Homosexuality and Society

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, although tradition has often held that homosexuality was an aberration, something to be feared and shunned, times are changing. It looks at how gay culture has become increasingly more visible and considered more valid due to high profile individuals, movements, and trends made accessible through various types of media. It shows how the ever-visible presence of homosexuality is challenging traditional views, changing what society considers an acceptable lifestyle and how these societal alterations are observed in the media, the church, government, and economics in a time when gay culture has become an integral part of pop culture and mass society, in general.

From the Paper:

"There seems to be a need for token homosexual character on all sit-coms currently on the air. This incessant need for a gay presence may be to prove that the show is, in a sense, current and cool. Greenman (1998) outlines the chronology of gay appearance in television. The first major gay character on television appeared in the seventies, when Billy Crystal played the character Jodie Dallas on the program "Soap." However, the presence of his character on the show was only due to the fact that his homosexuality was seen as a problem. The eighties saw attempts of legitimacy for gay characters on television, which often did not succeed. AIDS became a prominent health threat for the gay populace, and homosexually then took a turn towards drama on television."

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