gay V. Lesbian

The Fox Network television show, “Glee,” is one of the few modern examples of gay characters in the media. Multiple characters on this show identify as gay. The first outwardly gay character, Kurt, is consistently bullied and made fun of at his Ohio high school, to the point where he eventually chooses to transfer schools. On the other hand, when a female student, Santana, comes out as lesbian, it is received in a very encouraging manner. In fact, many of the male students promote what they see as  “girl on girl action.” Glee is an example of the media identifying gay as “negative” and lesbian as “positive;” because while gay males are taunted and bullied, lesbian females tend to be more easily accepted.

In “Glee,” Kurt Hummel is the only student at William McKinley High School who is openly gay. The fact that Kurt identifies as gay definitely puts a target on his back at school. One bully in particular, Dave Karofsky, makes it a point to continually harass Kurt. Karofsky taunts Kurt in the hallway, calls him names, and leads the other popular athletes in the school to do the same. At one point in the series, Kurt actually receives a death threat, which scares him enough to make him transfer to a private high school. This might seem like an extreme, but even in everyday life students are harassed; and just as on Glee, the administration is not always able to keep track of everything their students are doing and saying.  What often gets overlooked are “the rights of students to go to school in an environment that is gender-safe, and free from gender-based harassment and violence” (Stein, 49). The creators of Glee use Kurt’s situation in order to portray that public school environments are unsafe for male homosexual students.

On the complete other end of the spectrum, a female student at McKinley High named Santana comes out as lesbian. Rather than taunt her as they did Kurt, she is treated exactly the same as when they thought she was straight. It is true that “violence against lesbians…is often more difficult to distinguish from general forms of gender violence” (Van Der Meer, 56). However, in the case of Glee, Santana generally is treated fairly. In fact, she gets more positive attention from students because being attracted to girls makes her even more sexually appealing to the male students. Santana actually profits off of her queer sexuality by allowing guys to take her and her girlfriend, Brittany, on dates. She would make deals with many of the football players that if they pay for dinner, they get to watch Santana and Brittany “make out.”

The image the media is giving Glee’s audience is completely contradictory. Basically, if you identify as being a homosexual male, society will mock, tease, and be generally unaccepting. However, if you are a female, being homosexual is not only okay, but also encouraged. I cannot say for sure whether or not this is the case in real life, but it seems to be pretty stereotypical. Regardless of intentions, the media is teaching society to accept one area of the queer community, and deny the other.

Link:

“Glee!” on Fox: http://www.fox.com/glee/

Works Cited:

Stein, Nan. "Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students." Print. Rpt. in Feminist Studies 80 Reader. Comp. Hernandez. Santa Barbara: Associated Students, 2012. 30-35. Print.

Van Der Meer, Theo. "Gay Bashing – a Rite of Passage?" Print. Rpt. in Feminist Studies 80 Reader. Comp. Hernandez. Santa Barbara: Associated Students, 2012. 56-68. Print.

Discrimination Among Glee Audiences

Members of LGBTQ communities face oppression in many aspects of their lives, and the workforce is not an exception.  Although most would presume professional environments like that of a job would be a safe place for them, these assumptions are often far from the truth.  Even in regard to shows as popular as Glee, many scrutinize the cast and audience due to a lack of purely heterosexual actors.  In this blog post, I would like to consider gay bullying in the media and discuss basic LGBTQ rights and liberties by referencing and analyzing Michael Jones’s “The Religious Right Targets Glee for Making Heterosexuality Normal” as well as “Chicano Men:  A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior” by Tomas Almaguer and “Gay bashing – a rite of passage” by Theo Van Der Meer. 

Millions of people can easily identify with the issues brought up in shows like Glee, but not everybody responds well to some of the controversy that emerges.  For instance, Brent Bozell, “a conservative blogger over at Townhall,” spends hours watching television “and then determines which shows will earn you a direct flight ticket right into the underworld” (Religious).  He writes that the show presents homosexuality as a normal sexual orientation, and he takes a religious approach when he argues that Glee expresses to society that “the abnormal people are the ones who adhere to apparently outdated Christian morality” (Religious).  Everyone is entitled to their own opinions; however, with an ever-increasing need for unity and acceptance, it is hopeful that some hearts and minds in America will soon change. 

Bozell’s comments on Glee present yet another instance of ignorance.  He may not be aware how much more likely LGBT youth are to attempt suicide from being bullied.  Unfortunately, he along with several others have never considered the possibility that “gay or lesbian identity can readily become a primary basis of self-identity” (Almaguer 545).  But homosexuality can be viewed in many different ways.  In the United States, for example, it usually only takes one adult homosexual act, thought, or desire to threaten a man’s gender identity.  Interestingly enough, it is typical for men that strongly identify as heterosexual to better relate to other males.  This issue is brought up in “Gay bashing – a rite of passage” in which the author writes about individuals who had been caught in the act of gay discrimination.  It was seen that even “they could talk about their problems only with members of their own sex, and only with them were they capable of intimacy,” which was defined as “an indulgence in problems and self-pity” (157).  These are the people that chose to protest public acts of homosexuality, but were in no way concerned about their own sexual identity. 

The journey that certain characters from Glee go through can easily be seen as a representation of the epiphany that many members of the LGBTQ community have yet to achieve.  And the reason it is so challenging for many of these individuals to reach a level of self-acceptance is due to people like Bozell who criticize the very existence of a homosexual actor on a popular television series.  Many of the respondents from a study done in “Gay bashing – a rite of passage” actually “considered themselves to have acted on behalf of, or with the approval of, society” (156).  The little education schools offer on gay rights is also to be blamed for this sort of ignorance.  Discrimination occurs at all ages, and could best be stopped among today’s youth, where the violence and bullying often begins.  Van der Meer also describes gay bashing as “a phenomenon such as bullying [that] is often organized around notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ and of attaining power (163).  With this mindset, bullying may never stop.  And if it ever lessens among the LGBTQ community, it is very likely that it will spread to another group that does not have the strength to defend itself against society.  Therefore, now is the time to recognize that there are people like Bozell that do not choose to be accepting of others who are different from what society deems to be ideal, so we can educate our youth for a better tomorrow. 

Links

 http://news.change.org/stories/the-religious-right-targets-glee-for-making-homosexuality-normal

Bibliography

Almaguer, Tomas.  “Chicano Men:  A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior” from

differences:  A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 3:  2 (1991), pp. 537-545

Jones, Michael.  News.change.org  “The Religious Right Targets Glee For Making

Homosexuality Normal”. 4 June 2010. Web. http://news.change.org/stories/the-religious-

right-targets-glee-for-making-homosexuality-normal

Van Der Meer, Theo. "Gay Bashing A Rite of Passage?" in Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol. 5

No. 2, pp 153-165