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."
What is prompting inclusion of LGBT characters on television series isn’t so much a need for programmers to represent diversity, rather it is that it makes good business sense. It’s a simple equation: Gay Viewers + Gay Dollars = Gay Programming. According to the 2006 Report on the Gay & Lesbian Market from Packaged Facts/Witeck-Combs Communication, the 2007 buying power of LGBT American adults is estimated to be $690 billion. They also concluded that, based on U.S. Census projections, there’s a population count of 15.3 million adults self-identified as LGBT (6.8% of all adults).
"Equally important to advertisers is the high educational level and affluence of the LGBT audience," the GLAAD report continues. "According to Planetout.com Partners, LGBT people are twice as likely to have household income over $250K and over 60% are college graduates. The fact that LGBT people have fewer households with children means greater discretionary income and more time for leisure activities. Planetout.com’s studies have also shown that 87% of LGBT people are highly likely to actively seek out brands that advertise uniquely to them. The advantages to LGBT inclusiveness to the television industry are clear, yet not fully embraced."
With this in mind, it is advantageous for Hollywood producers to green light projects with LGBT characters. "It certainly has not been a network mandate that their shows be inclusive of the LGBT community," said Romine. "What has happened is that certain producers know that great stories can come from being inclusive of LGBT characters. And in the case of ABC, we’ve seen the network push to make sure these characters, like Kevin on Brothers & Sisters, are treated just like all the other characters on the show.
"There’s not one program that couldn’t benefit from being LGBT inclusive and all the story potential that goes along with that. Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters are great models for how networks can reach a broad audience and include LGBT representation."
While cable programming was not factored in the grading system, the report noted how cable channels "remain leaders in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representation, seamlessly weaving our stories and relationships into the fabric of shows that have broad and mainstream appeal." It acknowledged the success of gay-networks Logo and here!, but also pointed out how NBC-owned Bravo has become something of a mini-gay network with an array of programs (Queer Eye, Boy Meets Boy, Top Chef, Work Out. Project Runway, and Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List) with strong gay representation and appeal. CBS-owned Showtime (run by openly gay network president Robert Greenblatt) received kudos for The L Word, the Brotherhood, The Tudors, and Weeds; similarly Time-Warner’s HBO was cited for its past programming (Angels in America, The Laramie Project, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City) and for its current hit Entourage with its openly gay Lloyd (Rex Lee), the tireless gay assistant to egomaniacal agent Ari Gold, and a pair of gay character on the Wire, lesbian detective Shakima Greggs and gay criminal Omar Little. MTV’s Comedy Central with such gay-friendly shows as The Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and Reno 911. And here with a new season of its cult occult series Dante’s Cove, its spin-off The Lair, and a provocative new series called the DL Chronicles tells the stories of men of color who by consequence and by choice, live sexually duplicitous and secret lifestyles.
"The premium networks like HBO, Showtime and now here! have raised the bar for how LGBT characters are seen on television, and by doing so, this kind of multi-dimensional storytelling with LGBT characters is now being told on basic cable programs and making its way to the broadcast networks.
"Cable has long presented multi-dimensional representations of LGBT people and now we’re starting to see ourselves presented on the broadcast networks in ways that are increasingly fair, accurate and inclusive."
As for the upcoming season, does Romine see any trends or new characters of note?
"A year ago we were looking forward to shows like The Class, Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters to fill a void left by Will & Grace. Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters will return for their sophomore seasons, Cashmere Mafia will feature what appears to be a bisexual leading character among its ensemble cast, and Dirty Sexy Money has a transgender story arc which I hope they will continue to develop." (On the show New York transgendered personality Candis Cayne will play a transsexual that Presidential candidate Billy Baldwin is secretly having an affair.)
"Right now, one of the most exciting developments is happening on daytime television on As the World Turns, "Romine said. "This show was already notable for being the first daytime drama to introduce a gay male character who is part of the core family. Luke Snyder came out a year ago and now the character is moving closer to having a relationship, or in soap speak, a ’love triangle.’ Let’s not forget that Brothers & Sisters was the first broadcast network series to show a gay male character having the same kind of romantic relationships as the other characters, so this is still new for the networks, and now we’re beginning to see this kind of inclusivity on daytime television as well."
What brings Brothers and Sisters to the next level, which was developed by out playwright Jon Robin Baitz, is how it captures every dimension of Kevin’s character, including his sexuality. His kiss with his Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) was an example of an incident that pushed the social envelope by seeming perfectly natural.
"Brother & Sisters is a great example of a show that is breaking new ground by treating the gay brother, Kevin, just like all of the other characters, giving him a personal life and relationships just like all the other characters," Romine observed. "This is the FIRST time we’ve seen this on a network television drama-and it’s 2007, ten years after Ellen came out on TV. That series also is introducing the fact that Uncle Saul is either gay or bisexual. How often do we see ANY gay characters on network television over the age of 60? This may be the first.
"Presenting the sexuality of an LGBT character is new on the broadcast networks and not only are we seeing it on Brothers & Sisters, but it was evident on Passions when it aired on NBC and we’re looking forward to what’s to come on As the World Turns."
Article by Robert Nesti, courtesy of EDGE Magazine