BBC & LGBT

A new study published by the BBC reveals that the LGBT community is underrepresented in the broadcaster's programming.

Also, 1 in 5 people feel uncomfortable seeing gays and lesbians on TV.  Well guess what, we get uncomfortable seeing all the straight fucks on TV.  It makes us want to vomit-- so suck on that!!

PinkNewsUK details:  

The corporation began the research last April, after a series of unfortunate incidents in which it was accused of sanctioning homophobia.

The most notorious of these was an online debate titled "Should homosexuals face execution?," while another was an offensive segment on the bisexual actress Lindsay Lohan.

The BBC was also criticised for allowing Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles to mock gay people, while a recent Stonewall report found that only 44 seconds of 39 hours of footage portrayed gay people in a positive and realistic light.

Today's research was the culmination of audience research with 2,000 people and a public consultation which received more than 9,000 responses.

Gay and straight people were consulted, including some who were described as being "uncomfortable" with any portrayal of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The vast majority of respondents (70 per cent) thought that there is insufficient portrayal of lesbian, gay and bisexual people across the BBC, although 37 per cent of LGB people rated the content they did see as good. However, 24 per cent said it was poor.

The opinions of heterosexual people were detailed extensively in the research. The majority were comfortable with portrayals of gay people, although they were less likely to be concerned about positive and realistic depictions.

However, just over one in ten of all respondents thought that there was too much portrayal of gay people on the BBC. Eighteen per cent were 'uncomfortable' or 'very uncomfortable' about seeing gay people on television.

LGB respondents said they wanted to see more depictions of lesbians and bisexual people on the BBC, along with fewer stereotypical portrayals of gay men.

They cited news as an important area, saying that care should be taken to ensure people's sexuality was mentioned only when necessary.

In drama, they said they wanted to see realistic storylines around gay and lesbian relationships, albeit ones which did not just revolve around characters' sexual orientation.

LGB respondents pointed to the need for clarity in comedy which references gay people. They said that comedy scenes in which jokes were made at the expense of LGB people could be seen as unchallenged homophobia.