Campus LGBTQ, APA leaders hold talk on stereotypes in the media

Identifying as a lesbian, senior Madeleine Moore said she always used queer TV and movie characters as guides on how to live her life, and that was the one way she felt she should carry her queer identity into that of the public eye.

“Growing up as a young, queer person, I clung to Glee like rubber does to glue,” the community health major said. “I felt like I had to portray these stereotypes on Glee.”

This university’s LGBTQ and Asian-Pacific American leaders hosted a brown-bag event yesterday titled “Minorities in the Media: How LGBTQ/APA Characters are Stereotyped and Why” to discuss how such LGBTQ and APA TV and film characters are depicted as stereotypes onscreen.

Fourteen people showed up for the event in the Office of Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy conference room in Stamp Student Union to have an open discussion regarding why stereotypes exist and how to engage critically with community members and allies.

“I hope everyone got the ability to think a little bit more critically about the characters they see on TV and in movies and really think about the consequences of either sticking with or pushing against stereotypes,” said Moore, who serves as the LGBTQ MICA intern.

More