Out in the Media

When I was growing up in the '70s there weren't any gay role models on TV (at least none that I saw, of course we didn’t have cable, so that could have been the issue, but I kinda doubt it). In the '80's, when I was a teenager, the main thing that you heard about gay people in the media was the AIDS epidemic and how their sinful ways had brought this plague upon them.

My how times have changed! TV shows have out teenagers with supportive parents, love interests and friends that won’t let them get bullied (Glee); mainstream movies are getting Oscar nominations for Lesbian characters whose story line is about having kids with donor sperm (Annette Bening – The Kids are all Right); Facebook games even let you choose 2 female characters as your Valentine’s day love quest.

But there was one article that caught my eye more than all the others. Mainly because it is a true story and for where it was published. A Canadian magazine – Homemakers – ran a contest asking readers to submit a short story titled “I knew it was love when..” And the winner, short listed by the staff, then voted for by the public, is written by a lesbian about how she met her partner and fell in love. How cool is that? You can read it here.

Seeing that our stories can be shared in a national magazine (not a GLBT magazine) and can win based on popular vote, tells me how far we have come as a society. I don’t kid myself that homophobia has been stamped out forever, even here above the 49th parallel. But every main stream story, TV show and movie helps to take away the stigma and normalize the lives of families like mine.