The Gays Are Slaying and Being Slayed
Storytelling has long mirrored society’s fears, prejudices, and desires, often relegating queer characters to tragic fates. This phenomenon, known as the "Bury Your Gays" trope, has plagued LGBTQ+ representation for decades, particularly in genres like horror, where parallels between queerness and fear are frequently drawn. From its origins as a narrative tool to its lasting impact on media, this trope has shaped perceptions of queer identities. However, as modern creators challenge its harmful legacy, new avenues for authentic LGBTQ+ representation are emerging, transforming the way queer stories are told.
The Persistent Harm of the "Bury Your Gays" Trope
The “Bury Your Gays” trope highlights the disproportionate deaths of LGBTQ+ characters in media, often reinforcing stereotypes about queer suffering. As TVTropes.org notes, these characters are frequently depicted as more expendable than their heterosexual counterparts, making their deaths feel less impactful to the broader narrative.
Bookriot expands on this idea, pointing out that the trope goes beyond individual loss, often undermining the validity of queer relationships and identities. This narrative device is not limited to horror; it appears across genres, particularly in stories involving queer romantic relationships. A tragic death frequently follows moments of intimacy, such as a first kiss or a sexual encounter, sending a harmful message about the consequences of queer love.
The recurring tragedy lies not only in the loss of these characters but also in the manner of their deaths. Many portrayals perpetuate stereotypes of LGBTQ+ individuals enduring suffering, reinforcing a pattern of despair associated with queer stories.
Breaking Down the Variants of the "Bury Your Gays" Trope
The “Bury Your Gays” trope has evolved into a troubling narrative pattern, with several distinct variants that highlight the recurring fate of LGBTQ+ characters in media. As TVTropes.org outlines, these variations reflect different ways queer characters are marginalized or erased through death or suffering:
- Gay Guy Dies First
Often, the only queer character in a story is killed off early, well before their straight counterparts, minimizing their role and impact. - Gayngst-Induced Suicide
This variant involves an LGBTQ+ character attempting or committing suicide due to internalized or external struggles tied to their identity. - Homophobic Hate Crime
A queer character becomes the victim of violence, frequently culminating in murder, driven by homophobia. - Out of the Closet, Into the Fire
After coming out, a character faces immediate harm, death, or cosmic punishment, reinforcing the idea that embracing their identity leads to suffering. - Tragic AIDS Story
Often centered on gay men, this narrative focuses on the miseries of HIV and AIDS, sometimes portraying it as a moral or karmic consequence of homosexuality. - Vasquez Always Dies
Named after the butch-coded character Vasquez from Aliens, this trope reflects the recurring demise of lesbian-coded or butch characters, who are often given disproportionately violent or drawn-out deaths.
Furthermore, according to Pride Reads, the "Bury Your Gays" trope is driven by several recurring themes that underline its harmful impact on representation:
- Advancing a Straight Character's Plot: The death of a queer character is often used as a device to further the story arc of a cisgender heterosexual character.
- Fleeting Happiness: Queer characters who find joy or love are quickly met with tragedy, suggesting their happiness is inherently fleeting.
- Chronic Turbulence: LGBTQ+ characters often endure turbulent lives filled with systemic homophobia and emotional turmoil.
- Disproportionate Mortality: Queer characters are frequently the only ones to die, emphasizing their expendability within the narrative.
These patterns not only perpetuate negative stereotypes about LGBTQ+ identities but also limit the scope of authentic representation in storytelling, reinforcing harmful ideas about queer lives and experiences.
The Origins of "Bury Your Gays" and Its Cultural Legacy
The "Bury Your Gays" trope, as noted by Screen Rant in 2022, traces its roots back to 19th-century literature and early cinema. Initially, it emerged as a creative workaround for queer authors navigating restrictive publishing and censorship environments. In an era where openly queer characters or themes were deemed unacceptable, authors often resorted to killing off their LGBTQ+ characters. By portraying their deaths as tragic consequences, these authors avoided accusations of promoting so-called “perverse acts,” which could lead to their works being censored or even criminalized.
While this tactic allowed queer stories to exist, it perpetuated harmful portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters as mentally unstable or morally corrupt. These depictions evolved into the "Depraved Homosexual" trope, which cast queer characters as villains whose sexuality fueled their malevolence. This trope also laid the groundwork for the damaging stereotypes that influenced societal attitudes, including the now-debunked "homosexual panic" theory coined in 1920 by psychiatrist Edward J. Kemp. Kemp described homosexual panic as a psychological condition triggered by repressed desires, a concept that later morphed into the homophobic "gay panic defense" used to justify violent crimes against queer individuals.
The Hays Code and the Rise of Queer Coding
The 1920s and 1930s saw increasing visibility of LGBTQ+ characters in film, but this progress was stymied by the implementation of the Hays Code in 1934. Spearheaded by William Hays, a former congressman, and supported by conservative and religious groups, this set of 36 strict guidelines regulated on-screen content. It banned profanity, explicit violence, and “sexual perversion,” which effectively prohibited positive depictions of LGBTQ+ characters.
