History Main / QueerShowGhetto

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* {{Lampshaded}} in one of Creator/NeilPatrickHarris' UsefulNotes/{{Tony|AwardWinners}} [[Platform/{{Broadway}} Awards]] opening performances, where he does a number saying that "[Broadway]'s not just for gays anymore".

* {{Lampshaded}} in one of Creator/NeilPatrickHarris' UsefulNotes/{{Tony|AwardWinners}} [[UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} Awards]] opening performances, where he does a number saying that "[Broadway]'s not just for gays anymore".

Naturally, this denotes an LGBTFanbase, and these works are more likely than others to have [[QueerCharacterQueerActor queer actors]], too.

Alternative programming channels may have large fanbases of young people and/or socially liberal people, which can extend a fanbase when queer themes are included in works shown there. Creator/{{LOGO}} used to be this in the United States; Creator/Channel4 is this in the United Kingdom.

->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a [[{{Music/Liberace}} Liberace]] biopic was just 'too gay' to make money."''

->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a [[{{Creator/Liberace}} Liberace]] biopic was just 'too gay' to make money."''

->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a [[Creator/Liberace Liberace]] biopic was just 'too gay' to make money."''

->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a Liberace biopic was just 'too gay' to make money."''

Works involving same-gender romances or LGBT+ topics are watched/read most predominantly by members of the UsefulNotes/LGBTCommunity . This may be caused by being assumed to only be for people who are LGBT by everyone else; a potential level of homophobia within other potential audiences; and "mainstream" creators or distributors not wanting to use a queer narrative because they believe it will be unpopular, forcing these stories to be themselves marginalized and only accessible by audiences who go out of their way looking for them -- these audiences often the LGBT+ people who have been elsewhere starved of representation -- making the stigma that causes the ghetto self-fulfilling.

Works involving same-gender romances or LGBT+ topics are watched/read most predominantly by members of the LGBT community. This may be caused by being assumed to only be for people who are LGBT by everyone else; a potential level of homophobia within other potential audiences; and "mainstream" creators or distributors not wanting to use a queer narrative because they believe it will be unpopular, forcing these stories to be themselves marginalized and only accessible by audiences who go out of their way looking for them -- these audiences often the LGBT+ people who have been elsewhere starved of representation -- making the stigma that causes the ghetto self-fulfilling.

->''"''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' is, in some ways, a new kind of Hollywood film [...] Why wouldn't the film studios touch it? Because they thought a Liberace biopic was just "too gay" to make money."''

* ''Film/MySummerOfLove'', a ComingOfAge PsychoLesbian religious summer movie starring a young Creator/EmilyBlunt. Notably, it was the lesbian and 15-years-too-early version of ''Film/GodsOwnCountry'' (which is set in the same place and mixes MSOL's story with that of ''Film/BrokebackMountain''), which was mainstream popular in 2017/18.

See also MinorityShowGhetto and GirlShowGhetto. See WatchedItForTheRepresentation for when people tune in to a work for its LGBT representation.

!!Breaking Out of the Ghetto:

%%[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
%%* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manages to be one of the most influential anime out there even with the large amount of LesYay and the canon lesbians, though many characters did [[HideYourLesbians censoring]] during their original dubs (though much of the LesYay still made it through and [[DubText if anything]] they made [[KissingCousins Haruka/Michuru even more noticeable]]).
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film -- Live Action]]
* Despite being the pun of many "{{gay cowboy}}" jokes ''Film/BrokebackMountain'' is well known, and was even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
%%* ''Film/{{Tomboy}}'' was successful despite [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation either]] being about a preteen UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} child or about a young lesbian romance depending on your interpretation.
%%* ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour'', along with the original play, is about two women who get mistaken for a couple in the early 20th century. Despite (or because of) the [[ItWasHisSled popular 'spoiler']] that Martha was in love with Karen, it's well known. Co-starring Creator/AudreyHepburn probably helped.
* ''Film/BoysDontCry'' is a biopic about trans man Brandon Teena (though [[MisaimedFandom many]] [[TransEqualsGay mistake it for a lesbian story]]) however it avoided the ghetto by becoming mainstream. It has even won a few awards.
* ''Film/{{Moonlight}}'' is a subversion of both this trope and MinorityShowGhetto. A low-budget indie ComingOfAgeStory about a poor black boy growing up and coming to terms with his sexuality doesn't sound like a film that would get much attention. However, it ended up being nominated for multiple awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture, which it won.
* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' was initially in the ghetto - as an underground CultClassic - where the main character is a crossdresser and the WhiteMaleLead turns out to be bisexual. But it has since become more of a mainstream film, and Creator/TimCurry has called it a rite of passage for teenagers.
* ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' had a brief scene cut revealing that Valkyrie was bisexual - although the subtext is still there if you interpret the warrior dying in the flashback to be [[TheLostLenore her lover]]. WordOfGod is that it interrupted the flow of the film (despite being all of ten seconds), and many suspected it was to avoid putting the movie in the ghetto.
* ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' doesn't shy away from Freddie Mercury's bisexuality, yet it became a hit and received several awards. In fact, the film's success was largely thanks to its very positive audience reactions, as professional critics thought the film was SoOkayItsAverage.
* ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' (based on the novel of the same name) is essentially a story about the dysfunctional quasi-romantic relationship between two male vampires, Louis and Lestat. One of them even pulls TheBabyTrap on the other so he won't leave him. Anne Rice (author of the book) thought that they might not be able to make the movie (released in 1994) without making Louis a woman due to all the HomoreroticSubtext. They didn't...and the movie went on to be a commercial success (it made $223.7 million against a budget of $60 million), was generally well-received critically, and was nominated for a bunch of awards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' has [[EveryoneIsBi same-sex romances and homoeroticism out the wazoo]], and a bisexual main character (to be technical, vampires usually don't bother with sex, because their nature as {{Sense Freak}}s makes a great number of things immensely pleasurable and their undead nature can make some of the physical aspects of sex tricky, but they can still experience romantic love). Several of the books were bestsellers, the first three books (''Interview with the Vampire'', ''The Vampire Lestat'' and ''Queen of the Damned'') are generally well-thought-of (YMMV regarding the other books) and the series had a massive influence on vampire fiction in the late 20th century and 21st century.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' was quite popular and mainstream for several seasons, though its popularity dissolved later into the run, despite (or [[LGBTFanbase maybe because of]]) having multiple major LGBT characters and gay romances.
* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' started off on Logo with no budget and little attention from the mainstream. It garnered increased attention each season, eventually transferring to sister network Creator/VH1 and winning several Emmys, including two for Creator/RuPaul herself.
* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' has a few prominent gay characters like Tony, Ryan, and Courtney. Although the latter two had less to do in Season 2, the same season did give Tony a love interest subplot.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had Willow entering a relationship with a woman in Season 4. It didn't hurt the show's viewership, her girlfriend Tara became an EnsembleDarkhorse, and the pairing was recognised as a major trailblazer for LGBT representation on television.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has several [[NonHumanNonBinary technically genderless aliens]] who [[DiscountLesbians pass as female]] [[QueerRomance in love]] with each other but happens to be one of the most popular American cartoons of the mid-2010s.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' was in the works of getting adapted into a TV series as part of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, but it never reached its slated 2018 release on Creator/{{Freeform}} in spite of executive confidence, ostensibly because the network "did not have room in its schedule for the series." However, [[https://www.cbr.com/marvel-new-warriors-bts-photos-squirrel-girl/ showrunner Kevin Biegel later alleged that the actual reason why it never got past its pilot]] was because said pilot "was very proudly gay," but the series was shot down by a since-fired "high level exec with an agenda."

