Perception Post #2: Makena Bauss

The LGBTQ community is a diverse one. With a myriad of different identities embraced in it--from the obvious range of sexualities and gender, to identities associated with race, socioeconomic background, and simply interests--being a part of the LGBTQ community still leaves a lot of room for individual stories.

Unfortunately, when stories of the LGBTQ community are portrayed in popular media, it is almost always told from the single perspective of the femme, cis-gendered, white male.

Let's start with Kurt Hummel from Glee. Now, I'll be honest, I love Kurt. He's fun, he's sassy, and generally speaking a very strong character. However, he's a also a perfect stereotype. He's flamboyant, femme, loves the arts, really I could name just about any gay stereotype and it would apply here. And it is true that there are members of the LGBTQ community who reflect this image, but not all of them do.

Cameron Tucker from Modern Family does slightly better. While Cameron still portrays what is considered stereotypical "gay" behavior, he's less over-the-top and doesn't look as outwardly femme as say Kurt. (Though, it should be said, having femme characters represented in media can be beneficial to femme members of the gay community who often feel pressured to present "masc" in their own lives) He even is a football coach and played college football. But even still, he's a bit flamboyant and white.

Warning for Language

When the movie Stonewall released its first trailer, there was a lot of backlash for its portrayal of the LGBTQ community because it so completely embraced the single story of the LGBTQ community as one that centers around cis-,white males. The history of Stonewall is one that centers around transgender individuals and people of color. Yet, in this film, the main character that was chosen was Danny Winters, a cis-, white male. This single story left many members of the LGBTQ community feeling as if their stories were being erased.

That's one of the greatest dangers of single stories. They effectively erase the presence of other stories and leave people feeling invisible. And when people become "invisible" we treat them as such. And as people become invisible, are treated as invisible, they are treated as "less-than," which never should happen. We must be better about telling varied stories of the LGBTQ community. Whether that is so all individuals find an opportunity to be represented, to feel validated, in media, or so that straight, cis-gendered individuals have the exposure to different presentations of LGBTQ identities and therefore become more able to express compassion to the many different LGBTQ individuals they will encounter during their lives. It's important.