The groundbreaking coming-out episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen, saw its 20th anniversary recently. DeGeneres’ pioneering role as the first out actor and character to head a television series is worth celebrating in itself—but it’s also worth noting that her show gave us one of best representations up to that time of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV. Let’s look at what she did and at some of the previous portrayals.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Ellen DeGeneres coming out in person and as her character on television. Let’s not forget, too, that her show also gave us one of earliest (though not the first) representations of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV.
Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast is a prime example of how not to please anyone when it comes to LGBTQ representation in children’s media. After enormous hoopla over the first gay character in a Disney film—who would have, director Bill Condon said, an “exclusively gay moment”—the moment was too brief and inconclusive for me as a queer person to celebrate. At the same time, the mere announcement of a gay character inflamed many conservatives.
The top five books in the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual list of the most challenged books in the U.S. are there because of their LGBTQ content, among other reasons.
When The Fosters premiered in 2013, I suspected it was going to give us one of the best treatments of a two-mom family we’ve seen on TV. What I didn’t predict was that, parenting aside, it would be groundbreaking in its representation of queer teens as well.
I have the honor of once again attending the LGBT Media Journalists Convening, as bloggers and journalists from both LGBTQ and mainstream media gather next week in Orlando, Florida to share ideas, hone our skills, and discuss issues relevant to all of us. I therefore have some questions for all of you.
Transgender children have been much in the headlines after President Trump rescinded Title IX protections for trans students. That would be enough to make Laurie Frankel’s new novel, about parents raising a trans daughter, relevant and timely. This Is How It Always Is would, however, be an exceptional book about parenting, family, and identity at any time.
Saturday Night Live spoofed Logo’s new show Fire Island by creating Cherry Grove, a fictional show about a group of “affluent lesbians” raising children.
It was a big week in the representation of LGBTQ families on television—across several shows, for several ages. But is LGBTQ diversity on TV as deep as that might make it seem?
In light of the Trump administration’s decision yesterday to rescind guidance that protected transgender students, I felt it was especially important to share a great new resource for kids (and their grown-ups) about gender identity.
