Nydia Holguin

Jennifer Rodrick
Queer Studies 115
Social Media and the LGBT Community
The LGBT community has exponentially grown because of the diversity and the ability to
have a more accepting generation. The reason behind it though would have to be social media
and other exploitations that have contributed from holding specific meets online to face to face
interactions and even social groups to help the community find their people and eventually
generate friendships. Thanks to the development of social media, dating websites for the
community have been introduced. Where members of the community are allowed to feel safe
and a part of something without having to face the judgement all around them from those who
just dont accept. I definitely believe that social media has intervened in a positive way to the
community by helping expand knowledge and awareness to the people who dont have insight to
those that are a part of the community.
The queer community for a very long time have been the underdogs but are slowly pushing
their way of coming out to the public through any advantage presented. Movie productions and
TV productions have had a good run when it comes to inferencing and even hiring members of
the LGBT community. The community can now watch TV shows or movies and see some sort
of member of the community be interpreted through a character in a very positive way now. In
the article, Queer Representation in Media from Media Smarts, outlines the troubles that the
community has suffered through and the process of acknowledgment from being wrongly

represented through stereotypes to the generic right type of gay that people have already
envisioned in their minds such as Frankie James Grande or Jeffree Star. The article mentions,
... it should become apparent that when dealing with LGBT media issues, we are not dealing
with a single monolithic entity, but rather with diverse and varied identities and experiences that
respond to media representations in different ways: what one group may consider fair, others
may find oppressive(Paragraph 5) in which clearly mentions the portrayal of the community
through social media. That people believe that all the members are exactly the same because they
are all homosexual. Not all have the same interests as others who are as well part of the
community allowing people to assume some opinions that may have generated the wrong ideas
about this social group. The article contains a list that display many guidelines in which people
should take into consideration when contributing the community in media. This list of principles
may help and correct the ideology of the queer community or better the media in general. One
main principle would have to be, Media contain ideological and value messages, and with that
comes the interpretation of the audience and the influence that these people take out of what they
have witnessed. With more and more celebrity homosexuals coming out to the public eye the
more expansion the community receives, and with the spread of support by such public role
models many may help correct the views that some people have misinterpreted from this
minority group.
For many reasons the internet has become this accessible place where you learn, identify,
and acknowledge the newest trending topics or history from all over the world. Whether its
Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, or YouTube these social media enterprises help the community by
exploiting the positivity and information people need to have to obtain an open mind to every

human individual without prejudice. In 2010 the campaign It Gets Better came to surface after
two American teenage boys Justin Aaberg and Billy Lucas were bullied for being gay. This
campaign was started by Dan Savage a member of the community to try and connect with other
people suffering through discrimination by contributing his own struggles to the public to try and
get them to connect to his rejection and make them feel supported and not alone. With the eight
minute video shown on the top of the essay, is an example of how social media indicates one of
many beneficial ways to expose the reality of what LGBT members go through. Contributions
were made to help and show support from celebrities (seen in the video above) who are part of
the community or are allies toward the community as well. Additionally ordinary people that go
through or went through bullying, misunderstandings and so forth want their voice to be heard
and express encouragement to those that are suffering and that need a friend who understands.
Another example of how social media may help from the article Social Media and the
LGBT Community, in which explains the banning of suspected or intentional promotion of
homosexuality. In Russia June 2013, this banning law of LGBT publication brought awareness
to people all over the world. This advertisement resulted in fines as well as jail time for those
who were to violate this law. As word got around, a group of Dutch tourists while filming a
documentary were arrested for promoting homosexuality (Paragraph 8). In July 2013, after a
young man uploaded an online petition to exploit the men responsible for the law people began
to boycott products from Russia from companies that did not support the LGBT community.
This uprising was contributed from celebrities exposing articles of Russia on Twitter to stop
some unnecessary hate from confused confined people that are not allowing those to be

