“Homosexuality in the Media” debate, aka, “Let’s all talk about how cutting-edge Channel 4 has been at putting gay people on telly”

Tuesday 17^th July 2007, Channel Four Building, Horseferry Road

For clips of the (non-televised) debate, see http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/0-9/40_years_on/debate.html

Debate attended by Annie Beaumont, Sue Sanders and Holly Roberts of SchoolsOUT/LGBT History Month.

Panel chaired by Rhona Cameron, comedian. Panellists – Stephen K. Amos (comedian), Q-Boy (hip-hop artist), Lord Mohammed Alli (broadcaster and labour peer), Jan Tomalin (Channel 4).

Sue raised the issue of lack of representation of older LGB people. I commented that as I grew up I was provided with no images of gay people who brought up children, and that I hoped that the representation of gay families would grow.

Some other points of discussion:

The majority of gay characters on television are still dominated by youngish white gay men. Often camp/comedic representations.

It was suggested that young LGB people can now safely be themselves as they grow up partly thanks to improved popular representation. It was acknowledged that life is better in some areas of the country and in some educational settings for some young people, and that many young people are benefitting  greatly from themselves and others seeing positive images of LGB people on television. Rural areas were highlighted as less safe in general for LGB people than some parts of large cities. Stonewall added that their recent research showed that schools are not safe places for young people. There is much improvement that can be made to provide young people with diverse images of LGB people.

London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard queried the decision to scrap announcements offering support to people affected by issues in the programs delivered. Jan replied that they offered a great deal of material and signposting to support online, and that web addressed were given following programmes.

Following the debate, Sue and I approached several people about a number of issues.

I mentioned to Jan that many people, especially young people, only have access to the internet at school or in a library, and that firewall software blocks a great deal of access to information relating to LGB issues. On the other hand, most people have access to a phone. She stated that she would raise this with her colleagues who worked in the relevant area. This conversation was overheard by a lawyer who stated that she had colleagues who worked in education law and may be interested in taking up the issue – I hope more people will recognise this as a significant barrier to accessing information.

One of Channel Four commissioning editors stated that they don’t receive high-quality submissions of work representing gay people other than white gay able-bodied men, and that’s why they are not commissioned. He seemed not to feel that it was in his or Channel 4’s power, let alone remit, to encourage such submissions. We hope to be able to work with C4 to encourage better representation.

Annie Beaumont