USA Today’s Maria Puente has penned two pieces about the abundance of gay storylines currently popping up in Hollywood. With quotes from Queerty.com editor in chief David Hauslaib, GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk), you’ll notice that most of the stories have to do with gay men.
The Kids Are All Right is referenced in one of the stories, so there is some discussion on how the film’s lesbian couple makes gay being a “non-issue.” Black notes, “It shows how regular our families are; it goes a long way toward gay and lesbian families introducing ourselves to straight families as not that much different. And unlike in Milk and so many (past) gay movies, the lead characters don’t die.”
It’s worth noting that Puente and her sources don’t mention the decidedly mixed reaction to the film from the lesbian community at large. And the inclusion of comments from Focus on the Family’s family studies director Glenn Stanton indicates that the article is more concerned with how gay storylines are viewed by straight people.
The TV shows cited are also those that feature more male sexuality-driven storylines: Ugly Betty, Modern Family, Brothers and Sisters among them. The only ones involving lesbians or bisexual women are The Talk and House. There a few shows that have both male and female sexuality storylines grouped together as well (Gossip Girl, United States of Tara, 90210 and Weeds).
90210, as I mentioned in a previous piece on gay men vs. gay women on TV, is an interesting case in point: When the character Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) began a relationship with lesbian Gia (Rumer Willis), it was portrayed as a fling (despite being discussed by executive producer Rebecca Sinclair beforehand as anything but). Months prior to the new season premiere, the show created a buzz about one of three male stars coming out on the show, saying it was going to be a huge, organic storyline that is true to the real life gay experience.
It’s interesting that there are several more lesbian and bisexual female characters on shows, in addition to the obvious ones touted in the article (and other articles, including the hot button Newsweek piece that argued gay actors couldn’t play straight). So why are they consistently ignored? There isn’t any mention of Grey’s Anatomy, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, Stargate Universe, HawthoRNe, The Good Wife, or FlashForward (which was cancelled, but so was Ugly Betty). If they were looking to prove the point that many gay-themed storylines are no longer about the coming out process only, several of these would have been perfect to mention or expand upon. Most of these shows are champions of their networks with huge ratings, so what gives?
Perhaps it’s the idea that the lesbian storylines are still “less offensive” to viewers, therefore making the gay male storylines harder for straight audiences to “tolerate.” Or could it be that they are still seen as ratings stunts, while the development of gay male storylines are seen as progressive and radical? That would have been an interesting question for all of the men interviewed to answer – or, better yet, something lesbian actors, writers or media types could attest to. Lesbian creators and showrunners like Linda Wallem, Jill Soloway, Liz Brixius and Cynthia Mort would have been great assets to a story like this.
In a companion piece by Puentes, “Playing it straight, or gay, doesn’t always go both ways,” she writes:
It’s somewhat easier for [gay] women [to play straight]: Ellen DeGeneres hasn’t suffered career damage; neither has Cynthia Nixon, who came out as a lesbian after Sex and the City ended but is still playing straight in the SATC movies and other roles. And Cherry Jones, a lesbian and Tony-winning stage actress, played the president of the United States on 24.
But Ellen DeGeneres has suffered significant career damage – just ask her. She’s spoken out several times about how she was unable to get work and was sent into a depression after coming out on the cover of Time magazine. Even Laura Dern, a straight actress who was part of Ellen’s coming out episode was unable to find jobs after appearing on the show.
Luckily, both DeGeneres and Dern have bounced back and maintain extremely successful careers and it’s wonderful that lesbian actresses are able to convincingly play straight when given the opportunity. But the ironic part is that many lesbian actresses aren’t given much of an opportunity to participate in the new lesbian storylines. Take The Kids Are All Right, for instance: are there any lesbian actresses that would have been considered for the roles Annette Bening and Julianne Moore played? And if out director Lisa Cholodenko chose to cast lesbian actresses in those roles, would it have received as much financial backing or enjoyed the same level of success?
In a previous interview, Benning told USA Weekend, “Hopefully we will get to a point in our culture where everybody gets to play what they want and it’s not about that.” That’s the idea, but, unfortunately, lesbian storylines are still easily ignored unless they are blockbusters starring straight actresses.
Considering Puentes left out several of the newer gay storylines on shows like Degrassi: Boiling Point and As the World Turns, perhaps she’s just out of touch with the subject she was attempting to delve into; but when it comes to the acknowledgement of how many gay women are on TV, she’s not alone. We have many more lesbian and bisexual women being represented on television, but if we’re the only ones who realize it, is that a bad thing? Do we need acknowledgment from the majority (i.e. straight) critics and viewers? It seems we could have gone from the sweeps week ratings stunt to slipping under the radar, and I’m hoping that means it’s that we’re viewed as normal rather than an expendable minority.
