Queers in the Media

When was the last time you saw a character who looked like you in the media? How did it feel to see someone who shared your life experiences? Did you feel validated, or did it have no effect? Did you see someone who you felt represented you in a negative way?

These are the questions that can arise when it comes to the topic of queer representation in media. What do I mean by this? How queer people are depicted in different forms of media, from television and movies, to books, to radio and news stories. Film, television, and books are some of the most consumed pieces of media which I’d like to focus on.

The first step though is to ask ourselves, why do we need media representation? The moment a show or movie has queer representation, you don’t have to search long for opinions and criticisms online saying, ‘we don’t need to have a queer person in everything!’ or ‘why do you need representation to feel validated’. These statements most often come from our heteronormative cousins who fail to realise they have always seen themselves represented and so are blind to the impact.

The fact of the matter is though, that representation in media is important for queer people and has a direct impact on their mental health. It colours how queer people think of themselves. If there isn’t a place for queer people in fictional worlds where anything can happen, where do we fit in the real world? For young queer people especially, without the access to queer spaces, this can leave them feeling incredible isolated.

On the other hand, if they see someone they are told represents them, yet that character is portrayed in a negative way, either as simply a joke or with no more dimension than ‘queer character’, this may influence how they interact with their own queerness. A large portion of queer stories centre trauma storylines, as this is a common experience for queer people. However, if these are the only stories queer people see, this becomes normalised and simply an inevitable part of the queer experience, rather than something to fight against.

Alternatively, if queer people see characters like themselves, characters who overcome their same struggles, this can show that a path forward does exist. By showcasing stories of queer joy, we can give people hope and something to strive for.

It is for these reasons that queer representation in media is so important, and not simply representation, but positive representation. We’ve come a long way from the days of the Hays’ code when it was illegal to have queer characters in film or movies in the US, but issues remain.

These days GLAAD does a lot of work monitoring the representation of queer people in television and movies. Television is seeing a decline in queer characters overall. The queer characters who do exist are a majority gay men and closely followed by lesbian women. There is though, a smattering of trans women and men as well as a small number of asexual and other queer identities. In terms of racial identities, 51% of queer characters are BIPOC, which may sound significant, however when we break this into separate racial groups, clearly, they are underrepresented. There were 20 non-human characters compared to 7 Middle Eastern/ North African characters. Great news for sci-fi, not so much for actual humans.

If we break this down, what message does this send to queer BIPOC people? In a world constantly pitting Islam against queerness to justify its own islamophobia, Queer Muslims are torn from both sides. Then media reinforces the idea that queerness and being Muslim are somehow mutually exclusive.

Films manage to be even less diverse. In 2024 across 10 major film studios, 59 out of 250 films contained a queer character, totalling 181 characters. Just three of these characters were trans and not a single trans man was present. Here, white queer characters account for 64%. Of that total 181 characters, 27% had more than 10 minutes of screen time while 37% were on screen for less than a minute. These figures do not illuminate the quality of that representation.

Books as an industry tend to be much more diverse, though often queer books receive less mainstream attention. The sheer number of books being published means typically if there is a particular type of character you are looking for, it will exist somewhere. This is a primary reason why the demand for queer books has exploded in recent years as people look for representation where other forms of media have been lacking. We are even seeing popular queer books be adapted into film and television, think Red, White and Royal Blue or Heated Rivalry.

So, what do we do to change this? It’s all well and good to talk about a lack of representation but how do we change that? The first step is supporting and uplifting positive representation when we see it. If you go on Instagram or tiktok these days, a quick search will find many creators championing diverse works. Here in Manchester, we have Queer Lit, a shop that sells specifically queer literature. On Instagram, accounts like Little Gay Bookstore provide recommendations for all different flavours of queer.

When you find media you feel spotlights diversity in a great way, share it with your friends, family and strangers if you get the chance. Share the things that you love so that others may enjoy them as well. Of course, this doesn’t mean we can’t be critical of bad or poor representation but ultimately championing great work will pave the way for more projects to follow.

The lives of queer people are filled with such diverse and wonderful experiences; they deserve to be shared.