As a result, filmmakers resorted to queer coding—implying queerness through mannerisms, dialogue, or appearance—while simultaneously villainizing these characters to adhere to the code. This led to a proliferation of flamboyant villains or tragic queer figures whose fates reinforced societal biases. Noncompliance with the Hays Code often resulted in blacklisting, further silencing queer voices in media.
The Hays Code remained in effect until 1968 when it was replaced by the MPAA rating system. Although this shift opened the door for more explicit and diverse representation, the legacy of tropes like "Bury Your Gays" persists across genres, particularly in horror. This genre, with its historical parallels to queer fear and societal anxieties, continues to grapple with these harmful narrative devices, even as modern creators push for more authentic representation.
Modern Examples of the "Bury Your Gays" Trope
The "Bury Your Gays" trope continues to surface in contemporary media, often sparking debates about representation and the treatment of LGBTQ+ characters, which illustrates how this narrative device persists and the varied reactions it elicits.
One notable instance occurred during the final season of Supernatural in November 2020. Castiel, a beloved character, confesses his love for Dean Winchester before sacrificing himself to save him. Castiel’s ultimate fate is to be dragged into The Empty, a void where angels and demons go upon death. While the moment was a groundbreaking declaration of queer love in the series, the immediate death of the character overshadowed this representation, leaving fans divided.
The 2021 film Halloween Kills introduced Big John and Little John, the first queer characters in the franchise's four-decade history. While their inclusion marked progress for LGBTQ+ visibility, their deaths soon after their introduction drew criticism. Many viewers felt their demise reinforced the expendability of queer characters, though others dismissed it as consistent with the franchise's treatment of most characters. The debate highlighted a recurring frustration: when limited representation exists, the loss of these characters carries disproportionate weight.
Perhaps one of the most jarring examples is from 2019’s It Chapter Two. The film opens with a brutal attack on a gay couple, Adrian and Don, at a fairground. After a group of homophobic men assaults them, Adrian is thrown off a bridge and left struggling in a river. As Don rushes to help, Adrian is gruesomely killed by Pennywise the Clown. This harrowing sequence, lifted directly from Stephen King’s novel, was inspired by a real-life hate crime, making its inclusion even more unsettling for viewers. The scene prompted warnings online due to its graphic and disturbing nature, underlining the potential harm of revisiting such violence in fictional settings.
Breaking Free from the "Bury Your Gays" Trope
A common pushback against criticism of the "Bury Your Gays" trope is the notion that LGBTQ+ characters are being held to a different standard—essentially arguing that queer characters shouldn’t die in storylines. However, the issue isn’t about shielding LGBTQ+ characters from tragedy but rather how their deaths are portrayed and the patterns that emerge in storytelling.
According to Bookriot, queer characters can die in narratives without perpetuating the "Bury Your Gays" trope. A prime example is Rent, the acclaimed musical set during the height of the AIDS epidemic. Many of its characters are queer, and several grapple with HIV or AIDS, including Angel, who ultimately dies from the disease.
What sets Rent apart from the trope, as Bookriot explains, are several factors:
- Queerness as a Celebrated Aspect: Angel's identity is explored and admired, rather than serving as a justification for their death.
- Historical Context: The story’s setting during the AIDS crisis lends authenticity to the characters’ experiences, making Angel's death a reflection of the times rather than a punishment.
- Abundance of Representation: The presence of multiple queer characters, with most surviving, counters the trope’s tendency to isolate and target the only LGBTQ+ figure in a narrative.
The critical difference lies in the framing. The "Bury Your Gays" trope often positions queer characters as expendable, implying their queerness inherently precludes a happy ending, which reinforces harmful stereotypes that equate being LGBTQ+ with inevitable suffering.
Acknowledging this distinction allows for richer storytelling where queer characters can face challenges or even tragic fates without being reduced to a trope. By shifting the focus to nuanced and multidimensional representation, creators can move beyond the reductive narratives that have historically defined LGBTQ+ characters in media.
Moving Beyond Tragedy: Embracing Authentic Queer Stories
As the landscape of LGBTQ+ representation continues to evolve, more and more queer characters are being given the opportunity to exist beyond the confines of tragedy and victimhood. Films like Call Me by Your Name and Love, Simon showcase queer stories that, while not always happy, present complex, multifaceted characters whose struggles are not solely defined by their identities. The shift from tragic, expendable characters to fully developed, human beings marks an important move away from the "Bury Your Gays" trope.
This progress, however, relies on the voices and creativity of queer creators, both in front of and behind the camera. Supporting queer filmmakers and stories—whether mainstream or indie—helps amplify authentic representation in Hollywood, creating a more inclusive space for queer narratives to thrive. As more diverse, nuanced LGBTQ+ stories are told, we move closer to a future where queer characters are celebrated not for their suffering, but for their humanity.
Now is the time for queer creators to push boundaries, take risks, and bring new, vibrant ideas to life, knowing that when passion and joy guide their work, they contribute to the shifting tides of queer representation in media.
And remember: every day is all we have, so you've got to make your own happiness.
For more information on this topic, listen to Episode 125. Bury Your Gays.
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