Opinion: Gay TV Takeover?

Originally posted on ww.lgf.org.uk

Last week Brian Sewell hit the headlines after his attack on Coronation Street for its apparent unrealistic portrayal of homosexual characters within the soap, believing that there were too many. 

In his article Sewell wrote, “Is it true that the lives of heterosexual Mancunians are haplessly intertwined with transvestites, transsexuals, teenage lesbians and a horde of homosexuals across the age range? Is Manchester now the Sodom of the North?”

Well the answer to this is yes, and it’s not just up North where the lives of people from the LGB&T community have mixed with people of the heterosexual community, it’s happening all over Britain, as believe it or not in the 21st century people are out and proud and it is ok to be gay.

Sewell Mentioned in his column that there were far too many people from the LGB&T community in Coronation Street considering that only 6 percent of the population are gay.

How does he know this? How does anybody know this? That 6 percent is an estimation of how many gay people there are in the UK, as there is no official way of finding out the sexual orientation of many people, and with news items like this still being written in 2011 we may never know.

Think about it, in today’s day and age how much do we really know about the people living on our streets? 

If you’re like me, and most people in the UK today, then the answer is not a lot, so no one knows how many homosexuals are in fact living in one area, the only reason we know this on soaps is because we are given a window into the characters lives.

What is even more infuriating is the notion that having a few gay characters living in Coronation Street is deemed far-fetched or unbelievable, yet the thought of having serial killers pop up every few years is deemed perfectly fine. Tell me how many serial killers have lived on your street over the last 10 years? I can assure you it wont be as many as Coronation Street or any other soap has had. Well lets hope not anyway.

Eastenders has also come under criticism recently and wasn’t spared when it came to this article last week. The show caused outrage for showing two men in bed together, who were apparently naked (the horror), with people saying it should be shown after the watershed, but why? This is just a normal portrayal of a gay relationship. I can assure you I have seen heterosexual couples in bed together that are seemingly naked on several occasions over the years and not once have I heard uproar over that.

Apparently these people who are complaining are just thinking of the children, but how can they be thinking about the children when they want a true portrayal of a gay relationship banned until after the watershed? Surely they are just enforcing homophobic prejudices upon their children and telling them that if they are gay and lie in bed naked together with someone of the same sex then it’s a sin, where as being naked in bed with someone of the opposite sex is fine.

The recent teenage lesbian storyline shown on Coronation Street has had a significant impact on young people across the UK who are struggling with coming to terms with their sexuality, and it has shown them that being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, and we haven’t seen a sudden rise in teenage lesbians because of it have we? No, so what’s the problem?

According to Sewell there’s a new book called Primetime Propaganda by Benjamin Shapio, which argues that an exclusively liberal TV establishment shapes taste, style, politics and family life and attitudes, and complains that gay writers, directors and actors admit to promoting their own gay rights agendas.

Fair enough, maybe the writers and directors are using elements of Coronation Street to show gay characters and by doing this they are helping to portray members of the LGB&T community in a positive light, but to suggest propaganda just makes it sound as though some people haven’t progressed very much in the last 50 years.

On a final note, surely by attacking the soap and saying there are too many gay characters and suggesting that certain scenes should be shown after the watershed, isn’t the whole article that started this debate working as a piece of homophobic propaganda?