I Am Not Your Token Gay:
Commentary on How Queer Qeople
are Represented in Media
By Jasmin Haddad
No one is shocked or surprised upon hearing the news that LGBTQ+ individuals are not only typically unrepresented in major forms of media, but also remarkably missrepresented. In America, and across the globe, strides for LGBTQ+ representation has come a long way considering even a slight hint at homoerotic behavior twenty years ago would have caused a mob of extremist conservatives to burn some “misguided” individual at the stake. However, television, novels, films, and the Internet have unfortunately contracted what I so kindly have dubbed as “Token Gay Syndrome.” Symptoms including, but not limited to, having one gay or lesbian character (typically a gay male) whose only defining feature is his or her gayness; having this one character there for comic relief; failing to develop any well-formed plot line for this character and often leaving the audience wondering why they were even there in the first place. TGS, however, is not something to joke about. It is catastrophic for young people growing up with these forms of entertainment, regardless of whether or not these young people identify themselves in the LGBTQ+ community. People look towards entertainment and media for identification and acceptance. Whether they know it consciously or not, individuals tend to gravitate towards things when the little light in their heads lights up with, “Hey, that’s just like me.” People get excited and pumped when they finally have a “big name” or character to be able to follow. Now the problem isn’t just the fact that LGBTQ+ people have to work twice as hard just to find something that they might slightly understand, but when they do find that character, book, or show, it doesn't represent them correctly.
The fact of the matter is, sexuality and gender exist on a broad spectrum. Authors and writers need to not only create characters that represent the totality of this spectrum, but then they have to write them well. This is so hugely important because the of our global reliance on media. The kid in the middle of nowhere shouldn’t feel the the need to fit into this all encompassing gay stereotype. Even our world’s homophobic bigots need someone to identify with. Ultimately, people are quick to discriminate, judge, and be hurtful towards another human being when they are able to dehumanize them, and they are only able to dehumanize them when they can’t identify with them. We need to be able to say “look at this character, they are an action crime fighting superhero with all this amazing life experience and they just so happen to be a genderqueer bisexual.” Authors need to be give these characters the full complexity that is due to them as humans. If authors continue to fail to do so, people with no knowledge of the LGBTQ+ community not only won’t be very familiar with the LGBTQ+, but also start to stereotype and categorize members of this community. This misrepresentation would end up causing more confusion and issues for people who want to come out and share their experiences. People’s sexuality and gender need to be seen as valid, understood, and, ultimately, viewed with the understanding that no matter what you identify as, you are a person and you deserve to be heard. Being heard means being an active and represented voice in media in such a way that anyone listening will be able to understand and identify with you in a variety of ways.