To make a change upon the lives of homeless queer youth in our nation, we need to raise awareness amongst the public. However, we must ask ourselves this question- what is the level of awareness that we need to raise in order to create an impact? A report from CBS Eyewitness News covered the topic of LGBTQ youth out on the streets, as well as a few people who try to provide support for them. This report attempted to cover this topic in approximately five minutes. I do not believe that a mere five minutes could even come close to saying anything about the broken life of a boy who was thrown out of his house at the age of seventeen. Through the analysis of the “Homosexuality and American Society” article, as well as the “Monster, Terrorist, Fag” article, I argue that the media does not provide enough coverage for homeless queer youth, due to the anti-gay sentiments that have pervaded our society for so long.
I believe that our society and culture have always privileged heterosexuals over homosexuals, and for this reason, the media is generally reluctant and ambivalent towards broadcasting about the LGBTQ community. In the article “Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview,” John D'Emilio takes us on a journey through the annals of our nation's history, focusing on the way that society has treated homosexuals. During the World War II era, we feared anyone who was foreign, deviant, and of course, gay. The author states that “...most Americans at that time [would not] have considered the treatment accorded homosexuals and lesbians a form of social persecution” (D'Emilio 10). People were getting beaten, evicted from their homes, and forced into mental institutions against their will, yet somehow, society managed to turn a blind eye to all of this. D'Emilio also talks about the “medical model,” a pathetic attempt by the public to understand the homosexual identity. The medical model labeled homosexuality as a disease or a flaw that can be cured, “...[reinforcing] the cultural matrix that condemned and punished persons who engaged in homosexual activity”(D'Emilio 17). Society also made it difficult for homosexuals to “come out,” doing everything in its power to eliminate an entire identity. This social persecution, to me, is in itself almost a form of identity genocide. Homosexuals in the contemporary world are much more liberated; however, society still refuses to fully accept the LGBTQ community. The “Monster, Terrorist, Fag” article supports the idea that American society still fosters anti-gay sentiments, especially after September 11th. After the 9/11 attacks, a surge of patriotism swept over the nation. However, this so-called sense of patriotism was also intertwined with the upholding “...of heteronormativity, [and] white supremacy...” (Puar and Rai 117). In a world that was not too different from the one that D'Emilio described in his article, post-9/11 America became hostile towards anybody who wore a turban, or was simply different from the “ideal,” Aryan, heterosexual person. It seemed as if this country embarked on a crusade to fight against anything was different from the norm, lumping Sikhs, homosexuals, and other deviants into one single category. Such deeply-entrenched aggression within our society, therefore, makes it difficult for the media to take a stronger stance towards helping the members of the LGBTQ community such as homeless queer youth.
The news report mentions a few people who provide support for the denomination of homeless queer youth, such as Barbara Poppe (Executive Director of the U.S. Council on Homelessness). However, there is no mentioning of the CBS news network itself donating money or doing anything else to support the cause. The report states that a “shocking” 20 to 40% of the approximately two million homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Apparently, people are startled by this statistic because a link between teen homosexuality and homelessness is usually unheard of, thanks to the lack of media representation.
D'Emilio, John. Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1983. Print.
Heffernan, Danny. "CBS Affiliate in Miami Reports on Homeless LGBT Youth." GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). GLAAD Blog, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://www.glaad.org/blog/cbs-affiliate-miami-reports-homeless-lgbt-youth>.
Puar, Jasbir K., and Amit S. Rai. "Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism and the Production of Docile Patriots." Social Text 20.3 72 (2002): 117-48. Print.
I totally agree that the lack of media coverage of homeless queer youth can be traced back to the anti-gay sentiments rooted in American culture. Similarly, I want to argue that the insufficient media coverage of transgender people is also due to their low position in both sexual hierarchy and gay communities in history.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Riki Wilchins, 20 years ago, transpeople were gay (45). As homosexuals, transpeople had also been stigmatized as sinful and diseased before gender reassignment was available. However, when they were able to change their bodies, they immediately became the non-normative in gay communities. Wilchins stated that for both political and social reasons, gay communities have prioritized sexual orientation in a way that is “completely removed from gender expression” (46). This separation between sexual orientation and gender expression has not only led to the ignorance of transpeople and their voices, but also generated much tension between the two groups. Halberstam notes that gays and lesbians feel betrayed by transpeople and fear that “transsexualism represents a homophobic restoration of gender normativity” (9). Throughout the history, transpeople has been marginalized in both a heterosexual society and gay communities. It’s clear that this double discriminations result in transpeople’s invisibility in media, a propaganda machine which only serves the agendas of privileged groups.
Works Cited
Wilkins, Riki. “Deconstructing Trans.”
Halberstam, Judith. “Butch/FTM Border Wars and the Masculine Continuum.” Female Musculity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 1998. Web. 29 Feb 2012.
Mason Hill
ReplyDeleteI agree that queer youth in America have not been fairly represented in the mainstream topics in today’s media coverage. It is a detriment to our society and to the LGBTQ community when limited coverage of the queer adolescent subgroup focuses on queer youth being excommunicated from families rather than efforts to support them. Mary Gray discusses space in her article and how queer youth need to find a space that “constitutes the public” (51). Although these individuals are shunned from their families and now homeless, I feel like it is better that they are out and proud about who they are in public space rather than in the closet in the private area of their old, homophobic living environment. With this in mind, queer homeless shelters can be a way for adolescents to meet other LGBTQ young adults and begin to see that they do belong to a larger community. Thus, although the media does not portray homeless queer youth in a compassionate light, I argue that queer youth homeless shelters can be a space where they can begin to feel accepted and further enhance their understanding of themselves.
Gray, Mary L. “From Websites to Wal-Mart: Youth, Identity Work, and Queering of Boundary Publics in Small Town, USA.” American Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2.