In a new report out the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD claims that most major Hollywood studio films either totally avoid our community or they ensure that LGBT figures are simply the butts of jokes or putdowns. In 2014, for example, only 17 of more than 100 studio releases included lesbian, gay or bisexual characters, and most of those roles amounted to little more than cameos. Movies like 'Get Hard,' 'Ted 2' or 'The Wolf of Wall Street' blatantly use homophobic terms or use gay characters as easy sport for really bad and offensive jokes.
GLAAD have now released an online video campaign called 'Hollywood Must Do Better' to highlight the unfair treatment of LGBT characters in major Hollywood films using a collection of clips from some of the worst offenders. A disclaimer at the beginning of the video reads "People around the world love going to the movies, but for LGBT people, entertainment often comes at their expense."
GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis warned that the film industry was in danger of being left behind – by failing to mirror the progress made by ground-breaking TV shows such as 'Transparent' and 'Orange is the New Black'. She added “As television and streaming services continue to produce a remarkable breadth of diverse LGBT representations, we still struggle to find depictions anywhere near as authentic or meaningful in mainstream Hollywood film.”
