Gay Stereotypes in Film

Venereal Disease:
Hey it’s the 80’s, I’m gay, and I have AIDS! Yes, the effeminate gay man of the 80’s must have sex with lots of partners, do lots of drugs, and have those tell-tale purplish spots which denote “AIDS victim.” Most of these movies have some sort of agenda (you can’t catch AIDS from shaking hands, gay people are people too, hip/intelligent/cool heterosexuals who drink wine and eat cheese and read Whitman love gays, etc.) Ironically while the message is ostensibly pro-gay (whoever heard of an anti-gay filmmaker?), the plethora of gay AIDS victims on big and small screens does nothing but propagate the erroneous and harmful conclusion that AIDS is the God-sent plague of the gay community. Yeah, sure the dying gay man and all his grieving friends and his once-estranged-but-now-close family members garner mucho tears and the occasional Emmy/Oscar, but at what cost to the image of the much beleaguered gay community? Does is ever occur to these directors/actors/producers/writers that one of the reasons “mainstream America” continues to see gay people as “other” is because the mainstream media portrays them as strange and sick and promiscuous? With this image of gayness in the minds of the heterosexual majority, no wonder the fight for gay rights/parenting/marriage is an uphill battle. I mean what normal person would want to encourage the state to give custody of small children to an AIDS infested, perverted home? The Hollywood stereotype may be good for the box-office, but it’s a death knell for Gay America.
Hey it’s the 1800’s, I’m gay, nobody loves me, AND I have syphilis! (see above)

Costumes:
Leather and feathers and glitter, oh my!

Gay men love Divas:
Hey, I’m gay and I love [blank] (insert strong or masculine or drug-addicted actress here)!

The Lisp:
Explain the lisp thing, please! I’ve known lots of gay men and not one of them had a lisp.