So awhile back me and some friends got into a conversation about Netflix. From there we somehow got into a conversation about the Gay & Lesbian section.
It originally got brought up as a throw away joke from one of my friends. That's when my younger sister asked why they needed a section for it to which I replied, "Well if you want to watch a movie with a gay person in it..." Then conversation carried on with my straight friends not getting it. My sister made the point that that is not a reason to watch something. Just because it has a gay person in it does not make it a good film.
I do agree that it by no means makes a good film because a character is gay. I have seen more than my fair share of really bad movies with gay characters in them and could rant for a really long time when people start telling me that Loving Annabelle is a sweat love story. (No it's not! It's fucking creapy people!) What they don't get is that want to be represented in the shows you watch.
As of right now if you were to turn on your TV to a random movie or television show more likely than not it is about a straight person with straight friends (or enemies or whatever else) doing things. Straight people are everywhere. They practically pop out of the wood work in media. If I were to ask most straight people to name three television shows with a leading character that isn't straight it would be quite a challenge and on most of those lists would be Will & Grace. On top of that name three popular sitcoms that have main gay characters and Will & Grace is off limits. I even have a hard time with that one capping off at Modern Family and Happy Endings. (I sort of don't want to count Don't Trust The B In Apartment 23 because the gay guy is so stereotype cardboard cutout.)
With drama shows you have a little more gay characters because someone being gay counts as good drama. Look at Pretty Little Liars the first season for the gay character was entirely about her coming out. The only drama show I've seen where the gayness wasn't played up for drama is Lost Girl. Still though you have to dig a bit and if you want to watch a specific genre and be represented well good luck.
A lot of the time when the LGBT community is represented it's for throw away gags or the characters are cutouts. Don't Trust The B In Apartment 23 has Luther, but he is straight up the gayest he could possibly be. Pitch Perfect, which has some amazing comedic scenes but like no depth, has the token lesbian character and she's just there for Rebel Wilson to make lesbian jokes about. Even Will & Grace has more throw away gay jokes per episode than I can stand.
If a straight person wants to watch a show they can relate to almost entirely they just have to flip on the TV and find a good show. If a gay person wants to find one with a character that they relate with entirely they have to do a lot of digging.
Step 1. Finding a show that you heard has gay characters in it.
Step 2. Finding out if the characters represent your gender. (Sometimes it's fun to have the gay best friend be a lesbian, you know.)
Step 3. Watching to see if it's actually a good show.
Step 4. When the gay character shows up, get kind of terribly annoyed at the stereotypes.
Step 5. Repeat steps 1-4 as needed
Step 6. Victory! Congrats you found a show with a gay character that isn't stereotyped.
Step 8. Cry a lot when that character or their significant other is killed off.
Step 9. Why the heck do gay people always end up being/turning evil? (I'm looking at you Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)
(Steps 8 and 9 are optional depending on the show and its genre.)
It is a lot harder to feel like you fit in when everywhere you look you see straight. You grow up watching Disney where it's straight as far as the eye can see. (Only later do you run into everyone speculating about the sexuality of every cartoon character in existence.) You move onto watching tween sitcoms where it's straight as the eye can see. Then finally you get a chance to see some gay characters, but by that point your too busy repressing it and hiding it to actually feel normal.
All you straight people out there that don't get it, imagine if it was the other way around. It would get really annoying if every straight male character was just portrayed as the dumb Jock and every straight chick was just obsessed with nothing, but makeup and the dumb Jock and on top of that they were just the token straight friend to add either comedy or drama to the show. It would get old quickly and pretty soon you'd find yourself Googling "straight characters in television shows" more often than you'll ever admit.
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