22 November 2008
A broader view of the gay community
10 May 2006
Commentary by Marc Checkley: Te Waha Nui Online
Though the gay community continues to find acceptance and understanding in greater society, the rich diversity of gayness is not being fully represented in the news media.
Gay rights in New Zealand have come a long way in the past three decades. In fact, 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill that legalised the status of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Once thought of as the devil’s spawn and the perpetrators of the AIDS virus, the gay community is now a more visible and accepted part of New Zealand society.
There is no doubt the media have played a part in cementing the gay voice. In recent years advertisers, artists and producers have caught onto the gay market and it is common to see gay characters represented on television or in film.
Fifty years ago a film about the unrequited love of two gay cowboys would have not made it to the can, let alone onto the cinema screen.
Coverage of gay issues has also increased over the past decade but there is a view that the news media systematically ignores or distorts the lives and experiences of the LGBT community for entertainment value rather than their newsworthiness.
Although society has caught on to the fact LGBT people are found in all walks of life (except maybe the US Army), the image of normality does not yet rest comfortably with the news media.
“It’s because normal doesn’t make good copy,” says artist and AUT University academic Associate Professor Welby Ings, whose short film Boy was inspired by his life growing up and coming to terms with his sexuality in small town New Zealand.
“The media are still coming to terms with our normalness and that we’re not all ‘fabulous’.
Protesting for rights
“Their view of the [gay] community is a single, social and flamboyant male whose best friend’s a girl. The truth is there are plenty who aren’t like that and they’re still happy.”
In the early 1980s Ings was an active member of the gay community, protesting for the rights of homosexuals. He says the news media of the time kept the issues marginalised by under-reporting the numbers in protest marches.
“Whatever was reported you had to double it to get a true figure of protesters. There has always been a significant difference in reporting – that same ethos exists today. The media exoticise or scandalise common issues for effect.”
Ings mentions the media’s presence at last year’s Big Gay Out, a gay jamboree held during the Auckland Hero Festival, was not in aid of promoting the uniqueness of the event but to report on a protest staged by a Christian fundamentalist group.
“It’s altercation seeking,” says Ings. “We’re viewed as different from the norm. There’s value in that.”
One such issue that drew anger from the gay community was the coverage of the “gay gene” comments made by Canterbury University scientist Dr Frank Sin.
Sin made a public statement that parents on IVF programmes should be advised of sperm from a gay donor carrying a “gay gene”. This was, of course, met with disdain from many in the gay community, who thought Dr Sin’s comments implied he was homophobic and believed being gay was inferior.
Inconclusive research
Studies have shown there is indeed evidence of a genetic component to sexual orientation but other research has found similar genetic links to that of obesity and diabetes. These links, though, are still largely inconclusive, as Dr S L Scott states in his research on the genetics of serial killers:
“The observation, while loosely empirical in nature, has proven common enough to catalyze widespread research to identify a genetic factor resulting in a behavioral predisposition to violence.
“As yet, no single gene that unequivocally stimulates socially maladaptive aggression and violence has been isolated.”
With such research being conducted the world over, why warn just about the gay gene? A question posed by Martin Lee, a Christchurch biochemistry student, in a letter to The Press was: “Is a gay child the only real concern for parents?”
With playing what could be called the gay card, the issue moved from gay men donating sperm to gay sperm versus straight sperm and raised the question, if parents could choose, would they take sperm from a gay donor? Omitting the fact that there are risks IVF children can have congenital weight problems or could be the next Jack the Ripper.
In retrospect, Sin was surprised by the response his comments received.
“It is a touchy issue but I never thought it would make the front page. I feel the reporting was provocative and I was accused of being anti-gay which is unfortunate as, on the contrary, I’m not.
“My comments were from a scientific point of view, I wasn’t making a social statement.”
‘Dark days’ of reporting
Placing undue emphasis on the issue, the media created a scandal that in turn stirred public comment on the acceptance, or maybe tolerance, of the gay community. Sin’s comments warranted reporting but did the gay community deserve to be labelled unworthy or unwanted donors in the creation of new life?
