TV Comes Out About its Closeted Portrayals of LGBTQ

From Campaign US: Diversity is a hot button issue in both advertising and on the TV programs those ads support. Thus, it was no surprise that the topic came up at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour last week. The bi-annual gathering brought together 220 critics and bloggers from across the country to talk about all things television, especially the lack of diversity—both by race and sexual orientation—on the small screen.

At a meeting inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel, GLAAD tackled the topic head-on with a panel discussion covering the lack of lesbian, gay and bisexual characters on scripted TV, as well as trends in storylines and character development. The group’s most recent study found that 20 percent of Americans ages 18-34 identify as LGBTQ, but GLAAD’s Director of Entertainment Research and Analysis Megan Townsend said you wouldn’t know it based on media coverage.

“We need more stories featuring LGBTQ people of color, who have been historically left out or relegated to the sidelines,” she said. “We need more bisexual characters, who have more nuanced, fully realized stories that don’t just lean into these tropes that we’ve seen over and over again. We need better stories for queer women that don’t end in death—and just more queer women, period.” For more, click here