Homosexuality used to be a taboo topic on television just 20 years ago. However, starting in the 1990's, viewers saw a proliferation of primetime television dramas, sitcoms, and reality shows that have regular gay and lesbian characters. In studying literary works such as Ron Becker's Gay TV and Straight America, as well as Making Things Perfectly Queer by Alexander Doty, it seems clear that popular culture is making an attempt to shape people's views on homosexuality in entertainment media. Also, Andrew Kopkind, who wrote for the newspaper The Nation, wrote a piece describing what he called The Gay Moment, which helped chronicle the explosion of homosexuality in mainstream television in the 1990's. According to Kopkind (2003), “The Gay Moment is unavoidable. It fills the media, charges politics, and saturates popular and elite culture.”
What is the reason for this “gay moment” and how are gays and lesbians portrayed on prime time television in comparison to the straight characters and why? There are a number of answers for this, ranging from cultural and social issues to politics.
According to Doty (1993), the portrayals of gays and lesbians in popular culture rests on the belief that a homosexual person is consciously trying to mirror a traditional role played by the opposite sex. Doty contends that the term homosexuality isn't relative and being a gay or lesbian is more about culture and personal taste than actual sexuality. More recent television shows with gay characters seem to focus more on the aspects of culture and personal taste without talking about what goes on in the bedroom. According to Andersen and Collins (2007), traditionally gays and lesbians, like other minority or oppressed groups, have had the hardship of trying to integrate themselves into a sometimes intolerant society, rather than society helping to integrate them. Trying to act straight, or not trying to act or look like a member of the opposite sex, is one way that gay characters are able to gain more acceptance when it comes to a mainstream television audience. The bottom line is, they must relate, in some way, to heterosexual characters on the show to appeal to a prime time viewing audience, rather than an exclusively gay television network.
Becker (2006) suggests that the increase in homosexual themes in prime time television could be a result of a conscious social and political movement to make mainstream society more comfortable with gays and lesbians. It's the next step, basically, in gay liberation and making it harder for conservative and bigoted people to ignore them.
According to comedian and political satirist Jon Stewart, the popularity of gay characters in mainstream television in the 1990's had a lot to do with the political climate in the 2000's. In fact, according to Stewart, the popularity of television shows with homosexual themes, such as Will and Grace, may have actually stoked the flames of a new cultural war (Becker 2006).
Becker (2006), explains this further, by saying he believes that George W. Bush was re-elected as a result of conservatives who cared more about “values” than violence in the Middle East or the economy. According to post-election analysis, exit polls realized that a lot of people identified gays and lesbians as a threat to America's moral center. With the pervasiveness of openly gay characters on American television, these conservatives were finding it even harder to avoid the gay and lesbian crowd.
To give examples of how gays and lesbians are portrayed on television in recent years vs. the past, and why, I am going analyze three of the most prominent and longest running primetime television shows with a homosexual theme, Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, Will and Grace, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This essay will examine these shows through a semiotic analysis to provide a conclusion as to how gays and lesbians are portrayed to the mainstream viewing public and will also expose the encoded messages behind these portrayals, and how it relates to a conscious effort by the media to make homosexuality an acceptable part of mainstream culture and integrate gay and lesbian characters with heterosexual characters.
After viewing any of these shows, it seems clear that a cultural shift has occurred in how gays and lesbians are portrayed. In the 80's, in film and television, homosexuals were very often portrayed as victims, especially in terms of being victims of HIV. For example, in an episode of the popular series 21 Jump Street, a gay male teen was diagnosed with HIV/aids but his father lied to everyone saying his son contracted the virus through a blood transfusion out of shame in regards to his son's homosexuality. However, the stigma of HIV being just a gay man's disease has largely been reduced since HIV is now effecting all sexes, races, and sexual orientations. (Dines & Humez 2003).
