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OPINION
| UPDATED April 23
Gay TV
If you look hard enough, any television
character could be perceived as homosexual
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| The Shorthorn: David DeGrand |
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Network prime-time television has been “straighter”
this season. The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
characters in lead, supporting or recurring roles on network TV
has dropped from 20 last year to just seven this season, according
to an analysis by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
This decline, coming after three consecutive years in which gay
and lesbian characters enjoyed a surge in visibility on network
television, was disappointing to leaders of the gay community. But
they shouldn’t be disappointed. The decline of gay characters
on television has more to do with shows that had previously featured
gay characters being canceled to make room for the influx of brain-dead
reality shows.
And once reality shows start catering to the gay community, prime-time
network television will be populated with more homosexuals than
a Siegfried and Roy pool party.
The low number of homosexual characters on networks is only temporary
because the demographic that watches primetime television (18-35)
likes seeing comedic homosexual characters on television. After
all, we grew up watching gay characters in our cartoons.
Homosexual characters in children’s shows are a fixture in
television history. Nearly everyone in the Generation X demographic
grew up watching cartoon characters who led alternative lifestyles.
For example, those little blue Smurfs were more homosexual than
monogrammed “His & His” towels. With 100 guys and
one girl (not counting the one under-aged female), it was only a
matter of time before they started experimenting. They were always
running around the village laughing and giggling. The Smurfs could
not have been that happy without getting some sort of booty.
Then we have Peppermint Patty and Marcie of “Peanuts”
fame. These two were the pre-breakup Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche
of the cartoon world.
This animated duo was lesbian lovers before being lesbian lovers
was cool. The way Marcie constantly worked for Patty’s approval,
coupled with the way she referred to Patty as “sir,” signifies
a typical femme/stud relationship. If that is not proof enough,
both girls played for the female field hockey team. The sport of
field hockey has probably attracted more lesbians than a three-for-one
K.D. Lang CD sale.
Any discussion on homosexual children’s television characters
would not be complete without mentioning Bert and Ernie, the quintessential
homosexual couple. In all the time they lived together, never once
did they have an overnight guest who was not born with a penis.
What is even more strange is that they lived in a two-bedroom apartment
yet slept in the same room. It does not matter how good of friends
they were, the only place where adult heterosexual males should
share a bedroom is prison.
How about Bugs Bunny? A highly intelligent rabbit who resorts to
all kinds of manipulations and tricks — from dressing like
a woman, kissing other males, to extreme violence — to get
out of the endless troubles he always puts himself into. He’s
crazy about carrots, an obvious phallic fetish. Psychological profile:
a bisexual cross-dresser who is an abusive manipulator and psychopath.
But you can’t help but love that screwy rabbit.
In all, the preceding were illustrations that sometimes advocacy
groups, such as GLAAD, can jump the gun, and read more into situations
then what is really there.
The one year decrease in gay characters is only temporary, and as
long as the 18-35 demographic is so highly coveted, homosexual characters
will continue to be a fixture on network television.
— Demond Reid is a journalism senior and a regular columnist
for The Shorthorn.
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