The LGBTQ+ Writers Committee of the Writers Guild of America West published a letter on Friday pressing Hollywood to hire more LGBTQ+ writers for film and television production, promote better representation of LGBTQ+ stories, and challenge non-inclusive work environments.
“We are here to tell you that the fight for inclusion and visibility has hardly begun” the letter, which was released during Pride Month in advance of this weekend’s L.A.’s Pride Celebration, reads.
Pointing to the harms that Hollywood has perpetrated against the LGBTQ+ community in the past, the group argues that while there has been progress, equitable representation still lags.
“Of the 118 films released by the major studios in 2019, a mere 22 – only 18.6% – included a single LGBTQ+ character,” the statement reads. Additionally, “of those, only nine featured an LGBTQ+ character for more than ten minutes of screen time. And, of course, the statistics are far more dire when looking at representation for queer BIPOC and queer disabled characters.”
The group also shares troubling reports from its members: “In the past five years, 22% of LGBTQ+ Committee members report having been the target of overt discrimination and/or harassment in an industry setting based on their identity,” the letter says. “That number jumps to 57% when looking at micro-aggressions.”
A survey conducted last month of over 150 committee members found that “a staggering 46% of writers reported that they have hidden their identity — or felt compelled to do so — in an industry environment.” The letter argues that “we must challenge any environment where queer writers feel the need to hide their identity.”
LGBTQ+ writers are also left out of the conversation about increasing diversity in Hollywood, the letter argues, even though “LGBTQ+ people share a culture, a psychology, and a history of political and religious oppression.”
The almost 2,100-word statement closes with a number of solutions. They include points of common sense (“read us”) and also suggestions that could be swiftly applicable, such as, “if you are looking to tell a story about a specific queer POV — rather than hire a cishet writer, only to later bring us in [as consultants] to achieve a degree of authenticity — hire a queer writer at the outset.”
The letter, which can be read in full here, concludes, “it is present-day Hollywood’s responsibility to make right all the harm caused by Hollywood’s past. The notion that even a single queer character will be deemed too much of a risk in our increasingly global market is unacceptable. Reject this idea, or knowingly choose to reject us. Either way, we see you.”
— An Oral History of A Different World, as Told by the Cast and Crew
— Home Truths: How HGTV, Magnolia, and Netflix Are Building a Massive Space
— Cruella de Vil Is Wicked—But Tallulah Bankhead Was Even Wilder
— Why Mare of Easttown Always Had to End That Way
— Cover Story: Issa Rae Says Goodbye to Insecure
— Kathryn Hahn All Along
— Why Kim’s Convenience Matters
— Court Dismisses Anti-Trans Assault Lawsuit Against Rosario Dawson
— From the Archive: When Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Made Perfect Sense
— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of Awards Insider.