themselves without being hated especially with having to go to the extent where it becomes a law
to defy promotion of something that you are born to be.
In When Youre a Gay Boy in America by Danny Zaccagnino from the book The Full
Spectrum the author writes about how he, as well as any LGBT member, needs to have tough
skin because of all the hatred and rejection that suffer on an everyday basis. He, as a fifteen year
old teenager, speaks out about having to accumulate a tough skin because of the hate that he as
received due to his sexuality. The comments and the accusations toward him became the scars
from feelings he had already endured and eventually became this numbing of the pain that was
inflicted through these words. The way that he talks about social media is through a personal
experience on a dating website in where he explains that it is the only place in which he feels like
he belongs and where he wont be judged because everyone on there is like him and looking for
someone to have and share love. When meeting a possible candidate of his love from the dating
website he mentions, I was attracted to the darkness and the novelty of this whole meeting I
guess I didnt know how much I was craving this until I got it (34). By mentioning the craving
and curiosity of meeting someone like him, he portrays the need of attention from someone that
he can relate with. Everyone regardless of sexuality needs a partner whether its a friendship or a
romantic relationship. No person should have to feel afraid to find love without the internet.
Which clearly shows that the social media allows the community and any other rejects of society
to find partners and groups of people that are accepting without going through a process of being
accepted. The feeling of being isolated prevents a person to really go out and become the person
that their heart desires. The internet is an open field of many voices waiting to be heard. People
have fallen in love online through social media and their stories have been read inspiring others

that it may happen to anyone. Another story in The Full Spectrum titles A Story Called Her by
Alison Young gives an example of how she meets a girl online that she eventually falls in love
with but the fear of rejection keeps her from telling her the feeling that she has been having
towards her best friend. The internet allows her to expose her feelings without directly telling her
which ends with her feelings being reciprocated and both being content.
However, as much as there are positives there are misfortunes as well. From having a
type of identify fraud or most common to society, attacks like cyberbullying but
reinforcements have shown they are doing everything to enforce laws and consequences to
prevent discrimination online and fraud. Here is what police had to say among a user profile
policy Facebook had enforced, The policy, designed to encourage online accountability and
combat harassment and fraud, required users to use their legal names when creating their profile.
For some members of the LGBT community and other social groups, using their legal name
could open them up to persecution and discrimination from coworkers, family members, and
more,(Plummer). The fraud to this social group is to save themselves the prejudice and
misunderstanding of the community. Online interactions, to most, is the only way to make
friends, to make ties to people that may not have the chance to meet in person or even to
encourage people that coming out is ok. Thats where the publicity of such actions come to
surface and attract people outside of the community that want to end the discrimination and
generalization amongst the group.
Overall the use of technology all over the world has helped and will continue to help the
people with closed minds begin to accept the members of the LGBT community. The LGBT
community have raised awareness and people are becoming to understand what it means to be

part of such a secluded misinterpreted community. They hold parades all over the world from LA
Pride to New York Pride from having Argentina allow same sex marriage in 2010 to the U.S in
2015 to even more recently Columbia in 2016 people are becoming attentive to issues that are
affecting an entire society and becoming involved in trying to make a difference.

Work Cited Page (in order)

1.

"Queer Representation in the Media." Mediasmarts.ca. N.p., n.d. Web.

<http://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/queer-representation/queer-representation-media>.
2.

Glasionova, Esther, Rita Hage, Luke Stevenson, and Madeline Tallman. "Social Media

and the LGBT Community." The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. N.p., n.d.
Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.salzburg.umd.edu/unesco/social-media-and-lgbt-community>.
3.

Levithan, David, and Billy Merrell. The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing

about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities. New York:
Knopf, 2006. Print.
4.

Diep, Francie. "How Well Are Queer Americans Represented in Media?" Pacific

Standard. N.p., 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

<https://psmag.com/how-well-are-queer-americans-represented-in-media-8077539fbfc2#.rn727f
eu6>.

5.

Christopher Plummer. "Social Media Putting LGBT Communities at Risk: Facebook."

Human Rights First. HRF Blog, 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/social-media-putting-lgbt-communities-risk-facebook>.
6.

Liu, Joseph. "Gay Marriage Around the World." Pew Research Center's Religion Public

Life Project RSS. N.p., 26 June 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.

<http://www.pewforum.org/2015/06/26/gay-marriage-around-the-world-2013/>.