um ...: what does one say to this? i wish i could print it out and post it on the walls of this dumb skool. it's the kind of thing i know i need to read more often b/c it's very easy to forget. not just to forget, either: to trivialize, to dismiss. the world seems queer-friendly now! look, there's that new ellen thing fridays, right? and there are regularly gay couples in mainstream movies like american beauty. they're not central but they're there and at least they're functional. if pop culture's cool w/ it, it must be accepted by people as a whole.
but like saying any --ism no longer exists, it's wishful thinking.
moreover, we were talking about a similar issue in film class this afternoon. feminist criticism which rose in the 70s, pointing out that the gaze is male and the women subjected to it are frozen, passive, powerless. dutifully, a number of moviemakers tried to reformat mainstream movies to give women more agency (yay buzzwords!). the idea was partially that when audiences accepted these new images of women, their views in real life would come around also. so scenes featured women in suits, not bathing suits; behind desks, not men.
many critics remained unsatisfied. another skool of thought arose, maintaining that the system couldn't simply be patched; a whole new system needed to be developed, an alternative original system in which film conventions were inverted from the start.

it's a similar thing. can queer portrayals on tv/in the media simply be patched? or like women in film, does there need to be some kind of formal renovation? maybe one's already happening. i can't think of too many really good queer films i've seen. the only one that comes to mind is boys don't cry -- does that count? well, if it's a new genre, of course it'll take time to find itself. feminist film still has a ways to go. i mean, quick, try to list five films directed by women. when you're done frowning into space, ponder the fact that that revolution supposedly started in the 70s. thirty years ago. and people say there's no need for feminism ....