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O I L E R S P A C E One of my early podcast interviews was with a writer who was facing some backlash online because an LGBT character on a series he had worked on had been killed off. The community was claiming it was becoming common to basically use gay characters as either sacrificial lambs or canaries in coal mines. I didn't think much about it at the time, but in the months that followed I have seen -- maybe not a trend -- but certainly a regular habit of placing key LGBT characters onto dramatic series, showcasing/promoting how inclusive the series is, making the character quite sympathetic, then offing the character. I'm bringing this up because, although I stopped watching Star Trek Discovery after a few painful weeks, I can see from social media that they have just done the same thing. And some within the LGBT community are already unhappy. Trek's first openly gay couple has been on the cover of multiple magazines in recent weeks (the character's lover is played by the actor who stepped forward with the allegations that ended Kevin Spacey's career). As I think about it, my mind drifts way back to the third season of MTV's "The Real World," and one of the housemates, Pedro Zamora, who died not long after the season ended due to complications of AIDS. It was big news at the time -- even then President Clinton gave a speech about it. And now I cannot help but wonder if the producers didn't at least partly consider Pedro's potential death during the casting process. I'm not saying or implying a malicious attitude towards gays or gay characters, but the reaction from the LGBT community seems to be they resent being used to tug at viewer heartstrings in a rate that is different or abnormal. They want to be fairly represented, and not just tokens, which is a view shared by every minority group I'm aware of. I'm curious how frequently this is actually happening on TV. Has anybody else noticed this? Anybody else have any thoughts on the subject? -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
