On the heels of the passage of Proposition 8 in California, coverage has focused on our lack of progress on giving equal rights to gays and lesbians. It may be good, though, to see how far we have come. The covers here give some perspective.
The first two, ten years apart, demonstrate that magazine editors, when faced with the prospect of illustrating gay issues, went no farther than the hands. Be safe. Stick with symbolism, not actual people. Heaven forbid we should look at faces. Time’s cover is from 1979. Newsweek’s is from 1990. Not much progress in the intervening 11 years.
Also, not much originality. At least Newsweek did not ask “How Gay is Gay.”
Fast forward to People magazine August 2008. Look at Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi’s wedding. Faces and everything. Just like real people celebrating their wedding.
No comments:
Post a Comment