Paper Example on Media's Positive Effect on the LGBTQ Community

Introduction

The LGBTQ community has had a rough experience fighting for identity within society. Both the lesbians and the gays have always been living a life of secrecy due to fear of being judged and ridiculed from the perceived holly audience. Until recently, they lived in denial of establishing themselves. Credits to the media as the LGBTQ has pledged their trust and loyalty of helping them grow and associate freely with their members across the globe. The influence of the mass media seems to be unstoppable. The impact the media is playing in promoting the lesbian and other heterosexual activities is immense. It is a wave that cannot be tamed. The spread is rapid and influential. This research paper examines some of the positive impact mass media is playing towards giving the LGBTQ society identity, free socialization and a sense of belonging to the small world they are in, despite the counter-attacks from the religious agencies who are continually fighting against its establishment. Media is playing a pivotal role in promoting LGBTQ acceptance across the globe through a variety of ways as indicated.

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Ease of LGBTQ Identity

The media has enhanced the difference in the identification of today's queer group. The coming out of lesbians and gays in the current world is very different from the previous years. This is mainly for the young and peculiar who wants to identify them as lesbians and gays in public platforms (Lanzieri & Hildebrandt, 2016). The today's queer youths; gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are significantly different from the earlier years. The current LGBTQ youths are not only coming out and identifying themselves as bisexuals, gays, or lesbians at an early age than before but are also distinguishing themselves in a more varied manner. The current influence of media has enabled the LGBTQ community to present themselves in both gender orientation and sexual identity (Marchant, Hawton, Stewart, Montgomery, Singaravelu, Lloyd, & John, 2017).

Identification of Role Models

The LGBTQ society is receiving positive boosts from media through the publicizing of the iconic persons who have embraced gay and lesbianism (McCormack, Anderson & Adams, 2014). One of the significant factors that have facilitated the coming out of LGBTQ youth and freely expressing their sexual orientation to the public is the influence they get from their celebrity following. Among the celebrity figures who have been identified to be influential in spearheading the establishment of the LGBTQ community across the world include; Ellen DeGeneres: she publicly announced her sexual identity as a lesbian on a famous show hosted by Winfrey Oprah in 1997 (Fox & Ralston, 2016). She got espoused to a fellow celebrity lesbian, Portia de Rossi and their public stint has spread globally hence motivating other young gays and lesbians to announce their sexual identity fearlessly. The other celebrities are Ellen Page, Rosie O'Donnell and Jodie Foster who announced her lesbianism status during the Golden Globe Awards. The media spread the news like wildfire reaching every corner of the world. Therefore, luring the young LGBTQ people to publicly announce their sexual status through their social media accounts is an inappropriate norm (McInroy & Craig, 2017).

Facilities Private and Secure Meeting Up

Even when an individual is out searching for fellow LGBTQ partners to hang around with and have fun, it is never easy to bump into someone who can freely accept the date, and even if they find, it is always risky for the lesbians and other bisexual to meet and hang out in public places (McInroy & Craig, 2017). For the current LGBTQ generation, media has cut off the barriers. Technology has revolutionized the media through the creation of location-based applications which are supported by Android. The location sensitive applications have spread globally hence easing communication between the lesbians and gays. Due to media, the LGBTQ members can communicate privately, discuss their issues and plan for a meeting without interference from the general public (Fox & Ralston, 2016). The media is appealing to the LGBTQ community because just like the other odd groups, they have limited freedom and societal acceptance. Media gives them the freedom to express themselves without the fear of being harassed and negatively judged (McInroy & Craig, 2017). Through media, the gays can plan for meetings at gay-supported BRS and other restaurants where they date and establish connections among themselves.

Reclaimed Public Space

Mass media cannot be tamed. Its spread has been applauded by the LGBTQ community who are taking full advantage of it. Through media, gays and lesbians have been able to reinstate their public space in society (Fox & Ralston, 2016). The media has created channels where people can get video call easily and hold virtual conferences promoting close association between people. The use of social pages and media in general easily establishes the gays and lesbians to each other. The secure identification encourages close communication where the lesbians can be more visible to their other partners. Irrespective of physical barriers such as the distance between them, the ability to socialize and video call through various media channels has reconstituted the public space easily for the LGBTQ society giving them ample time and secrecy in carrying out their activities (McInroy & Craig, 2017). The media and other applications such as Grinder enable easy identification of gay and lesbians hotspots within places hence pushing other gays to the same locale for easy hooking up. The app can correctly estimate the exact number of lesbians and gays in the area through thorough registration and identification of oneself as either a gay or a lesbian (Marchant et al. 2017).

