Earlier this year, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced that they would start grading studios on their LGBT advocacy, as determined by their political donations to left-wing candidates and willingness to censor LGBT scenes in international markets.
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This decision was made in direct response to Disney’s attempt to enter politics by opposing the state of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law, which bans the teaching of sexuality and transgenderism to children between kindergarten through third grade.
“No company that chooses silence over allyship should receive high scores from LGBTQ organizations while nearly 200 anti-LGBTQ bills advance in states around the country, often targeting transgender youth,” said GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis at the time. “Corporations need to be held accountable for funding politicians that harm LGBTQ people, including their own employees, and for inaction on legislation that they can help defeat.”
A month later, Ellis further called on Hollywood to take meaningful action in improving quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBTQ depictions in the media, especially in kids and family programming.
“I expect every industry executive in this room to join us. GLAAD will give you the playbook,” said Ellis at the April 2022 GLAAD Media Awards. “But we won’t give you a pass.”
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However, despite the organization’s attempts at intimidation, GLAAD’s latest and 10th annual Studio Responsibility Index reports that all seven major film studios failed to receive a passing grade based on these new metrics.
Looking at the percentage of LGBTQ characters featured in Hollywood films in the 2021 calendar year (January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021)., the organization found that only 16 of the 77 films (20.8%) released theatrically by the seven major studios contained LGBTQ characters.
Sony Pictures, United Artists Releasing, Universal Pictures, and The Walt Disney Studios all received a grade of “Insufficient” while Warner Bros. received a grade of “Poor.”
Meanwhile, Lionsgate and Paramount Pictures received the organization’s worst score, “Failing”, due to their films not containing any LGBTQ characters.
Further, after finding zero such representation in Hollywood for the second year in a row, GLAAD also took issue with how “LGBTQ characters with a disability and zero living with HIV remains a part of the LGBTQ community that is severely underrepresented.”
As a result, GLAAD has taken to pushing what they call the ‘Vito Russo Test’ as a rubric for creating more significant and meaningful LGBTQ content in major studio films.
Named after GLAAD founder Vito Russo and taking inspiration from the infamous Bechdel Test, the test can only be passed if all of the following criteria are met:
- The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer.
- That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. they are comprised of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight/cisgender characters from one another).
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- The LGBTQ character must be tied to the plot in such a way that the character’s removal would have a significant effect, meaning the character is not there to simply provide colorful commentary, paint urban authenticity, or set up a punchline. The character must matter.
- The LGBTQ character’s story must not be outwardly offensive (avoids defaulting to well-known tropes or stereotypes with no further development). In films with multiple LGBTQ characters, at least one character must pass this point for the film to pass the test.
“At a time when the LGBTQ community is under unprecedented attacks, it is more important than ever to hold studios and corporations accountable as businesses remain the most trusted entity in the U.S.,” said Ellis of this year’s report.
“This new addition to our methodology tracking corporate actions makes it clear that entertainment and media companies need to expand beyond onscreen representation,” she added. “LGBTQ people deserve to have positive representation reflected in cinemas around the world, and to know that the people and companies who make and market LGBTQ-inclusive films unequivocally stand up for LGBTQ folks.”