%%* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manages to be one of the most influential anime out there even with the large amount of LesYay and the canon SchoolgirlLesbians, though many characters did [[HideYourLesbians censoring]] during their original dubs (though much of the LesYay still made it through and [[DubText if anything]] they made [[KissingCousins Haruka/Michuru even more noticeable]]).

* ''Film/BendItLikeBeckham'' was originally about a romance between two women interested in football. That was removed both due to worries that the film would be too niche and due to not wanting to perpetuate the LesbianJock stereotype. They ended up tacking on a heterosexual subplot to the film at the last moment.

ButNotTooGay, AmbiguouslyGay, AmbiguouslyBi, and HideYourLesbians are often used to avoid the stigma of seeming "too gay" for people. AdaptationalSexuality is sometimes used to subvert this. Genres like {{Yaoi}}, {{Yuri}}, {{Josei}}, and the {{Bara}} are often designed specifically to be consumed by LGBT people, and therefore are not in a queer ghetto. BoysLoveGenre fiction (which features male/male romance) is also not in a queer ghetto because, despite featuring gay male love interests, much of it is written by and for cishet women.

* In the film version of ''Film/FriedGreenTomatoes'', the lesbian romance was toned down to being implied instead of explicit to market at mainstream audiences.

%%* ''Film/SaveMe'', a drama about a gay drug user who goes to Jesus Camp and kind-of-sort-of starts to turn his life around and then decides that all these people are horrible and leaves, but comes back to reconcile because the people aren't horrible, but the institution is (or something)
%%* ''Film/TheMostlyUnfabulousSocialLifeOfEthanGreen'', a romantic comedy about a neurotic and chronically-single gay guy who constantly screws up all of his relationships, but then finds love (or something)

* ''Film/TheImitationGame'' is a biopic of World War II code breaker Alan Turing, who was tortured for his homosexuality. The film suspiciously avoids [[ButNotTooGay any scenes with Alan and another man together]] and he's only [[ShowDontTell said to have private affairs]]. Overall his homosexuality is completely downplayed, and the film amps up his eccentricities to make him a textbook case of Asperger Syndrome (which he wasn't in real life).

%%* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manages to be one of the most influential anime out there even with the large amount of LesYay and the canon SchoolgirlLesbians, though many characters did [[HideYourLesbians censoring]] during their original dubs (though much of the LesYay still made it through and [[DubText if anything]] they made made [[KissingCousins Haruka/Michuru even more noticeable]]).

* ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' (based on the novel of the same name) is essentially a story about the dysfunctional quasi-romantic relationship between two male vampires, Louis and Lestat. One of them even pulls TheBabyTrap on the other so he won't leave him. Anne Rice (author of the book) thought that they might not be able to make the movie (released in 1994) without making Louis a woman due to all the HomoreroticSubtext. They didn't...and the movie went on to be a commercial success (it made $223.7 million against a budget of $60 million), was generally well-received critically and was nominated for a bunch of awards.

* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' has [[EveryoneIsBi same-sex romances and homoeroticism out the wazoo]], and a bisexual main character (to be technical, vampires usually don't bother with sex, because their nature as {{Sense Freak}}s makes a great number of things immensely pleasurable and their undead nature can make some of the physical aspects of sex tricky, but they can still experience romantic love). Several of the books were bestsellers, the first three books (''Interview with the Vampire'', ''The Vampire Lestat'' and ''Queen of the Damned'') are generally well thought-of (YMMV regarding the other books) and the series had a massive influence on vampire fiction in the late 20th century and 21st century.