Taking convenience
Participants additionally talked about exactly exactly how these part models influenced their identification development and coming-out procedure specifically. One of the ways for which participants’ role models and other GLB media figures impacted these procedures had been by serving as types of convenience for participants (letter = 5). Interestingly, GLB news numbers had this impact even though the GLB figures are not portrayed in a good light. As an example, the very first memory of every homosexual existence in the media for Brian (31, White, homosexual) ended up being their experience of anti-gay spiritual tracts. But, he stated that “even though it had been like actually negative—it ended up being a actually negative small pamphlet—it ended up being comforting. ” certainly, it would appear that for many participants, any GLB existence when you look at the news ended up being reassuring. When you look at the terms of Mary (51, White, lesbian):
As long as you’re thrashing around racking your brains on who you really are, this is the only access that is real’ve reached exactly just what it indicates become homosexual. You read whatever you will get your paws on, you watch whatever gay films are available to you. I assume it is a way that is good of to determine what the deuce this means to be varied, and so what does it seem like? And it’s really good to understand you aren’t the only person into the world.
In quick, GLB news figures shaped Mary’s identification by giving samples of exactly what GLB individuals look and behave like, and such examples had been a way to obtain comfort to her while she ended up being developing her lesbian identity. These feedback will also be in line with the idea that just how people feel the news is essentially a matter of interpretation, and so even negative portrayals of your respective group can positively be experienced ( Dyer, 2000 ).
Other participants additionally talked about the coziness they took in GLB that is positive models. For instance, both Michelle (28, White, bisexual) and Carol (43, White, lesbian) remembered Ellen DeGeneres’ well publicized developing as a supply of comfort in their mind in their own process that is coming-out. As Michelle place it, “it really made me feel want it ended up being ok to be homosexual and therefore it absolutely was ok for me personally become whoever i needed become. ” therefore, Michelle felt validated by Ellen’s coming out. In a vein that is similar Carol said that:
She was going to be coming out on her show, I mean all these feelings erupted inside when I started finding out that Ellen was a lesbian and. We am talking about I had been simply type of—this is a female that is really accepted on tv plus in the global globe and she is going to just simply take this task, and I also felt like I became likely to want to do that at one point or any other. That surely paved the me personallyans for me.
As a result of Ellen, Carol felt that sooner or later she’d also need to turn out, and she used Ellen as a way to obtain guidance during this period.
Although GLB news figures served a essential work as role models for all of the individuals, other individuals weren’t subjected to GLB individuals when you look at the news as a result of scarcity of GLB representation. These participants sought role models with whom they could identify in other ways and used these role models as sources of comfort as a result. As an example, individuals reported determining with news numbers who had been outsiders and whom, like them, differed from current norms. Brian talked about the necessity of comic guide figures to their identification as a young child:
The complete character arc into the X-Men—and it has grown to become more so—was they were apart from everyone else that they were mutants and. And that ended up being somehow reassuring in this struggle that is whole I felt not the same as everyone else. It had been reassuring during those ages … It’s—because there were not many—We suggest here really wasn’t whenever I ended up being growing up—and I grew up in an extremely small town—well, at the least at that time, I happened to be in a tiny city. And there to be realn’t such a thing, you realize, i believe myself in that I could recognize. And I also think mutant possibly had been since near as we could easily get.
Even though the characters when you look at the X-Men show were not freely GLB, Brian identified using them as a result of parallels between their experience as outcasts from culture and his experience as being a homosexual individual who had not been accepted by culture. These similarities comforted Brian making him feel more accepted despite being not the same as their peers. Brian’s interpretation associated with “straight” characters into the X-Men series appears to participate in the tradition of “queer” or outsider readings of texts that lots of marginalized groups have actually used (see Farmer, 2000; Sinfield, 1994 ). Since the most of news representations are of conventional demographic groups, marginalized teams frequently interpret these representations in a “against the grain” fashion, such as for instance reading heterosexual texts just as if they certainly were meant for a homosexual market ( Gross, 2001 ). It seems that in Brian’s instance, appropriating a right text in such a fashion allowed him to affirm his very own identification and discover comfort.
The usage of news numbers as a way to obtain comfort can also be in keeping with past research demonstrating that people with insecurity, lower levels of closeness and security, and lower levels of family satisfaction have a 
tendency to affiliate with superstars to a better degree ( Cheng, 1997; Duck, 1990; Giles & Maltby, 2004 ). Provided GLB people’ marginalized status, such people may be much more expected to have more powerful accessories to superstars, just like people with insecurity are more inclined to have more powerful accessories to a-listers ( Cheng, 1997 ). The chance that GLB people may develop more powerful accessories to news numbers because of the status that is marginalized in should always be explored in future research.
Watching GLB identification more absolutely
Beyond making individuals feel comforted, GLB role models when you look at the news made individuals feel as if it had been acceptable to be GLB and aided individuals see their identification more favorably (n = 4). In essence, seeing GLB individuals when you look at the news normalized these individuals’ own GLB identities making them feel more socially appropriate. For instance, Megan said that the media influenced her coming-out procedure within the following method: