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HBO leads on TV in showing homosexual characters

HBO scored highest among 15 networks for its representation of homosexual characters last season, according to a report released Monday.  That totaled 42 percent of the network’s programming hours, in series such as True Blood, Entourage and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. By contrast, on NBC and CBS only 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of prime-time hours included them, the report said.

I think there are are a few ways to think about this. On one level, it is an easy one. Cable seems to be willing to portray GLBTQ characters, even if most of them are white and fairly mainstream. That means GL and few BTQ characters.  It is easy to knock that as not enough, but the harder question is how much is enough, and what types of characters do we need to see who are currently missing from portrayal?

A different way to think about this is to look at the type of characters we are seeing.  In this case, if Logo is included, we see a fairly wide variety of characters in differing scenarios and situations. But the number of hours of programming with non-straight characters is still too low. GLBTQ people are part of 100 % of our society and culture, so why are these characters not a part of 100% of the hours of programming?

I think a better question to explore is what type of characters do GLBTQ people feel we need to see more on programming. Or, flipped 180 degrees, is specifying the types of characters we want to see a process in itself of censorship? The movie debut of Bruno this summer shows that queers have some strong ideas about how they are presented. I’ve been amazed at some of the way various queers have come down on the issue of Bruno. Both Peter Paige (Queer as Folk) and Nick Verreos (Project Runway) express concern about Bruno, going so far as calling it dangerous, yet they themselves have portrayed a very limited spectrum of gay men. It is harder to knock Verreos, given he was simply being himself on the reality show. One has to ask though how many gay male designers do we need to see when they fit a fairly narrow strereotype ? At the other end of te spectrum, was Lance Bass on Dancing with the Stars. It is no secret that Lance is gay, and yet his sexual orientation had no real expression at all on the show. Granted, Bruno is easy to trash as being too far “out there and stereotypical,” but the point remains- who should decide what type of characters and characterizations do we need to see on TV to adequately present GLBTQ persons in our culture? Peter Paige says:

“When you see a clip of Brüno in a room full of gay men, everyone laughs, and it’s fine,” Queer as Folk actor Peter Paige told Third Rail Media. “But when you see a clip of Brüno in a room full of straight men, they’re all laughing, and it’s a different thing, and you start to go, ‘Hmmmm, I don’t know how I feel about this.’”

Yet, at the time of Queer as Folk, Paige’s character was the gayest thing ever on cable, and many gays thought he was too stereotypical.

The linked story is in a Christian publication, and links to a survey which I present below. Their point is self evident. I couldn’t genuinely choose any of their choices. But for those who are not afraid of the gay in cable or TV, the more important questions are not the choices presented below, but rather, what representations of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders are missing?

What is the impact of positive portrayals of homosexuality on network and cable TV? (related article)

• Desensitization to sin
• Increase in homosexual experimentation
• Marginalization of traditional values
• Increase in Christian outreach to homosexuals

HBO leads on TV in showing homosexual characters (OneNewsNow.com) .

For the record, I loved Paige in QAF, as well as all the other characters. I thought QAF was a ground breaking show that never got the attention it deserved for doing what it did, present fairly real portrayals of a variety of friends who were unashamedly gay.