GLAAD Report On LGBT Representation In Film: It's Not Getting Better

GLAAD's fifth annual report on Hollywood films found few meaningful roles for lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender characters during the 2016 calendar year.

GLAAD found 23 of the 125 films that it counted featured an LGBT character last year, an increase from 2015 with 14 such characters. But only 9 of these characters passed the group's “Vito Russo Test” named after one of its co-founders. To pass the test, characters cannot be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity and must be “tied into the plot in such a way that their removal would have a significant effect.” Eight of last year's 14 characters passed the test, a higher percentage than in 2016.

Universal Pictures received the highest mark, rating “insufficient.” 20^th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros earned a “poor” rating, while Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios earned a “failing” mark.

“It's not getting better,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told Variety. “The bars are not being moved.”

GLAAD's 2017 Studio Responsibility Index found only one transgender character. “Transgender representation remains abysmally low, with only one transgender character counted, the same number as the 2015 report, and once again the character was used [as] a punchline in Zoolander 2,” the group wrote.

“With many of the most popular TV shows proudly including LGBTQ characters and stories, the time has come for the film industry to step up and show the full diversity of the world that movie audiences are living in today instead and end the outdated humor seen in many films,” said Ellis. “Films like ‘Moonlight’ prove there is a huge opportunity to not only tell LGBTQ stories worthy of Oscar gold, but to open the hearts and minds of audiences here and around the world in places where these stories can be a lifeline to the people who need it most.”