Homosexuality and the Media

Homosexuality in America

In an average secondary school (which includes colleges and universities just like our own), approximately 10% of the student population is gay and lesbian (Besner and Spungin 142). A little different perspective: one out of every ten people you know is a homosexual. So what is a homosexual exactly? According to www.dictionary.com, the definition of homosexual is: Of, relating to, or having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex. In more subjective tests, homosexual is often defined as any person who has had sexual desire or participated in sexual activity with another person of the same sex more than once. No matter how it is defined, homosexuality has become a hot topic nearly everywhere in America.

Issues concerning homosexuality have been plastered throughout the media during the past two years. People practicing this alternate lifestyle are now the hosts of popular television shows, the stars of great movies, and the focus of many American media sources. The popularity of some recent media issues, such as the consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson and the success of new television shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, are showing that most Americans between 18 and 40 years of age are changing their attitudes toward homosexuality.

However, it is important to understand some of the basis and origins of the idea of homosexuality we have come to know today. In a famous Greek story called Symposium, Plato, the most well-known of the Greek philosophers, wrote that humanity once consisted of three sexes instead of two: its partners were joined in pairs of two men, two women, or a man and a woman. Zeus cut each pair apart to diminish their power and to teach them to fear the gods. Humans spend their time on Earth by searching for their other half, with whom they can find true love (Byne 52).

On a more biological based note, some researchers have suggested that prenatal hormones influence which sex the person will be attracted to and that improper hormone exposure before birth results in greater same-sex attractions (Ellis). Another scientist, named Hamer, conducted a study using 40 pairs of homosexual brothers. He analyzed their DNA with genetic linkage analysis using gene markers. His analysis revealed a 99.5% level of certainty that there is genetic material on the X chromosome that predisposes a male to become homosexual (Besner and Spungin 3). Despite all our best efforts, however, we have been unable to discover a concrete reason as to what causes an individual to be attracted to the same sex.

Like it or not, homosexuality is becoming integrated into parts of all of our daily lives. The hosts of The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, also know as the Fab Five (Carson Kressley, Kyan Douglas, Ted Allen, Thom Filicia and Jai Rodriguez), have had huge successes in America. The show snags a regular three million viewers each week- a record for Bravo, the company that introduced Queer Eye on July 15th , 2003. Ever since then the show has had huge success, consuming the "Must-See TV" spots of NBC (Bravo's parent company) on Thursday nights. These spots have been reserved for the hottest and most popular television shows on their network. This show's extended success at maintaining a large viewing audience regularly shows that the American mainstream has moved in the network's direction to accept alternate lifestyles. According to the Southern Voice Online, the show has taken off so well here in America that Bravo has licensed the show's concept in Britain and Scandinavia.

The Fab Five have taken their own path from the success of their show. All of them have received a pay increase to follow up with a second season, and some are working on advertising cooperations with other large companies. Filicia has been accepted as the new spokesperson for the Pier 1 retail chain, while Kressley is doing ads for Marshall Field's department stores and recently signed a book deal (Southern Voice Online).

Other advertisers have also jumped on the "homosexual bandwagon". Several large companies have asked to (and paid millions of dollars) to put their ads and commercials on television during the show. The companies desire to "reach a new audience" of Americans by appealing to a mere fraction of the millions that tune in weekly. Big business advertisers feel that the show, and others like it, gives them a whole new way to reach consumers not of the stereotypical American mainstream.

Along with the success of shows like Queer Eye, the media has focused on issues involving homosexual individuals as well. The consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Church has been the focus of many large media groups. The story has been covered and updated by several "big name" media sources like The Washington Post, USA Today, and Newsweek and remains a hot media topic presently. Several of the Episcopal Church's senior members have refused to attend and participate in their services, but the numbers of new attendees has increased quite dramatically. This shift shows that the homosexual movement is gaining progress and American attitudes are beginning to be altered.

This shift in attitudes has also been reflected in much of the recent legislation that has been proposed and approved in the United States concerning homosexuality. Legislation regarding gays in the military and same-sex marriages is some of the most popular topics of the American media within the past few months. Legislation proposed by Assemblyman Mark Leno, who chairs the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus, in February 2004 was approved and allowed gay couples in California to obtain legal marriage licenses. Previously, Californians could register as domestic partners with the state and take on 16 rights and responsibilities, and when recently passed Assembly Bill 205 takes effect next year, that number of specified protections rises significantly ("SF Assemblyman" B2). But Leno noted that Assembly Bill 205 does not grant all of the rights of marriage, nor does it enable domestic partners to qualify for federal protections that married people and their children enjoy.

Some of the most recent homosexuals to take advantage of this beneficial change in the law are as popular as Rosie O'Donnell to average citizens. Rosie O'Donnell traveled from the East Coast to San Francisco, where she and her girlfriend became legally married on February 26, 2004. Another article adorning the "Life" section of the USA Today shared the story of a lesbian couple who met in Seattle in 1950 and have worked their entire lives as lesbian activist leaders (Kornblum 6D). They moved as a couple to San Francisco on Valentine's Day in