The LGBTQ Community and Popular Culture

“It was actually a huge disappointment for me, when I came of age and realized that I was sexually attracted to men,” Dunham quipped. “So when my sister came out, I thought, ‘Thank God, someone in this family can truly represent my passions and beliefs.’”

This is a quote by actress Lena Dunham on her interest in LGBTQ+ activism, and exemplifies a troubling trend in popular culture. Here, Dunham not only exploits her sister’s sexual orientation in order to gain favor with the media, but she acts as if being attracted to the same sex is something that’s in fashion(3). Dunham tries to take the struggle of a community and make it about herself in order to bolster her image. In the interest of idolization, she feels that people will follow her example and take a similar position on issues involving the LGBTQ+ community. The idea of celebrities joining a movement for personal gain is nothing new, and I’m choosing to focus on examples of how celebrities and media sources color the opinion of the general public on matters concerning the LGBTQ+ community and how the issues differ from their representation (1).

In comparing the acceptance speech by Lena Dunham to an appearance by actress Laverne Cox at the Grammys, we start to see the difference in good and bad representations of LGBTQ+ activism. Laverne Cox is a transgender actress who is also heavily involved in LGBTQ+ activism. However, Cox is seemingly more eloquent and selfless in the way that she represents the community for which she is fighting. At the Grammys, Cox helps introduce some of the artists who will be coming to the stage. At this point she takes a moment to bring attention to a pressing issue about a transgender student fighting for the right to use the bathroom which they feel is more representative of their gender identity. Cox addressed the audience by saying:

“Everyone please Google Gavin Grimm. He’s going to the supreme court in March, #StandWithGavin” (2).

This is a great example of how fame can be used to bring awareness to a subject in a graceful way. The actress simply laid the issue out on the table for the audience and put the responsibility in their hands, where Dunham attempted to glorify herself by mentioning her own activism and relationship to the community. An action like this speaks volumes in a society where we are overwhelmed with information from all sources. This issue was probably unknown to many in the audience prior to Cox making it public, and this fact alone shows just how much power celebrities have. Cox was able to draw the attention of people, but more importantly, instill a sense of urgency to act.

Gavin Grimm, the transgender teen from Gloucester County, Virginia, who sued his school board when he was denied the right to use the bathroom the boys’ bathroom.

Drawing attention to issues such as the case of Gavin Grimm is important because of how much our society is willing to look away from them. When celebrities like Lena Dunham choose to sensationalize and glorify being part of the LGBTQ+ community, they tend to draw attention away from the issues and societal evils that still plague this community like discrimination and shaming. This however is not just an issue of how celebrities portray situations such as these, but how the media and news sources portray the similar situations. A trend seen throughout the recent history of LGBTQ+ activism is to advocate for better depictions of sexual minorities in the media. The concepts that make certain stereotypes valid to the general public involve the way that news sources attempt to create stories that are going to sell because of their accessibility which creates a cycle that feeds into itself, creating a community in which its members feel an intense pressure to conform. So much so, that it drives many to suicide.

In seeing reports by news sources about sexuality-related suicide in queer youth, there is a trend that insists that the most prevalent reason for suicide within the community is bullying based on sexuality.1 This also implies that most cases of suicide in queer youth is due to individual peer behavior. The problem with this idea is that it minimizes the issue, and makes it seem as if instances of suicide in queer youth are isolated incidents that can’t be helped because they differ on a case by case basis. This sets a dangerous precedent that the problem is not with society and its perceptions of the community, but with individuals who have a warped sense of reality. An example of this can be found in the case of Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide as a result of being outed by a college roommate. An article from the Guardian covering the story in 2010 speaks about the suicide of Clementi saying,

“Clementi’s suicide is the latest example of the damage that can be inflicted when the age-old habit of pranks between teenagers meets the huge social power of technology”(4).

This takes away from the issue at hand which is that the only reasoning for Clementi’s outing was because of his homosexuality being demonized. This is just one of many stories covered by the media where issues are diminished to the point of invisibility. This is why activism by high profile individuals like Laverne Cox is so necessary. The reasoning for this kind of reporting could be that journalists are attempting to attach a person that has a story which represents the whole community and can be identified with, in order to draw more attention to the issue at hand. However they are doing something which leads to an even larger problem, which is view the LGBTQ+ community as a homogeneous community. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth.

While the idea of being a cultural outsider is something that many members of this community experience, identifying within the community is not the only thing that defines each member. Individualism should not change the way that the suicide statistics are represented in the news, but it should inform the way that we view the statistics. Each person coming from individual backgrounds means that there are layers of individuality and potential for being considered not part of the norm, or the stereotype that we’ve established as a society. And failure or rejection to conform to this, leads to more pressure from members of society that potentially fit in with what we call normal. In the end it is not the work of individuals antagonizing the community, but the values of a society which antagonize the individual.

As you can see, a trend exists in our American culture where we feel the need to make personal connections in order to realize that there are issues plaguing a community. However it creates troubling conflicts where we either idolize or isolate, based on the cultural norms and expectations we’ve created.

References:

1. Cover, Rob. “Mediating Suicide: Print Journalism and the Categorization of Queer Youth Suicide Discourses.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41, no. 5 (2012): 1173–183. doi:10.1007/s10508–012–9901–2.
2. Out Magazine. “Laverne Cox at Grammy Awards: ‘Google Gavin Grimm’” OUT. February 13, 2017. Accessed April 18, 2017. http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2017/2/13/laverne-cox-grammy-awards-google-gavin-grimm.
3. Wong, Curtis M. “Lena Dunham Opens Up About Lesbian Sister While Accepting Point Foundation Award For LGBT Advocacy.” The Huffington Post. April 08, 2014. Accessed April 18, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/lena-dunham-lesbian-sister_n_5113233.html.
4. Pilkington, Ed. “Tyler Clementi, student outed as gay on internet, jumps to his death.” The Guardian. September 30, 2010. Accessed April 24, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide.