Real Visibility

As I was growing up, my mom always supported the LGBTQ+ movement and raised me to understand the struggles this community has faced. I have come to understand my experience is rare. However, as accepting as this mentality was it didn't stop me from repressing my own feelings related to identity and sexuality. I still am trying to navigate those feelings in a world that is quite oppressive for LGBTQ+ folks - even though their has been some advances over the years. Additionally, I've had to acknowledge it is a privilege to be able to explore privately because on the outside I present as a white, cis-gendered, straight, woman who is currently in a long term relationship with a man. I'm able to look at the LGBTQ+ movement's history and see people who may look like me and I can look to the media for relatable representations of queerness. For folks of color who may identify as queer they often lack visibility in these spaces due to white supremacy and biases even within the LGBTQ+ community.

This lack of visibility has major implications for our youth and others who consume media. Yes, there are shows like Modern Family and Will and Grace that seek to explore Queer themes - but they seem to focus on a very specific experience. The white experience. There have been some exceptions such as Orange is The New Black, but even this show fell victim to a common trope of killing off major queer characters. Even when LGBTQ+ characters are represented they often "fall victim to stereotypes" which focus on coming out or being the "gay best friend" *cough*cough* Sex and the City. With all the strides we claim to be making - racial diversity within the media was down 2% in 2017 compared to 2016 and 77% of LGBTQ+ characters are white with about half being portrayed by men (Gutowitz, 2017). We all know the media feels comfortable with white gay men - and its why they have the most visibility, they are the "least threatening".

Why is visibility important? What are the effects of not seeing your identity represented within mainstream media? Well, for one, higher media exposure levels foster more accepting attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community (Gonta, et al., 2017). We tend to fear what we do not understand - with more representation in the media more people, specifically youth, may have the opportunity to engage with queer themes and explore their own identity and or attitudes towards homosexuality. Additionally, Gillig and Murphy (2016) conduced an online quasi-experiment of 469 participants, ages 13–21, which revealed "that gender identity and sexual orientation influenced viewers’ emotional involvement with the storyline and identification with the characters, which was associated with a change in attitudes. For LGBTQ youth, the story evoked hope and fostered positive attitudes".

There is a lot to be gained by having queer people of color represented in the media - so what is taking so long? In California, we tend to think of ourselves as "progressive" especially in the Bay Area and San Francisco - and yes there are many LGBTQ+ folks who live and occupy these spaces and feel safe doing so. However, the issues folks may face depend on where they are facing them and allies they may or may not have in those spaces. (AMCD Webinar, 2016). Alan Pelaez Lopez (2016) a journalist for "Everyday Feminist" states that, "The LGBTQIA+ movement is not for me because I don’t have the privilege to fight for a singled-issue movement." Lopez goes on to discuss that they have faced oppression and stigma within the LGBTQ+ community towards their other identities (black, low-income, and formally undocumented). Lopez states unapologetically that, "if one single person in our community is oppressed, we will never reach liberation."

Our LGBTQ+ youth are facing new challenges and are fighting back with everything they have. They are still baring the same wounds of many generations before us - even with visibility increasing. According to 2011 National School Climate Survey 81.9% of queer youth report verbal harassment, 38.3% report physical harassment, and 18.3% report physical assault at school in relation to their identity (K. M. Goodrich et al., 2013). These numbers may be even higher in some areas and other forms of violence may go unreported.

The lack of intersectionality that exists in movements such as feminism and LGBTQ+ has major implications for the youth we serve as school counselors. Are we pushing ourselves in our Grad programs to seek the knowledge and tools that are available to better serve our youth? How can we explain/validate experiences they may have if we do not understand the impact of our own actions or inactions? It is more than knowing how to write and talk about social justice its about taking real action within the communities we seek to support (AMCD Webinar, 2016). Its about educating ourselves and fighting along side our youth and advocating for their rights. Its about providing spaces to discuss intersectionality to produce real understanding.

References

AMCD Webinar: Counseling queer people of color. (2016, February 8). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKU7mqWY18

Gillig, T., & Murphy, S. (2016). Fostering support for LGBTQ youth? The effects of a gay adolescent media portrayal on young viewers. International Journal of Communication, 10, 3828–3850. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/5496/1741

Gonta, G., Hansen, S., Fagin, C., & Fong, J. (2017). Changing media and changing minds: Media exposure and viewer attitudes toward homosexuality. Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research, 5. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/pjcr/vol5/iss1/5

Goodrich, K. M., Harper, A. J., Luke, M., & Singh, A. A. (2013). Best Practices for Professional School Counselors Working with LGBTQ Youth. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 7(4), 307-322. doi:10.1080/15538605.2013.839331

Gutowitz, J. (2017, November 10). LGBTQ representation on TV still sucks. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne3kdk/lgbtq-representation-on-tv-still-sucks

Lopez, A. (2016, December 19). 5 ways the LGBTQIA+ movement fails at intersectionality. Retrieved from https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/12/lgbtqia-fails-at-intersectionality/