This year marks the 51st anniversary of the celebration of PRIDE month in the U.S. There’s 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 Bureau’s America’s 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%.
À medida que a comunidade LGBTQ aumenta sua presença, não há dúvida de que a conectividade digital talvez seja o fator mais influente no avanço da comunidade LGBTQ. Ela reduziu o isolamento, criou espaços seguros para a autoexpressão, ofereceu oportunidades para conectar uma comunidade díspar e proporcionou fácil acesso a recursos educacionais e conteúdo com curadoria. A tecnologia também proporcionou à comunidade um lugar para ser vista de forma autêntica. De serviços de televisão e streaming a podcasts e serviços de música, o desenvolvimento e o acesso a conteúdo e talentos LGBTQ aumentaram exponencialmente.
A conectividade digital criou uma comunidade que entende de tecnologia e tem propensão para o envolvimento digital. Como resultado, o streaming de vídeo surgiu como um importante veículo de consumo de conteúdo com conteúdo personalizado. Embora o streaming faça parte da vida cotidiana de todos os americanos, 85% das pessoas LBGTQ afirmam ter usado um serviço de streaming de vídeo nos últimos 30 dias, em comparação com 74% da população em geral. Entre esses serviços, o YouTube é um dos principais serviços de streaming entre o público LGBTQ, cujo uso dessa plataforma supera o do público em geral em 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. Análise de inclusão do 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 2020—a 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.
Por plataforma, em 2020, os dados do Gracenote Inclusion Analytics revelam que a transmissão de televisão e o vídeo sob demanda por assinatura (SVOD) tiveram a maior representação de talentos queer (7%), seguidos por cabo (6%). Com a maior representatividade de talentos queer, o SVOD atende muito bem ao público com conteúdo significativo que repercute, tornando mais fácil para o público queer encontrar uma programação relevante. Esse aumento na representação indica mais oportunidades para os talentos LGBTQ e mais abertura entre o setor e o público para abraçar narrativas diversificadas.
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 narratives—shaping 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 e present.
Additional Resources
Learn more about LGBTQ audiences and families, as well as their viewing behaviors.
