HaltTheSilence is a movement with one goal: to stop queer voices from being silenced and erased in all forms of media. To do so, we have to critique — in an educational and productive way — how our stories are presented. We say let's #HaltTheSilence. And we want you to say it too.
Welcome to #HaltTheSilence, a new movement to fight queer erasure and silencing in media. We are run by fans, for fans! Check us out on our various social medias.
Let’s talk about the “Bury Your Gays” trope, a literary trope that became popular in the 19th century and persists to this day.
What is this Trope?
"Bury Your Gays" is a literary trope that became popular in the 19th century and persists to this day. What is this trope about? Overall, LGBTQ+ characters in media are more likely to die than their heterosexual counterparts. Often, the LGBTQ+ character's death occurs within mere pages or minutes after they have professed their love to a same-sex romantic partner.
It was originally known as the "Dead Lesbian Syndrome," due to the number of literary works that had lesbian characters dying by the end of their stories. In 2016, AutoStraddle compiled a list of 147 lesbian characters who died on television and film.
Why is this Trope Bad?
According to TVTropes.org, "Even when there is a perfectly valid narrative reason for the writers to chose to kill off the character ... it's often the case that killing one queer character is removing the only positive representation within the narrative."
With so few LGBTQ+ characters on TV (only around 10.2% of all characters on television, according to the Where We Are on TV 2019-2020 report from GLAAD) that means that those who look up to these characters as role models or inspiration often come to the conclusion that they are not allowed love or happiness.
Origins of the Trope
It was "originally used as a way for gay authors to write about gay characters without coming under fire for breaking laws and social mandates against the 'endorsement' of homosexuality," writes Haley Hulan of Grand Valley State University in her article Bury Your Gays: History, Usage, and Context.
"However," adds Hulan, "Bury Your Gays persists today in a time and social context in which it is no longer necessary to give gay characters and stories bad endings in order to be published."
History of the Trope
Early LGBTQ+ characters were framed in a negative manner or "punished" for their sexuality. This was due to laws that perceived homosexual relationships (especially between men) as "perverse." Any engagement in preserve acts was considered illegal for hundreds of years in the western world.
For many years, this was the only way LGBTQ+ characters could be featured in media, however. As Hulan writes, "any author who included positive portrayals of homosexuality in their work could result in an author being accused of 'endorsing' homosexuality," which could result in jail time or having their careers destroyed.
In the Film Industry
In the film industry, LGBTQ+ characters and relationships weren't allowed be seen on screen for many years or had to be portrayed in a negative manner. That was due to the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the "Hays Code."
While LGBTQ+ characters were not explicitly forbidden by the code, according to the article Censoring the Movies — What was the 'Hays Code,' author Nathan Allen writes, "the rules about sex never mention homosexuality as a forbidden subject, but it was understood that the phrasing, '…pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing' meant no mention of gay love, sex, etc. in a positive light."
While society's attitude, and subsequent laws, about LGBTQ+ people and relationships have become more positive over the years, the "Bury Your Gays" trope is still prevalent. While LGBTQ+ characters are less likely to be portrayed negatively, their stories now often fall into the "Too Good for the Sinful World" narrative.
According to TVTropes.org, these are stories that "tackle the subject of homophobia and then depict LGBT characters as suffering victims who die tragic deaths from an uncaring world." Often, these deaths are "in service of another straight, cisgender character’s plot line," writes GLAAD in their Where We Are on TV 2017-2018 report.
Where are We Today?
While the use of the "Bury Your Gays" trope has lessened over the years, it piqued in the 2015-2016 television year when 29 lesbian and bisexual women died on television, as reported by Vox.com. Since then, "broadcast has been slow to recover," with its LGBTQ+ representation, according to GLAAD's Where We Are on TV 2019-2020 report.
"It is worth pointing out that summer and early fall of 2019 programming has included the death or presumed death of several queer women," writes GLAAD, "It is critical that these instances prove to be anomalies rather than a resurgence of [the 'bury your gays' trope.]"
Why Does Media Matter?
With media being one of the biggest influencers on how people perceive LGBTQ+ people and queer people see themselves, it's on creators to take responsibility and no longer promote harmful tropes or stereotypes. With more than 20% of people aged 18 to 34 identifying as LBGTQ+, according to GLAAD, now, more than ever, we need positive representation in media.
Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO and president of GLAAD, says it best: "It is not enough just to have an LGBTQ character present to win an LGBTQ audience’s attention. There needs to be nuance and depth to their story, and the slate of characters should reflect the full diversity of our community."
We have one goal at #HaltTheSilence: To change how media discusses and portrays LGBTQ+ characters and themes. And we need help — your help!
We’re looking for content creators of all kinds to join us. Want to discuss LGBTQ+ tropes and media and why they need to stop? Maybe you just want to discuss your favorite LBGTQ+ characters. If so, we want to see it! We’d love to showcase your work on our upcoming blog and share it with our followers.
Don’t forget to tag or @ us on social media via #HaltTheSilence if you have something you want to promote or have news to share. We’re also interested in promoting and sharing campaigns that are working on or showcasing LGBTQ+ media.
We’re also looking for help in the following roles:
Writer
Artist
Art designer
UX designer
Video Editor
If interested, please email us at [email protected] with your information (name, social media handles, what you’re interested in producing).
Please note that #HaltTheSilence was created by fans, for fans. At this time, we cannot offer monetary compensation for your work, only our eternal gratitude. Thank you.
So remember how we said we should criticize the media about how they portray LGBTQ+ characters and themes? Here comes Adam Williams only a couple of hours later, proving our point.
Let’s talk about why Dean’s bisexuality mattered beyond people wanting to see their favorite characters finally together. Because yes, it really was about so much more.
Picture this. You’re queer. And you’re desperate. Desperate to see yourself in media, portrayed in a way that is positive and inspiring. But you’re let down once again, by the show you were passionate about. An angel came out as queer and in love. In Spanish and only in Spanish, the human said he loved him back. But one is then erased from the narrative. The other is killed, violently.
There’s a reason the end of Supernatural has left an impact on you. There’s a reason it has made you think of every queer character you know in media that has died just for being who and what they are. There’s a reason it hurts.
It’s because, again and again, it means your story is being censored. You are being erased.
But we say halt. Let’s halt this silence once and for all.
That’s what HaltTheSilence is. We are queer fans just like you, tired of being silenced too. We are tired of letting others get to say how we think and feel, or tell us what stories we have are good enough. We say no.
And we’ll explain why. Through facts. Through reasoning. By promoting discussion and discourse in a way that makes storytellers, writers and networks alike, finally listen. We say halt. And we want you to say it too.
We’re not a campaign to end a network. We want to be a movement. We want fans’ voices to get taken seriously. We want our stories to stop being erased. And we want you to join us.
If you’re interested, join us. Follow us on social media. Tell us how you’re going to say halt. Let’s do this, together.
Halt the Silence started as part of a campaign to target networks erasing queer stories, but quickly grew beyond the original vision. Once that happened, we separated from the original group and decided to forge our path. Any and all material on our website and social media were created by our team or is being used with express permission by the original creators. Our amazing profile pic art is by @artofmisi. If you have any questions regarding the transition, please email us at [email protected].
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
izzy806
gummygunk
baratheonpilled