Abstract
This special issue of the Journal of Communication Inquiry explores the mediated political and cultural battle over equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. I chose this topic in part because of the many recent and ongoing developments in LGBTQ rights, including but not limited to the high-profile issue of marriage equality. I also chose it in part for the potential fecundity for critical scholarship. The comparison has often been made between the current struggle for LGBTQ equality and the Civil Rights and Feminist fights for equality as they existed in and around the 1960s. But in the academy at that time (especially in the U.S. tradition of mass communication research), critical scholarship was in something of an infancy. Today journalism and mass communication academics who are interested in LGBTQ issues have decades of critical cultural work to draw upon while observing first hand a period of significant legal and cultural change. So it was an honor and a pleasure as editor, with the full support of the JCI team, to provide a space to showcase some of the work being done in this area.
Lori Blachford of Drake University is a long-time member of the GLBT interest group of the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and just finished a tour of duty as the group’s research chair. She has compiled some thoughts on the current state of LGBTQ scholarship in mass communication research and where it has room to grow.
Our first research article takes a step back in time to look at how a collective of women in Austin, Texas created one of the earliest known lesbian publications in the state. José Araiza uses standpoint feminist theory in “Saying Goodbye to Men: Southern Feminists Publishing News While Challenging Patriarchy” to explore how the various intersections of their identity were reflected in the media they created.
From the 1970s we move into the 1980s and 1990s as John Ike Sewell deconstructs the discourse surrounding the queer identity in the wake of the AIDS crisis. In “Becoming Rather Than Being: Queer’s Double-Edged Discourse as Deconstructive Practice,” Sewell uses Laclau’s logic of equivalence to argue that the term queer became an empty signifier for the LGBTQ movement and discusses the implications of this development.
D. Travers Scott moves us into the 21st century with his article, “The Empathic Meme: Situating Chris Crocker within the Media History of LGBT Equality Struggles.” Scott examines the affect, sound, and site in the viral video created in Crocker’s Leave Britney Alone! video and how people commented upon, parodied, and otherwise reacted to the video.
Viral videos are also key to Erica Ciszek’s “Cracks in the Glass Slipper: Does It Really ‘Get Better’ for LGBTQ Youth, or Is It Just Another Cinderella Story?” Ciszek deconstructs the meaning behind the most viewed videos from the highly publicized “It Gets Better” campaign. Using narrative tropes of the fairy tale, this article offers a critique on the messages contained within the narrative structure of many of these videos.
Our final piece of research, “What a Year! The Framing of Marriage Equality Through Media’s Selected Sources in 2013,” looks at a recent year in an old news medium. Nathian Rodriguez examines the 2013 coverage of same-sex marriage in the New York Times and asks: Who was getting interviewed and what frames were their quotes carrying into the news coverage?
On a more personal note, this will be my last issue as managing editor for the JCI, as my 1-year appointment draws to a close and I transition to focus on my dissertation research. It has been truly a privilege to helm the journal over the past year, and I leave it now in the capable hands of my colleagues and friends, John Haman (new managing editor) and Andrea Weare (new reviews editor). I would like to thank Dr. Meenakshi Durham for her bedrock support and wise council the past year. Her support as our faculty advisor and her passion for critical cultural studies is absolutely crucial to the publication. I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank the faculty and graduate students who serve on the JCI advisory board, the members of the editorial board, our many selfless reviewers, our contributors, and the hard-working staff at Sage, who help guide the journal from accepted manuscripts into publication.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this issue to family, friends, and scholarly colleagues who are part of the LGBTQ community. It is a sincere pleasure and a sublime honor to be allowed to stand with you as an ally.
All the best,