Promoted Acceptance and Reduced LGBTQ Teen Suicide

The use of social media has greatly minimized the elimination of early deaths by young gays and lesbians. Before the establishment and public airing of LGBTQ issues publicly to the general audience, numerous deaths of young gays and lesbians who are unable to find peace within their selves were reported (McInroy & Craig, 2017). In the year 2010 four teenagers were reported to have taken away their lives due to pressures and inability to find a company that can support them in their sexual orientation (Marchant et al. 2017). The first incident reported was of a seventeen-year-old girl who chooses death after being misjudged by fellow friends just because she was more in love with fellow girls rather than males. The gays have also been hard-hit where they are unable to bear hence committing suicide. After the media highlighted these stories and events, there has been an extensive understanding of the LGBTQ community and the need to help them accept themselves (McCormack et al., 2014).

Facilitates Social Acceptance

Even though both gay and lesbianism (same-sex marriages) are prohibited in the majority of religions and other societal setups, the extensive coverage of the issue has loosened the stand of many individuals who have always been rejecting any idea of introduction of LGBTQ persons in their society (Fox & Ralston, 2016). The African cultures have had a sturdy stand on lesbians and gays and are yet to buy the idea thanks to media influence. In developed nations such as the United States of America (USA), France, United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, both the lesbians and gays are embraced and accepted into the society as part and parcel of the larger population (Marchant et al. 2017). The acceptance has eased societal pressure that is always directed to the LGBTQ community infiltrating fear in them. Social acceptance has been one of the primary influences of media towards promoting freedom of LGBTQ individuals. Once society accepts an individual, it is easy for people to move around and associate freely. The LGBTQ community in the US are freely moving and associating with each other and even holding public weddings before the religious congregation.

Communicating and Creating Relationships

Social media is playing a crucial role in the development and spread of LGBTQ ideas and information sharing. Some of the standard social media pages frequently used by the LGBTQ community are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (Fox & Ralston, 2016). With the development of technology, newer versions of instant messaging and ability to have video calling capability are easing the information sharing among the LGBTQ community as they can freely interact with those individuals whom they are engaging in their talks (Mowlabocus, 2016). The main reason as to why media is efficiently enhancing communication of lesbians is that it offers real-time communication with numerous added advantages. Lesbians and gays are capable of communicating with their friends across the world. It is the communication that strengthens the bond leading to the free association of the LGBTQ members. A group of lesbians from the United States admitted to having travelled from the US to Africa to meet and interact with their newly found gays in Africa whom they connected with through social media (Fox & Ralston, 2016). Since then, the close communication among them has given their fellow gays and lesbians from the African continent morale support to stand firm and identify themselves as LBBTQ members. They further revealed to ha e created an open relationship with their new gay members after a short period of dating and chatting.

Idea Sharing and Planning

Media has created a unique platform for numerous group, among them the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ members in developed countries such as the UK and the United States have come up with bodies which are present to defend them and protect their needs (McCormack et al., 2014). A variety of these bodies have to foster close communication among them and their members too. Since the LGBTQ community is still young and lacks a significant number to associate and carry out public meetings freely, they have initiated the creation of media channels a d chatting groups for their members to easily reach them whenever an issue arises (Fox & Ralston, 2016). Since laws are protecting the gays and lesbians, they have rights and when violated some of them are unable to singlehandedly deal with the issues hence need the support of their leaders. It is media which connects lesbian members to their leaders to whom they report their concerns to for further investigations. Upon saying now, the leaders can soon launch official claims and protection for their members. The close interaction between the lesbians and the gays and their officials also strengthens the bond between them hence bringing mutual understanding on how to deal with a variety of issues (Fox & Ralston, 2016). It is also through the media that the LGBTQ members carry out their planning of events and activities. They can easily communicate with their members and inform them of any upcoming events they need to participate in as a whole.

Recruiting New LGBTQ Members

One of the most effective way the LGBTQ community is by soliciting other members and recruiting new members (Mowlabocus, 2016). More than often we find a variety of requests on our social media pages either trying to advertise to us the benefits of being a lesbian or a gay. The members of the LGBTQ community are trying all they can to recruit more members. Some of them come up with enticing offers such as free housing and constant flow of income to support their lifestyle. Majority of African lesbians have been recruited into the gay and lesbianism activities by the already established members. The recruitment is done through found social media pages with the majority of followers who are still n...