LGBTQ+ community being represented in TV and movies culture

Reported by Ana Rose Walkey

LGBTQ+ and Polyamorous relationships are more common on TV and in movies, with the intention of creating a more accepting future for people outside of the heterosexual marital norm.

TV shows such as Modern Family, and Game of Thrones feature a range of these relationships.

Online personality, Jessica Perry, explained that the increase in the representation of all kinds of relationships might be because the people who are writing them are also outside of the heterosexual marital norm. Perry identifies herself as “Polyamorous and pangendered grey-pansexual, which means to me I am all genders and beyond gender. I am attracted to one’s soul rather than just their sexual anatomy.” 

Representation sometimes forced in characters

In regards to TV shows and movies representing her relationships, Perry said, “It does feel forced sometimes. It’s like, why is that person there that really doesn’t have a purpose in the show? And it’s just to not get hate mail. But when someone’s actually a good writer and they’re writing these off of their life experiences it feels true and not like it’s fake or forced.”

TV and movies help normalize LGBTQ+ community

Katherine Frost, head of business affairs for OUTtv: a Canadian LGBTQ+ television network, says the increased representation of all relationships in entertainment media is creating normalization. 

“As our laws change, everything sort of trickles down from there…the more portrayals of other things you see, the more normal it becomes”, Frost said.  

Elisabeth Cooke, founder of Inclusivity, a service that trains people towards managing diversity in their company who also specializes in empowering LGBTQ+ youth, thinks this is affecting LGBTQ+ people in a positive way. 

“Everybody wants to watch TV and see themselves in a character, and for a really long time, you couldn’t do that,” said Cooke. “You’re seeing them have a depth in character that we didn’t necessarily see before, letting people be more than just that one thing.”