The Daily OrangePopular culture propels gay acceptance movement
By Stacie Foster
Posted: 11/16/09, 1:13 AM EST Section: Feature
Throughout the last 10 years, gay tolerance has climbed its way into society's heart. Spearheaded by the entertainment industry, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are more accepted than ever before.
With an LGBT learning community on the sixth floor of Haven Hall and an LGBT resource center on Ostrom Avenue, Syracuse University provides different outlets for people to feel comfortable and get information about the movement.
Professors are also noting growing gay tolerance and how popular culture has encouraged it. In Gael Sweeney's WRT 205 class, the main focus is on the topic "Questioning Gender." The class analyzes homosexuality in popular culture through television shows like "Queer as Folk" and the American classic '90s sitcom "Seinfeld."
Gay characters are being represented in films and on television in roles that cast a more serious outlook toward sexual orientation than the typical "gay shopping buddy" or "butch lesbian" stereotypes that were once the norm representations of homosexuals in films.
"Milk," starring Sean Penn and James Franco, was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn). Just three years before "Milk," "Brokeback Mountain" won three Oscars itself.
But it wasn't an easy road for "Brokeback Mountain" distributors. A theater in a Salt Lake City suburb famously refused to show the movie on opening night, generating quite a bit of controversy from LGBT alliance members. The problems didn't end there. In a live broadcast, "Today Show" movie critic Gene Shalit called Jake Gyllenhal's gay character a "sexual predator," which was not taken lightly by GLAAD, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Shalit later apologized and the issue was smoothed over, but the turbulence the film experienced because of its homosexual plot proves what a success the media's acceptance of "Milk" has been.
The music industry is also seeing more gay artists become advocators of sexual tolerance.
With an LGBT learning community on the sixth floor of Haven Hall and an LGBT resource center on Ostrom Avenue, Syracuse University provides different outlets for people to feel comfortable and get information about the movement.
Professors are also noting growing gay tolerance and how popular culture has encouraged it. In Gael Sweeney's WRT 205 class, the main focus is on the topic "Questioning Gender." The class analyzes homosexuality in popular culture through television shows like "Queer as Folk" and the American classic '90s sitcom "Seinfeld."
Gay characters are being represented in films and on television in roles that cast a more serious outlook toward sexual orientation than the typical "gay shopping buddy" or "butch lesbian" stereotypes that were once the norm representations of homosexuals in films.
"Milk," starring Sean Penn and James Franco, was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn). Just three years before "Milk," "Brokeback Mountain" won three Oscars itself.
But it wasn't an easy road for "Brokeback Mountain" distributors. A theater in a Salt Lake City suburb famously refused to show the movie on opening night, generating quite a bit of controversy from LGBT alliance members. The problems didn't end there. In a live broadcast, "Today Show" movie critic Gene Shalit called Jake Gyllenhal's gay character a "sexual predator," which was not taken lightly by GLAAD, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Shalit later apologized and the issue was smoothed over, but the turbulence the film experienced because of its homosexual plot proves what a success the media's acceptance of "Milk" has been.
The music industry is also seeing more gay artists become advocators of sexual tolerance.
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