Roman Kuhar’s book Media Representations of Homosexuality says in the reporting of homosexual issues counter arguments are minimal, with value-laden statements presented as facts.
This type of reporting was also prevalent in the US during what is known as the dark days of AIDS (1981-1985).
Journalists stirred up debate not based on fact but from the personal views of public figures in society. The reporting of Patient Zero, one such urban myth that accused a gay Canadian flight attendant of planting the virus onto American soil, incited a new wave of fear towards the gay community. Many of those scars are still visible today.
David Young, a gay journalist at TVNZ, believes there is no conspiracy behind the reporting of gay issues but says there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
“Reporting is not out of ignorance like it may have been in the past. But a lot of the issues are reduced to only one voice.”
‘Landmark day’
In a Listener article, Young noted the Civil Union Bill, although generally dubbed a “landmark day” for NZ’s gay community, was not fully supported by all homosexuals.
He was one of those who opposed the bill. His view is that it is discriminatory and still falls short of full marriage rights.
“Legalising gay marriage would strengthen the institution by elevating it as the central social convention for all couples who wish to commit to each other.”
News coverage placed itself alongside the bill’s advocacy groups, gay couples who planned to “unionise” and the politicians who assisted its progress through Parliament. Contrasting views barely made the radar.
Reporting may have been pro-civil union, but by no means was it fair and balanced.
“On a number of issues, the silent majority goes unrepresented,” says Young.
There are many sides to a story but the gay community is not always privileged to having its stories told in full. The approach to the Civil Union Bill seemed to be the media giving LGBT the cake but inferring, don’t expect to eat it too.
Understandably, some in the gay community saw it as a mean concession and ultimately meaningless.
Statistics or scandal reporting
The New Zealand AIDS Foundation is typically rallied by the media to speak on behalf of the gay community. Garreth Spillane, fund-raising manager for the NZAF, likens gay reporting to how Maori are treated by the news media.
He says, “Every day achievements don’t make the news. Reporting is based on statistics or scandal. ”
Such scandal-mongering is exemplified in a Southland Times article regarding recent HIV statistics. The page-two headline proclaimed: “Net hook-ups and gay sex fuel HIV rise”. Implying that all gay sex, not just unprotected sex, is the cause of the 17 per cent increase in infections.
“AIDS will always be associated with the gay community,” Spillane continues. “But our world class research centre or that the rates of infection in our gay community are still some of the lowest in the developed world, rarely make headlines.”
He says this affects the New Zealand community as a whole.
“There’s a vacuous hole of information not being reported on. The media have a social responsibility to report issues fairly and accurately – negative reporting of gay issues continues to keep them sidelined in society.”
One in every nine New Zealanders is gay – gayness is not as foreign as one may think. LGBT people transcend race, religion, class and politics and are found in all walks of life.
Rich diversity
Though the community continues to find acceptance and understanding in greater society, the rich diversity of gayness is not being fully represented in the news media.
There is no denying the reporting of LGBT issues has increased over the past two decades but many media organisations still perceive the gay community as a curious minority whose function is to titillate rather than inform their audience of the issues that affect them.
The media play a key role in shaping public opinion. The majority of New Zealand’s population relies, as does the world, on broadcasters and publishers to provide them with news and information.
The marginalisation and distortion of LGBT issues through finite stereotypes and scandal-mongering will continue to place the community outside the hetero-sphere.
The news media’s job is to examine both sides of the coin and give its audience a broad view of the world.
Gay New Zealand makes up a significant portion of the population and experiences and diversity of views that can either be ignored or celebrated as a unique part of human diversity.
- Marc Checkley is a final year Bachelor of Communication Studies student at AUT University. This commentary was written as an ethics assignment as part of the Public Affairs Reporting paper.
- How gay is that? Waikato Times, 18 March 2006
- Uncivil Union, NZ Listener, 17-23 April 2004
- Backs to the wall, heads in the sand, 23 November 2003
- Other Media Ethics articles
- Media Ethics Online magazine
