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TITLE OF RESOURCE: Why Can't People "Just So Happen" to Be Gay in Movies?
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citation: Kohgadai, S. (2013, April 9). Why Can't People "Just So Happen" to Be Gay in Movies? Retrieved February 10, 2015, from http://mic.com/articles/33815/why-can-t-people-just-so-happen-to-be-gay-in-movies

Summary: This article explains why it's important that gay characters in media aren't ONLY portrayed as stereotypically gay.  This creates the idea that "gay" is a personality type, it's all that this character has to offer. It is important to instead have representation of doctors, politicians, teachers, soldiers, lawyers, engineers, who just happen to be gay. The article explains that by doing this, media becomes a tool to shift our cultural acceptance of the LGBT+ community. Also, it points out that REPRESENTATION is VITAL, because the lack of representation marginalizes the LGBT+ community. It is harmful to only portray LGBT+ characters as "the gay character", because it dehumanizes them, it gives them less depth and creates negative stereotypes that don't properly represent the LGBT+ community.

Important quotes : "We should acknowledge lack of media portrayal as a form of oppression"
"But because media portrayals create arbitrary, or at least stereotypical, lines that define being gay to everyone, young LGBT people may or may not identify with the supposed representations of themselves."
"By only providing certain negatively stereotypical examples of what being gay looks like (similar to race or gender stereotypes), both LGBT-identified and hetero-identified young people have an expectation of what it means to be LGBT." 

Reflection: As someone who identifies as a member of the LGBT+ community, it is disappointing and frustrating to see the lack of diverse LGBT+ characters. A lot of them are JUST the gay character, who have little to no definable traits besides their sexual orientation. There are recently more and more transgender characters in media, which is great. However, every LGBT+ character can not be as similar as I find them to be in media. This creates the idea that "LGBT+ people look and act a certain way", which promotes stereotypes. Also, many LGBT+ people do not look or act that way, so it dangerous to show just ONE example of how an LGBT+ person could be. It creates the expectation, the idea that "this is how an LGBT+ person SHOULD be." I completely agree with the article, there needs to be more characters who "just happen to be part of the LGBT+ community". It doesn't need to define them.