Law and Order: SVU with Special Guest Kathy Griffin as lesbian

[suebee]

Originally Posted by Dylan

By having the dominant group portray the oppressed group by 'acting', a number of oppressed groups have been misportrayed throughout centuries.

It was done with women (men playing women, aka drag); it was done with Black people (black face); it's done with differently abled people all the time; and it's now the rage to do it with queers. It's another subtle form of privilege and oppression. It plays off of stereotypes and perpetuates a negative image. It also keeps 'real' queers oppressed, by telling real queers they're not 'good enough' to even play queer. So, now we have hets exploiting and making money off of the queer community even more.




Dylan

Dylan, they are actors. They act. Inject political agenda into it if you want, but it just doesn't cut it. If Law and Order wants to turn a well-established, well-loved character into an openly gay person, then I'm all for it. It tells people that we're out there. Whether they KNOW they know queer people or not, we're out there, and we're in their lives. It tells them MUCH more than if they introduce another character that they DON'T already know, they DON'T already love, and shows them that our sexual orientation is but ONE aspect of who we are. It's an important aspect, but it makes ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE in how we do our jobs.

Now if you want to argue that an actor shouldn't be discriminated against BECAUSE he or she is gay, then that's a whole 'nother matter. But this thread is about an established character in one of the most popular shows on U.S. television possibly coming out as a lesbian. I fail to see how that's a bad thing, unless she grows a mullet and starts wearing Birkinstocks and insists that her squad car be only a Subaru or a Volvo.

End of mini rant.