Are gay people taking over television? Sometimes it seems that way. While channel surfing recently we came across a discussion of gay marriage on MSNBC, sultry supernatural sex on Dante’s Cove (here!), gay roommie Dustin’s maneuvering on Big Brother (CBS), gay sketch comedy (Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show.) gayboys on the Next! bus (MTV), gay historian Charles Kaiser talking to Stephen Colbert (the Colbert Report), and celebrity-happy gay intern Ross gushing on the Tonight Show. Hell, a gay couple is about to move onto Wisteria Lane - if that isn’t assimilation, what is?
Yet gay visibility on television may not be as significant as it appears to be, as a recent report from GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) demonstrates. Entitled The GLAAD Network Responsibility Index, it is intended to serve as a road map of the quantity and quality of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on network television by examining all prime-time programming - 4,693 hours on the five major networks from June 1, 2006, to May 31, 2007.
What it concluded is that while gay and lesbian characters have become more commonplace on network television, programming still doesn’t reflect the diversity of the LGBT communities.
"While we have made great strides in the ten years since Ellen DeGeneres came out on television, this report shows where work still needs to be done and which networks are failing to represent millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers," said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano in the report. "The airwaves quite literally belong to each and every one of us, and, as such, networks have an obligation to reflect the faces and stories of their viewers."
The report rated the major networks in four categories: Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, with none receiving the top grade. Disney-owned ABC fared the best with a grade of "Good" based on 171 hours of gay-inclusive TV last season, accounting for 15 per cent of its prime time programming. It also was lauded not only for the quantity of its programming, but its quality as well.
"Overall, the approach that ABC takes for LGBT representation can serve as a best practice model," the report concluded. "This season alone, ABC created several multi-dimensional, complex LGBT characters. With successful shows Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters, ABC has raised the bar for the broadcast networks of how to seamlessly weave our stories and relationships into the fabric of shows that have a broad audience and mainstream appeal. This approach reflects how our lives intersect with the larger culture."
It was, though, an off-screen incident on the set of the hit series Grey’s Anatomy that put ABC at the center of a gay-related media storm. It occurred when actor Isaiah Washington was purported to have made an anti-gay slur (about co-star T.R. Knight) while arguing with Patrick Dempsey on the set. The ensuing attention forced Knight to come out. Washington further complicated the incident by expressing the slur at the Golden Globe Awards, leading to further media scrutiny and the decision this past by producers June to remove him from the show.
Nonetheless this incident was not considered relevant to the report. Instead the report focused on what was broadcast onscreen.
Of the remaining major networks, the fledgling CW followed behind ABC with a "fair" rating. Though it only broadcasted 472 total hours of primetime programming since its debut in September 2006, 56 of those hours (12%) featured LGBT representations. Most of the impressions were from the unscripted America’s Next Top Model.
Next was CBS with 100.5 of its 1,147 hours (9%) featuring LGBT content - a rating of "Fair". Trailing was NBC (once home to the groundbreaking Will & Grace) with 83 hours of LGBT-inclusive content out of 1,147 hours (7%); and lastly was FOX, which presented 50 LGBT-inclusive hours out of 780 hours of total primetime programming (6%), revealing it to be the least-inclusive network, and a "Failing" grade.
Interestingly, while FOX finished last, its LGBT-inclusive content was the most multi-culturally diverse. "In fact," the report concluded, "46 of its 99 LGBT impressions included people of Middle Eastern-American descent (Kenny from The War at Home and Richard from The Winner both made several significant appearances). FOX also had 12 gay Latino impressions and one gay African American character throughout the year."
FOX is the highest-rated network amongst younger viewers (the most coveted by advertisers) with such shows with strong gay appeal as American Idol and Prison Break (with Wentworth Miller). "It’s disappointing that FOX received a "Failing" grade," GLAAD’s Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine told EDGE. "Only 6% of their programming features any kind of LGBT impression. What’s interesting to note, however, is that the much of the representation on FOX represented an incredibly underserved population: gay Middle-Eastern Americans. Both The War at Home and The Winner each featured gay characters of Middle-Eastern descent."
Unfortunately The War at Home and The Winner are not on FOX’s fall schedule, making FOX even less gay-friendly this upcoming season.
NBC, which took a chance on Will & Grace almost a decade ago, has slipped to just a "Fair" rating in the survey. "It was surprising to see how far NBC has fallen since Will & Grace left the air," said Romine. "Dr. Kerry Weaver is no longer on ER. Out of 1,147 hours of programming on NBC, only 83 of those hours had any representation (7%). They have only minor representation on air now (Oscar on The Office; the mayor on Friday Night Lights). NBC ranks fourth out of the five networks and we give it a "Fair" rating. To their credit, though, while most networks featured ’gay male’ characters, NBC is notable for presenting lesbian characters, certainly more than the other networks, with representations on ER and Friday Night Lights."
