We Need More Positive Queer Representation

 We Need More Positive Queer Representation

          Promo Shot from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13, RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter

            Since the overturning of Roe v Wade, earlier in the year, the world has gone into a spiral looking at the rights of different groups. Soon after Roe was overturned, it was stated by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that several other cases may be revisited, including Obergefell v Hydes, the case that made same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States.

            Why do I bring these cases up?

            Thomas’s statement that Obergefell needs to be revisited is just one of many example from the decades of torment the LGBTQ+ community has taken from the world. Between attacks calling the community “groomers”, stories of people being denied service for their sexuality, all the way to how queer people were portrayed during the AIDS crisis, the way the LGBTQ+ community has been portrayed in the media has been a huge issue for years.

           We need to start uplifting the queer community and representing them positively throughout media and throughout the world.

Positive Queer Representation Has Increased

            But not all “positive” queer representation is all roses.

            One of the biggest pieces of queer media is RuPaul’s Drag Race, something that has had a huge overall impact on the lives of queer people and highlighting queer stories.

            Even with the show’s huge impact, the show has still come under fire for their representation of the trans community.

            In a Huffpost article, former contestants Carmen Carrera and Monica Beverly Hillz talked about the use of transphobic language and how it has been harmful to the trans community.

           “I have fought, and still am fighting, for respect from society -- to be accepted as a woman and not referred to as a ‘tr*nny’ or ‘she-male’” -Monica Beverly Hillz, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5 Contestant

            Drag Race now has over 20 seasons just in the US, and the franchise has been taking itself across the world and exposing itself to different cultures. While the offensive language has been removed, the show as a whole needs to do better to spread positivity across the world.

           The LGBTQ+ community still has a very small amount of representation across the globe. In a lot of spaces where queer people are talked about (even spaces created by the community), the queer community is often shown in a bad light.

                       Image created after the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill was created, manualredeye.com

Poor Media Representation Affects the Mental Health of Queer Youth

Being “in the closet” is something that can hugely affect mental health, with common effects of being closeted being depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, as stated in a Brightside Health blog. For reasons such as that, researchers at the University of Montreal have stated that “Coming out is no longer a matter of popular debate but a matter of public health”.

“Members of the LGBTQI+ community are often tasked with constantly appraising their situation and adapting to how much they can safely reveal of themselves. While this can be seen as an adaptive process, it places a great deal of mental and emotional strain on the individual.” -Dr. Marie Atallah

            The issue of being afraid to “come out” and increased mental health issues in the LGBTQ+ community all starts with the way that the community is represented in the public eye. Negative representation in media, such as FOX News highlighting bad stories of LGBTQ+ people, can be enough for people to be afraid to come out and be themselves. This can have horrible consequences, as mentioned earlier, but it’s put in perspective when you look at suicide rates. According to the Trevor Project, “LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers” and “1.8 million LGBTQ+ Youth seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. – and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds”.

                      Promo Shot for Netflix’s “Heartstopper”, Netflix

            Yes, it is true that some positive queer representation has been increasing in the past years. Netflix’s “Heartstopper”, a coming-of age RomCom based on the book series by Alice Oseman, was well received by audiences for finally giving a queer story with a happy ending.

But with recent events, such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, detranstioning bills in the south, and Thomas’s statement on “revisiting” Obergefell vs. Hydes, it feels likes the LGBTQ+ community is being bashed in the headlines. Now more than ever, we need to protect the lives of queer youth and start showing positivity when we show queer people.