Media pushes for acceptance of LGBTQI+ agenda
THE media is a tool for setting various agendas and causes.
It is the most effective tool for swaying emotions and opinions, and dictating issues that people think and talk about.
The Western media is very good at this.
Because of its financial and political muscle, it has the power to influence and direct what the world talks about and focuses attention on.
A prime example is the conversation around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+), and other sexual minorities movement.
At the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Western media prescribed that the transgender agenda was a priority issue for global discussion. The topic was pushed onto the same priority list as urgent global issues like famine, disease and war.
Even at unrelated platforms, journalists from Western media houses started forcing and challenging different world leaders, and particularly those from Africa, to divulge their governments’ LGBTQI+ policies.
Even when they decline to talk about it, the mission is successful because they will have been forced to focus on it and get media attention on whatever they say or do not say.
Through various media platforms like television, films, books, magazines, radio, theatre, music and social media, it is evident that the media has played the most prominent role in promoting LGBTQI+ visibility and, ultimately, fostering public acceptance.
The LGBTQI+ movement has benefited from the purposeful shift in the Western media, comes because, knowledge, with increased familiarity exposure and acceptance.
Over the past few decades, especially the last few years after the Covid-19 pandemic, the international media landscape underwent significant content transformation in the portrayal and inclusion of diverse communities.
It is now commonplace for mainstream films and even children’s cartoons to feature homosexual and transgender characters.
Increased media visibility has played a crucial role in the acceptance of LGBTQI+ people and issues.
The majority of Zimbabweans present themselves as highly conservative and intolerant of sexual minorities and gender diversity.
LGBTQI+ issues are regarded as Western ideas but the Zimbabwe media has also increased visibility on LGBTQI+ issues.
It is not about the movement’s pros and cons, but about the role and power of the media in highlighting issues and ideas to the extent that they have become topical issues that have got people talking, even if it is to condemn and reject the ideas.
The media will be doing its job of presenting ideas.
As people discuss ideas, recognition, acceptance or rejection follow consciously or unconsciously.
Different local alternative media platforms are slowly providing platforms for individuals in the LGBTQI+ community to share their experiences and challenges.
The increasing visibility is exposing local audiences — no matter how conservative they may be — to diverse unconventional perspectives, which foster empathy and, in turn, is leading to gradual acceptance and tolerance.
Acceptance and tolerance of ideas are not overnight processes, but take place through gradual permeation.
The irony is, the majority of Zimbabweans on social media have unconsciously become more tolerant and accepting of sexual minorities.
One of the most popular Zimbabwean social media celebrities is a transgender woman by the name of Tatelicious.
She has thousands of followers and is much sought after and loved for her controversial views and opinions on various social matters.
Media representation has contributed to challenging stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding sexual minorities.
By showcasing the personal stories of individuals in minority populations, the media humanises them.
Empathy was triggered when the media threw the limelight on the story of the award-winning intersex athlete, South African Caster Semenya.
Through her story, people were educated about the congenital intersex condition.
Local advocates and organisations for the intersex community in Zimbabwe are slowly breaking through by speaking about it and educating people through alternative media sources.
Documentaries, news segments and online resources help to disseminate knowledge and awareness about challenges faced by minority communities.
Increased and repeated focus on ideas once considered anathema fosters tolerance and acceptance of those notions in even the most conservative societies.