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Why does every movie and show have to have a gay character now?

posted 5 years ago by MovieBuff224 (5053)
91 replies | jump to latest

I appreciate the progress made in LGBT rights but I don’t fully understand why almost every new show and movie has to have a prominent gay character, usually a male. It feels artificial and forced, as gays are still a small minority and they are represented as being abundant.

I did a search to see what the actual population was, and it’s less than 5%. I found this interesting article on Gallop that showed most Americans feel it is 20% or higher.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/259571/americans-greatly-overestimate-gay-population.aspx

I can only imagine that this is due to their overrepresentation in popular media. While gays have been slighted, I would think there are other oppressed minorities who are larger in number and have arguably suffered worse fates.

[–] Furienna (3375) 5 years ago

I agree. It is okay to have a gay character in your show. However, more and more writers seem to go through a list of character types, that they think that they just must include in the show, and that feels forced after a while.

However, it seems to me that in most shows, the token gay characters will either be a part of a quite big ensemble cast, or they will just be minor characters, who will appear in just one episode. Which makes it a bit more realistic.