HOW THE MEDIA HAS HELPED CHANGE PUBLIC VIEWS ABOUT LESBIAN AND GAY PEOPLE.

Few changes in public opinion in the United States and elsewhere have been as swift and pervasive as those regarding views toward lesbian women and gay men. In our latest work, we examine how the media has aided in this significant transformation. Our study demonstrates that the media can influence political opinions toward sexuality and minorities generally on a global scale, particularly those of more impressionable, younger people.

Virtual Contacts with Gays and Lesbians

The flow of information through the media, including television, movies, music, books, and many other platforms, promotes interaction and conversation among groups and even across international borders. Gordon Allport, an influential psychologist, is often cited in scholarly research for his contact thesis – which, put simply, says that under the right conditions, interpersonal contact is one of the best ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority groups. Using this as a foundation, we contend that "imagined contact," even with fictional characters from a TV program, can alter people's opinions of outgroups. Does the unique nature and context of a nation's media influence attitudes toward homosexuality? is the main issue guiding our research.

Increases in representations of gay people in news, television, and movies started in the 1990s – prominently exemplified by Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out on mainstream American television in her portrayal of Ellen Morgen in the ABC-sitcom, Ellen. Portrayals of lesbian women and gay men have continued to increase over the two decades since they were featured in popular shows like Will and Grace and Modern Family; and these portrayals have and recently spread to shows for teenage audiences such as Glee and Teen Wolf. Beyond entertainment, the news media has also increasingly covered gay rights as such issues have become politicized. In 2014, networks from Russia Today to Al Jazeera extensively covered the gay rights debate surrounding the “anti-gay Sochi Olympics.” Although this shift in media visibility was pronounced in the United States and Western Europe, our data suggest that the influence of the media is not contained by national borders. Media portrayals of new issues and previously marginalized people are an understudied dimension of the ways ideas, values, and principles are spread – transnationally as well as within countries.

Why Media Matters Especially for Young People.

Using the combined results of the World Values and European Values Surveys, we test our hypothesis. Our work shows that media pervasiveness and press freedom are related to more liberal attitudes among young people through a cross-national, multi-level analysis of individual attitudes. We think that these young people's media exposure to gay and lesbian people is related to their other socialization experiences with gay and lesbian people and problems. Regardless of how inaccurate media representations of gay people may be and how inadequate they are as a replacement for interpersonal interactions, the media do foster fresh discussions and new frames of reference about homosexuality in a variety of domestic settings.

Our results have implications for how we perceive how people's interactions with various groups affect their values and beliefs. They contend that more than just face-to-face encounters are involved in how contacts with an outside group affect people. Researchers, activists, policymakers, and producers should consider how cross-border cultural contact through media can shape beliefs and ideals. Younger generations continue to encounter previously invisible minorities through the Internet, television, film, radio, and other potent socializing mediums. We do not want to understate the importance of face-to-face interactions in the development of new attitudes in our argument. In fact, our findings might indicate combined effects of media and personal contacts. The increased interpersonal visibility of gay and lesbian people and the likelihood that they would come out and openly disclose their identities to friends, neighbors, and coworkers as a result of new media portrayals may have been another pathway for change.

Larger Implications

The main finding of our study is that, since the 1980s, attitudes toward gays and lesbians have become more accepting in many nations around the world. This change has been facilitated, in part, by communication climates - both within and between countries - that allow for the unrestricted dissemination of minority viewpoints. However, there are still discrepancies between nations that allow for the free exchange of controversial ideas and minority views and those that don't. Movements and leaders must persuade various media outlets to present more accurate portrayals of lesbians and gay people in order to close tolerance gaps and effect societal change. Promoting a more inclusive and accurate portrayal of gay people in the media could increase tolerance for all types of marginalized groups, even internationally.

Our research backs up the idea that free media are crucial for the advancement of gay rights and indicates that efforts to ensure media freedom may need to come before those to pass laws protecting gay rights. Positive representations of lesbians and gays through personal and online interactions can spur positive change in regions of the world where homosexual rights are still hotly contested.