In 2017, the major movie studios released a total of 109 films in theaters. Of those, only 14 contained characters identifying as LGBTQ.
GLAAD revealed the startling statistic in their 2018 Studio Responsibility Index.
12.8% of last year’s films had LGBTQ characters, which is a drop from 2016’s 18.4% and 23 films.
GLAAD studied movies released theatrically by the seven highest grossing studios — 20th Century Fox, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony, and Lionsgate.
Using their five-tier grading system, three studios received ‘poor’ ratings (Disney, Paramount, Sony) and two received ‘failing’ (Warner Bros., Lionsgate). The other two, Fox and Universal, received ‘insufficient’ grades. No studio has ever earned the top grade of excellent.
Gay men are still the most represented
64% of the inclusive films featured gay men, making them the most represented of LGBTQ characters. Lesbian representation remained steady at 36%, and bisexual representation saw a slight uptick with 14%.
Zero films included transgender characters.
These disparities are also reflected in general gender and race statistics. 71% of the LGBTQ characters were men and 29% were women.
43% of LGBTQ characters were white, while black and Latinx characters made up 28.5% each. However, this is a decent increase from years past. In 2016, 20% of LGBTQ characters were people of color, while that number jumped to 57% last year.
Overall, the 14 films of 2017 featured 28 LGBTQ characters. This is down from 70 in 2016 and 47 in 2015.
How art house films fare in comparison
GLAAD also looked at the smaller, affiliated studios, more commonly known as art house studios. They studied Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Roadside Attractions, and Sony Pictures Classic.
They released 40 films last year, 11 of which had LGBTQ characters (28%). This is up from 17% in 2016 and 22% in 2015.
These studios put out some of the most highly regarded LGBTQ films. Fox Searchlight’s 2017 releases included Battle of the Sexes and Best Picture winner The Shape of Water.
Meanwhile, the Oscar-winning and beloved films Call Me By Your Name, which is getting a sequel, and A Fantastic Woman came from Sony Pictures Classic.
