Think Hollywood Is LGBT Friendly? This Super-Cut of Popular Movies Says Otherwise

Those watching last weekend’s Emmy Awards might have turned off their TVs thinking that Hollywood has done a great job featuring and celebrating diverse characters. While more TV series are showcasing LGBT characters in a genuine and thoughtful way, major Hollywood films are still relying on gay jokes for laughs.

Those racking their brains for the last time they heard “fag” from the mouth of a Hollywood A-lister need look no further than this super-cut from GLAAD. Titled “Hollywood: Do Better,” the two-minute clip packs in dozens of slurs, jokes, and violence directed toward LGBT characters from popular films released in the past five years, such as The Other Woman, Get Hard, and Ted 2.

“This is so surprising, because Hollywood has this reputation as being sort of a liberal mecca,” Matt Kane, the director of entertainment media for GLAAD, told TakePart. While Hollywood may fancy itself progressive, anti-LGBT language indicates that not only does the film industry have a long way to go but also that it is complicit in perpetuating intolerance.

“Repeated use of these words suggests that they’re an acceptable part of the lexicon,” said Kane. “Especially for younger people who might be emulating more that they see in pop culture, it definitely gives them a vocabulary they think is being accepted by mainstream culture in some way.”

In some of these clips, the insults and insensitive language come from villains or are meant to be comedic, but Kane notes that putting this kind of behavior on display can still be harmful because it’s not received the same way by every viewer, and nuances—such as satire and time period—are often ignored. Take The Wolf of Wall Street: The way the characters act might appear reprehensible to some but as a way to achieve a life of luxury and excess to others.

It’s not just American audiences we have to worry about. Hollywood also exports these views to the rest of the world. “One of the biggest sort of things coming out of the U.S. that have an influence on [cultures overseas] is actually Hollywood films,” said Kane. “When those film include those messages, it can contribute to an atmosphere that continues to put [LGBT citizens and advocates] in an unsafe position.”

When LGBT characters aren’t the butt of a joke or getting pummeled for their sexuality, they’re largely absent from films. GLAAD’s most recent report found that only 17.5 percent of 114 major Hollywood films released in 2014 featured an LGBT character. The next report will come out in early 2016, and while the results aren’t looking good so far, Kane is hopeful for the years to come.

“There are a lot of people who would like to see things change,” he said. “Some of these changes that we’re hopeful to see may not come around immediately, but we thought it was really important to put a stake in the ground and to start pointing out in clear terms—and using their own images—just how bad much of this content really is. The hope being that in a few years from now, we’re going to start seeing films that look very different in terms of their treatment and depiction of LGBT people and characters than the films we see today.”