Queer off screen: The lamest LGBTQI depictions in recent movies

This pride month we’re looking back at LGBTQI representation in Hollywood. Read on for our 2018 report.

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GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index revealed that 2017 was a poor year for LGBTQI representation. In fact, the findings outlined in the annual report exploring LGBTQI representation in major motion pictures suggests the amount of LGBTQI depictions shown on screen in major Hollywood movies are the lowest they’ve been since 2012.

Of all the movies analysed in 2017, there were just fourteen major studio releases featuring LGBTQI characters, of which none featured a transgender character. To put that into perspective, 2016 boasted 23 major studio movies with LGBTQI characters with one including a transgender character.

However, it isn’t just the numbers that are infuriating. The report also suggests the quality of LGBTQI representation in 2017 was even worse than the quantity. Out of those fourteen films only nine passed the Vito Russo Test – GLAAD’s equivalent of the Bechdel test. The rating demands a film must have an identifiably LGBTQI character who isn’t “solely or predominantly” defined by their LGBTQI identity and who plays a significant role in the film.

Since the start of 2017, there have been a handful of lame LGBTQI depictions that either barely pass that test or fail it completely. It has to be said that some appear to continue the current trend for queerbaiting an audience – where a filmmaker or writer proudly suggests that one of their lead characters is totally LGBTQI for some extra publicity while on their press tour of the film.

And when the film is finally released? Little or no evidence of the character’s sexual or gender identity worth getting excited about. Here’s seven of the lamest LGBTQI depictions from 2017 and 2018 so far.