'CSI' Receives Criticism For Portrayal Of Gay Killers

The website After Ellen, recently ran a piece analyzing CSI's use of homosexual and transgender murderers, and their sometimes stereotypical depiction of said characters.

Website writer Miranda Lo argued that while CSI has come a long way in accurately portraying robbers and murderers, it still resorts to negative stereotypes when a homosexual killer is involved. "CSI still routinely depicts LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) characters driven to kill due to their sexuality," Lo wrote. "They are desperate to hide their sexual orientation, psychotically jealous of their lovers, or criminally insane due to gender dysphoria. These representations call to mind the negative stereotypes that pervaded crime dramas in the 1970s and 1980s, when criminals who were gay killed because of their sexuality."

But Lo also makes mention of CSI's good efforts. The show's depiction of LBGT criminals has improved since the organization GLADD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) criticized the episode "Identity Crisis". In the episode, it is revealed recurrent suspect Paul Millander is a transgender, and therein laid the motive for his violent nature. “To have the second female-to-male character presented as a vicious, matricidal serial killer is profoundly disturbing and deeply offensive,” a representative for the organization said soon after the episode aired.

Though CSI's portrayal of homosexual and transgender killers has improved, Lo maintains there is room for more improvement. "The only way that CSI can truly move beyond these limiting and harmful stereotypes is to include openly gay characters who have nothing to do with the crime," she wrote. "Given that CSI is routinely the number one show on television, that would be a giant step forward, indeed."

To read the original article, visit AfterEllen.com.

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