This year marks the 51st anniversary of the celebration of PRIDE month in the U.S. Thereโs a lot for the LGBTQ community to celebrate in 2021, just one year after PRIDE parades and celebrations were cancelled in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. The strength and size of the community is more visible than ever. For the first time in 2019, the U.S. Census Bureauโs Americaโs Families and Living Arrangements included estimates of same-sex households, showing 543,000 same-sex married households, and a Gallup study recently noted that LGBT identification has risen to 5.6%.
Seiring dengan berkembangnya komunitas LGBTQ, tidak diragukan lagi bahwa konektivitas digital mungkin merupakan faktor yang paling berpengaruh dalam kemajuan komunitas LGBTQ. Hal ini telah mengurangi isolasi, menciptakan ruang yang aman untuk mengekspresikan diri, menawarkan kesempatan untuk menghubungkan komunitas yang berbeda dan telah memberikan akses mudah ke sumber daya pendidikan dan konten yang dikurasi. Teknologi juga telah memberikan komunitas ini tempat untuk dilihat secara otentik. Dari televisi dan layanan streaming hingga podcast dan layanan musik, pengembangan dan akses ke konten dan bakat LGBTQ telah meningkat secara eksponensial.
Konektivitas digital telah memupuk komunitas yang melek teknologi dengan kecenderungan terhadap keterlibatan digital. Akibatnya, streaming video telah muncul sebagai sarana konsumsi konten yang penting dan hidup dengan konten yang dipesan lebih dahulu. Meskipun streaming merupakan bagian dari kehidupan sehari-hari bagi semua orang Amerika, 85% orang LBGTQ melaporkan bahwa mereka telah menggunakan layanan streaming video dalam 30 hari terakhir, dibandingkan dengan 74% untuk populasi umum. Di antara layanan-layanan tersebut, YouTube merupakan layanan streaming yang paling populer di kalangan pemirsa LGBTQ, yang penggunaan platform ini melebihi pemirsa umum sebesar 34%.
For LGBTQ people, sexual orientation discrimination and religious persecution is still a concern in many parts of the world. Social media channels have empowered the community to organize and connect online, leading to heavy social media use when compared to the total population. Flexing their social muscle within online communities, more than 40% spend 3 or more hours per day on social media and are 44% more likely to have spent 5+ hours a day on social media. The Queer community is further driving culture as content creators. This community is 30% more likely to have used Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter in the last month than the general population. Given the reach and power of these platforms, the industry as well as advocacy organizations have acted to ensure that social media platforms are safe spaces for inclusive content and dialogue. Earlier this year, GLAAD launched the Social Media Safety Index, encouraging the industry to fight the anti-LGBTQ hate speech and misinformation so prevalent in the social media landscape.
As the community expands its footprint in social content development, curated theatrical and episodic content is the next frontier in the march for equality. Representation in movies, television shows, and ads can help fight bias where too often stories are centered around violence toward the LGBTQ community or a stereotypical portrayal. The fact is, LGBTQ storylines and characters have grown in on-screen presence over the years, but only recently have we seen an increase in representation of this identity group at the talent level. Analisis Inklusi Gracenote data showed that 26% of the top 300 programs in 2019 had representation of individual cast members who self-identify as LGBTQ. That number has increased to 29% in 2020โa small shift in the right direction. Equally important are the platforms where visibility occurs. LGBTQ stories and talent are becoming more easy to find across the television landscape.
Berdasarkan platform, pada tahun 2020, data Gracenote Inclusion Analytics mengungkapkan bahwa televisi siaran dan video-on-demand (SVOD) berlangganan memiliki representasi paling banyak talenta queer (7%), diikuti oleh kabel (6%). Dengan representasi talenta queer tertinggi, SVOD melayani pemirsa dengan konten yang bermakna dan beresonansi, sehingga memudahkan pemirsa queer untuk menemukan program yang relevan. Peningkatan representasi ini menunjukkan lebih banyak kesempatan bagi talenta LGBTQ dan lebih banyak keterbukaan di antara industri dan pemirsa yang merangkul penceritaan yang beragam.
Early this year, when the House of Representatives passed the amendment to the Equality Act, it would not only expand discrimination protections, but also support public dialogue about LGBTQ people’s lived experiences and how they are reflected and included in content. From the inclusion of authentic storylines in mainstream romance genres, to increasing transgender and nonbinary visibility, civil rights dialogue has opened the door for narrativesโshaping not only what stories are told but how they end, and whether or not that includes marriage or family.
Defining gender and sexual identities and fighting the erasure of those identities, LGBTQ people and allies have worked to accelerate acceptance. This PRIDE month is a reminder to support and celebrate a community who is proud dan present.
Sumber Daya Tambahan
Learn more about LGBTQ audiences and families, as well as their viewing behaviors.
