Those Wacky Lesbians

I never know how to react to the representation of gays in the media. I am admittedly hard to please, making a living as a critic will do that, but I am generally annoyed. Because if there isn't a glitch in the presentation, then the mainstream press comes off like a bunch of idiots when they react to even the most basic stories of people who do not fit the heterosexual mode. Sharon Stone? Who cares. Why is it that straight people have been able to do more for gays within the media than gays have themselves?

The mainstream music industry (and the gay press that plays into it) are pleased as punch by Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher's expectant pregnancy, but I haven't read any pieces acknowledging their concerns about parental and spousal rights in a country that still considers gay marriages illegal. But, it's only rock'n'roll.

Sanitized Stereotypes

A year ago I had the terrifying experience of seeing the "Bird Cage" in the suburbs. The white, middle class audience guffawed at the stereotypes, and I wondered if they grasped how in the end the film was really about a couple trying to save their relationship and make their kid happy. Not just a bunch of excuses to laugh at the fags, but Hollywood will do that.

And you can tell me to stop whining, that any press is good press, whether it comes in a tainted package or not, but I have my concerns that this translates to gratefulness when gays are still flaunted for their veneer of heterosexuality (ie. fitting in) or kept in the alternative, and alternative might be ok when you're selling records, but not if you're concerned about custody issues for your kids, or even who kids can look to for role models, then that is another story.

Would a Sprig of Parsley Help?

When OUT music had their feature on Gay Music, what upset me the most was that though most of the bands in that issue were great, we only find cover stories for gay artists on gay publications. What if they consider their musical contributions to outweigh the labels people put on them because of who they sleep with? What if they don't consider themselves crossover artists? "If it isn't packaged right, people won't eat it," an old boss once told me. I was a prep cook then, now I'm a writer and it's the same story.

Take for instance the treatment of the supposed "outing of Ellen" on her tv show. How insulting can you get? Most of us who even took a passing glance at Ellen or her show were unimpressed that she was going to be outed. It was like Melissa Etheridge or kd lang in the late-80s, I mean... who couldn't figure it out? And the media dropped the ball when it came down to losing their bible belt tv-watching, couch-warming, consumering audience. If it sells, sell it, but this all starts to tread into people's ability to take pride in their identities. Kids watch tvs and movies, we all look to pop culture for representation of ourselves, what are the effects of this perpetual mockery?

But, Thank You for Playing

Sorry kids, we couldn't give you any role models on the TV, I mean not their own show, we might lose money.

I'm tired of it, but it always seeps back into my perspective, and how could it not? Last year's tequila ads about LIFE IS HARSH with the bombshell transvestite on the beach irked me, but my straight friends thought it was funny. I saw it as another tasteless ploy to sell something in a situation where there is minimal legal restraint on how people of a sexual minority are represented. And seemingly little care.

I can't say either that there is one way that gay people should be seen in the media, because like every other type of person...it takes all types, but the repeated marginalizing of gay musicians, and the strains of the celluloid closet are going to have to evolve in order for gays as humans to feel more comfortable as themselves in the mainstream media.

jessamin@smug.com

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