GLAAD Slams Superhero Movies For Not Being Gay Enough

Brittany M. Hughes | May 25, 2018
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Remember that time Captain America threw on a feather boa and glittered some Nazis to death to the rockin’ tune of “It’s Raining Men”?

Yeah, me neither. And for LGBT activists, that’s apparently a problem.

LGBT activist group GLAAD (which originally stood for – deep breath – the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) slammed Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros., which produce Marvel movies and DC Comic flicks, respectively, for not including enough gay characters and storylines into their popular superhero flicks.

“We continually hope that future superhero films will include substantial queer characters. While more out comic book characters are making the leap from the page to television, mainstream hero films are still cutting them from the big screen,” GLAAD said in their latest Studio Responsibility Index, which tracks the number of gay-inclusive Hollywood productions.

“On screen, record-breaking films like Black Panther and Wonder Woman prove that not only does inclusion make for great stories — inclusion is good for the bottom line,” the report added. “It is time for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) stories to be included in this conversation and this movement.”

“In 2017, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and DC’s Wonder Woman both included characters who are queer in the source material, but did not include any on screen confirmation of their identities. This must change going forward,” GLAAD continued.

Hear that, kids? It’s not enough to include “queer” characters in your action flicks. It’s only satisfactory if two dudes are macking on one another in the film’s opening credits.

The group also criticized makers of children’s movies for not displaying enough gay-ness, saying flicks like “Power Rangers,” “Captain Underpants” and “Finding Dory” could have more strongly featured gay and lesbian characters. And while last year's live-action rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" featured both a trans character and a gay one, those appearances weren't nearly front-and-center enough for GLAAD's taste.

To resolve this alleged disparity, GLAAD demanded studios “make sure that 20% of annual major studio releases include LGBTQ characters by 2021, and that 50% of films include LGBTQ characters by 2024.”

Despite LGBT folks making up less than 5 percent of the entire population.

Maybe GLAAD should partner with Vox Media, which thinks the lack of female superheroes with ponytails is sexist.

This is why we can't have nice things.

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