The queer community has been positively impacted with series like “We’re Here” through sheer presence because it is still hard to find inclusive representative of queer people, if you can find it at all. I think that the creators were intentionally trying to bring representation of certain stories, people and communities that have not been talked about, or represented, on TV ever before. A common experience among a lot of queer people is that even knowing what their true identity even was called took a very long time in their lives because they’d simply never heard about or seen it. So, I think that this show is extremely important because it’s doing a big part to stop that kind of cycle from repeating.
It isn’t the solution to all representation, and it isn’t perfect, a lot like another show that the hosts were all on: “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” That show brought representation of drag and gay culture to television that had never been seen before. Millions of people learned about drag for the very first time from that show, and that was a very narrow view of the LGBTQ+ community. The host, RuPaul, did not make a perfect show, but has still managed to create a historic step forward for the entire community regardless of the harm he has caused it while doing so. The name of the show “We’re Here” speaks to the importance and the necessity of these shows to start breaking down more glass ceilings because so many people need to see LGBTQ+ people with pride. I think that the LGBTQ+ community has been positively impacted because I think that “We’re Here” is achieving its goals for representation.
In the last 10 years, many more shows and movies have included gay characters, lesbian characters, etc., but the great thing about “We’re Here” is that all the characters are real people. This show lets the world in on diverse, modern experiences of growing up in a heteronormative culture and across a huge country like the United States where the levels of acceptance can vary so dramatically. It shows a more intimate side of queer stories from all around the country, and the audience gets to spend time living the subject’s life. The drag queens and the audience get to know the subject much better because we see them over time. It’s a short amount of time, but there’s a lot of confrontation and changes, so you can expect to see some change in the participants.
It also brings LGBTQ+ people behind the camera, and into the show. This is a barrier that means a lot, too. Instead of just being a token character or being used up as quickly as possible, the queer people are piloting the story. Every second of the show celebrates the stories it’s telling, and firmly saying that they are here. “We’re Here” also holds an event with every episode (or when they go to a new place) which also gets the local community involved, too. The show tries really hard to actually help make a change in the person’s life, so they can be prouder to be themselves. The drag show at the end is also hosted in that person’s community, so they’re literally changing the environment that the person lives in as well. This is a huge difference between this show and others.
Journalists can improve their news coverage of the conversations happening in the LGBTQ+ community by not treating it as a special case, or a thing to be reminded of. The most essential thing for someone to understand about the LGBTQ+ community is that it’s like trying to describe an American. The community has so many people with only one social identity in common, and countless others within, so it is not a monolith. There’s so much to break down when it comes to gender, but the most important thing is to treat people with respect. Above all, even if you don’t believe that gender or sexuality is fluid, you can still understand what it’s like for people to be discriminated against based on a personal identity.
Journalists can start by writing without gender, and treating it like race, so only bring it into the story if it’s relevant. For example, using they/them pronouns as default pronouns when the reporter doesn’t know the actual pronouns of their source/subject. Journalists should listen to the LGBTQ+ community over any AP guidelines when it comes to certain things like pronouns. Especially when it comes to an individual person, just take their word for it over everything else, because that goes for any situation. Someone’s personal information is not your business to know, and the person whom you’re talking about has the final say on what they identify as, so if someone tells you their name or pronouns, that is the final answer.
