Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.
Mainstream cinema remains unwilling to feature lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters and continues to “distort the demographic reality” of audiences, according to a new report.
Analysis of 700 films released between 2007 and 2014 found that less than one per cent of leading characters were gay.
Out of a total of 4,610 characters in the top 100 films of 2014, 10 were gay men, four were lesbian, and five were bisexual. No transgender characters featured.
Only 14 of the 100 films had one or more LGBT characters.
Virtually no lesbian, gay or bisexual characters were shown in healthy relationships, researchers noted. depictions of healthy romantic or sexual relationships were “scarce”, they said. Of 19 lesbian, gay or bisexual characters, only two were portrayed as being in a public, stable, long-term partnership and two were shown dating.
Furthermore, no lesbian, gay or bisexual characters were depicted as raising children together. “The landscape of popular cinema remains skewed and stereotypical,” the researchers said.