GLAAD takes aim at Hollywood studios, says movies are still missing LGBT representation

While LGBT actors and characters are making strides on the small screen, GLAAD released a damning report showing how little the community is represented on the big screen. The gay rights group said that even when LGBT characters are in films, they are often stereotypical portrayals if they are on screen for more than a minute.

GLAAD’s 2014 Studio Responsibility Index study was released Tuesday and shows that only 17 of the 103 releases from the major studios in 2013 featured any LGBT characters.

The group blasted Hollywood for squandering an opportunity to foster more positive views of the LGBT community around the world. Instead, GLAAD suggests that the studios would rather be safe and not feature gay and lesbian characters to avoid trouble overseas.

After last year’s study, GLAAD said it spoke with Hollywood executives, who complained that they weren’t seeing enough scripts with LGBT characters. However, writers told GLAAD that studios won’t make movies with LGBT characters.

“The truth is probably somewhere between these two accusations, but if one thing is certain, it’s that nothing will change until there are significant cultural shifts within the industry itself,” GLAAD wrote. “And the impetus for that may lie in the second most common question we heard: ‘Why is television doing so much better?’”

Only one studio received “good” rating and that was Sony. Warner Bros. and Paramount both had “failing” marks, while Universal, Disney and 20th Century Fox are “adequate.” The mini-major studio Lionsgate also got an “adequate” rating.

Some of the films GLAAD was particularly disgusted with was Warner’s Hangover Part III and Paramount’s Pain & Gain.

image of ‘Hangover’ cast courtesy of INFphoto.com

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