Friday, January 28, 2011

Gay Teens on TV

I'm sorry for posting this a bit late...only because this is the past week's copy of Entertainment Weekly. However, you still have time to head to the store and grab a copy before next week's issue takes over.

As you can see from the photo though, the main article in this issue was about Gay Teens on TV and how back in the early 90's, it was something you would rarely see. There was a gay teen featured in My So-Called Life in 1994, but that show only lasted one season. After that, it took about five more years. It's easy to see now though that things are changing.  Not only do you have Kurt and Blaine on GLEE (as the cover shows) but United States of Tara, Degrassi, Pretty Little Liars, and even the new 2011 shows...Shameless and Skins (U.S. version).

Personally, I'm really proud of networks finally showing young girls and boys that fall under the LGBTQ spectrum. Degrassi is even a pioneer with the fact that they have a transgender teen on their show as a main character. It's great...and I just hope it keeps getting better from here.

The article is really interesting if you want to hear more about some of these shows, and even past ones. There is a timeline throughout as well that shows you shows that have featured LGBT teens and just what year it debuted.

Included in this article is a quote about how they hope more shows will show LGBT teens more like their straight counterparts. Not everyone is bullied or has parents that are upset, as the quote says...so TV needs to show this more.

Overall, it's an interesting article. I liked the look back and even ahead to what people can expect and hope to see on TV.

Did anyone else read this already? Share your thoughts! Even if you haven't...we'd still love to know what you think about LGBT teens on TV now and even in the past!

~Lauren

1 comment:

Rebecca Christiansen said...

Hooray! I'm still wishing they'd show GLBT teens in romantic relationships, though, because sometimes it feels like they're okay showing them battling with their identities but not okay with showing them get a lil' busy. I hope that's the next step.