Fifty years after the police raid of the Stonewall Inn bar in New York that became a catalyst for gay rights, media treatment of the LGBTQ+ community has made extensive progress, yet continues to have setbacks and many areas for improvement.
Representations of LGBTQ+ people in news and entertainment began a significant increase in the 1990s – prominently exemplified by Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out on mainstream American television in her hit ABC sitcom, Ellen. Portrayals of lesbian women and gay men have continued to increase over the two-plus decades since, with leading roles in popular shows like Will and Grace and Modern Family, as well as a more recent spread to teenage audiences on shows such as Glee and Teen Wolf.
This report takes a look at the current state of news coverage of LGBTQ news, people and issues.
