Hello, Nerds and Beyond reader!
As Pride Month 2018 comes to a close, I wanted to take today to speak about the past month, our spotlight choices and most of all, say thank you.
I should probably start by introducing myself. My name is Emily, and I have been the woman behind the rainbow curtain. In late May, I decided to take on this Pride project – to produce a series of articles featuring a different LGBTQ+ character every day. Many members of the Nerds and Beyond staff joined me in writing about their favorite characters, and each day (except one, I blame time zones and international travel) I assisted in the editing, scheduling, and graphic design for the articles. And it has been an absolute pleasure.
I have loved working with our staff and I have loved seeing everyone’s reactions – including some famous faces! Thank you for giving me, and us, the platform to be proud and celebrate Pride.
Pride! totally! 🏳️🌈❤🧡💛💚💙JB https://t.co/IyCQRZrEki
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) June 3, 2018
I know that the series mainly featured gay, lesbian and bisexual white characters. While we had a few articles featuring ace, pan and trans characters, as well as some queer people of color, I know it was not enough. I want to explain some of our restrictions as well as apologize.
Our articles were limited to the characters we know and media we consume, which admittedly may not be as diverse as it should be. Additionally, queer representation is limited through media. For example, Todd Chavez was one of only a handful of characters to be canonically asexual on television, and many trans characters are not played by trans actors, which we did not want to represent here. In a study completed by GLAAD, in 2017, out of 902 characters on primetime scripted broadcast television, only 58 (6.4%) were queer. Of those 58, 97% of them were gay, lesbian or bisexual, and only 36% were people of color.
We recognize, and are frustrated by, this lack of representation. We can only look forward to next year’s Pride, where we can hopefully show even more diversity as new characters are written every day.
Finally, thank you. Thank you to everyone who read our Pride articles, or liked them on Twitter, or shared them with a friend. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this wonderful month, and we look forward to putting out more content for you as the rest of the year continues – including a very special interview “coming out” tomorrow!
You can check out the rest of our Pride series by clicking here.
