The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) compared films and TV in an annual report. GLAAD's determined the amount of LGBT characters were far less in films than in TV. GLAAD released the report on Wednesday and stated their disappointment.
According The Associated Press GLAAD said, "Major studios appear reluctant to include LGBT characters in significant roles or franchises."
The report stated that the many films released only had a handful of LGBT characters, and of those the characters, none were part of a main story arc. Wilson Cruz, GLAAD's national spokesperson, said in an interview: "Until LGBT characters appear more regularly in these studio films, there will be the appearance of bias."
According to theThe Los Angeles Times GLAAD gave Fox and Disney failing grades because so few of their films contained LGBT characters, if any. GLAAD offered the other four studios more favorable rankings, but they didn't score excellent marks.
GLAAD published two reports this year that examined television and LGBT dynamics. One report was the Network Responsibility Index. This index is similar to the Studio Responsibility Index, but it measures television trends.The report stated that the number of LGBT characters in television was at very high level.
Wilson Cruz said, "Hollywood films are one of the country's most visible cultural exports. They not only impact culture in our country, but in other places too…" He added that "it is a very timely report" when mentioning global trends regarding LGBTs, like anti-gay legislation.
Cruz said GLAAD is "hoping that the same thing that happened in the TV industry happens in the film industry." Cruz himself was an actor, who played gay high school student on My So-Called Life.. Matt Kane the associate director of entertainment at GLAAD, said the television industry had made great strides in the last decade and continues to do so. He only hopes that Hollywood studios would emulate television's actions.