- Of the 114 releases GLAAD counted from the major studios in 2014, 20 (17.5%) contained characters identified as either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This is a slight increase from the 16.7% of films from the same studios we found to be inclusive in 2013.
- Once again, most of the inclusive films (65%) featured gay male characters. Less than a third (30%) featured bisexual characters, and about one tenth (10%) featured lesbian characters. There were no characters GLAAD determined to be identifiably transgender among any films tracked this year.
- The total number of identifiably LGBT characters GLAAD counted this year was 28, slightly up from 25 last year. Though most of the bisexual characters counted were women (6 out of 9), there were more than twice as many (19) male LGBT characters.
- One notable area of improvement this year is an increase in the racial diversity of the LGBT characters identified. In 2014, 32.1% were people of color, compared to 24% last year. Of the 28 characters we counted, 19 were white (67.9%), 3 were Black/African American (10.7%), 2 were Latino/a (7.1%), and 4 were Asian/Pacific Islander (14.3%).
- For the third year in a row, comedies were the most likely major studio films to be LGBT-inclusive. GLAAD identified 19 different studio films as comedies of 114 films tracked, of which 8 (42.1%) were inclusive. By comparison, GLAAD counted 46 films as genre films (action, sci-fi, fantasy), of which only 3 (6.5%) films were inclusive. Additionally, 3 of 13 animated/family films (23.1%), 6 of 33 dramas (18.2%), and none of the 3 documentaries contained LGBT characters.
- The most inclusive major studio tracked this year was Warner Brothers, as 7 of 22 films it released in 2014 (32%) were LGBT-inclusive. Paramount came next with 3 of 13 films (23%), followed by Universal with 3 of 14 films (21%), and Fox with 3 of 17 films (18%). Two of Lionsgate’s 17 films were inclusive (12%), while Disney and Sony were last with 1 of 13 (8%) and 1 of 18 films (6%) respectively.
- This year, GLAAD also examined the film releases of four smaller, affiliated studios (Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Roadside Attractions, and Sony Pictures Classics) to draw a comparison between the mainstream studios and their perceived “art house” or “independent” wings. Of the 47 films released under those studio imprints, we found only 5 to be LGBT-inclusive, or 10.6%.
