Queers: Americas New Nigger

MTV is probably the largest perpetuator of these stereotypes, and the largest propagators of the idea that homosexuals are an oppressed class. As I said before, I'm do not intend to discuss the "right and wrongs" of homosexuality. But I might be considered a bigot simply for saying that there is a "right and wrong" to discuss, if you follow the MTV credo. MTV would have you believe that they are a supporter of free speech, thought and discussion. But this is only true if the discussion results in all the parties involved following their beliefs. Nearly every season of MTV's Real World features what has become known as a "token" homosexual. Basically they put a gay roommate on the show along with someone who's considered homophobic to create drama. And it does create drama, but more importantly it creates a "discussion" about homosexuality. If the homophobe (who is almost always from some small town) doesn't change their views and embrace homosexuality, all of the other roommates will soon come to dislike them.

To be a homophobe on MTV doesn't necessarily mean that you hate gay people, or even that you are afraid of them. As soon as you hear a roommate say anything like "I haven't been around gay people very much, and I'm not sure how I feel about them" you might as well call that person the homophobe for the rest of the season. By the end of the season the former "homophobe" is always "enlightened" from their experience living with a real homosexual. The underlying message being that only an ignorant yokel would dare question the morality of homosexuality.

In 2001 MTV released a film called Anatomy of a hate crime, based loosely on the 1998 killing of a homosexual college student in Laramie Wyoming. The movie epitomized the way MTV approaches homosexual issues. Mathew Shepard was portrayed as some sort of flawless budding modern day renaissance man, overflowing with brilliance and piety. The killers had very little depth and each came across like an old west villain who would tie a girl to a train track. Neither the victim nor the killers exuded enough humanity to be realistic. The end result was a film that borderlines on propaganda, and tells those who watch that anti-gay hate crimes are only committed by ignorant rednecks who are jealous of the superiority of homosexuals.