Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

This article contains minor spoilers for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The 100, and Wynonna Earp.

Have you ever sat down to watch a TV show or movie, only to notice that an LGBTQ+ character dies for what is seemingly no reason? Unfortunately, this occurrence, known as the “Bury Your Gays’’ trope, is all too common in media, where queer characters are given a tragic ending or death at a far greater rate than straight characters. This is often done for shock value, to further another character’s plot, or for the simple reason that these characters are not seen as important to the story.

One of the reasons that I love Syfy’s Wynonna Earp, the supernatural genre show currently on its fourth season, is that it goes against this trope, allowing its LGBTQ+ characters happiness and never killing them for reasons like those explained above. I would describe Wynonna Earp’s contribution to representation as important, specifically because of the fact that it defies the norm of queer suffering.

Before I talk about Wynonna Earp and how it defies the Bury Your Gays trope, why is it that LGBTQ+ characters are subject to this fate so often? The trope has actually existed since the 19th century, where queer characters in literature often only existed in subtext and died in the end — “punished” for their homosexuality. However, the specific Bury Your Gays trope in TV and film began in the 1930s with the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Hays Code. Concern about inappropriate content in films and scandals involving film stars led to fear that the government would begin to censor films. Rather than waiting for the government to censor them, Hollywood studios decided to adopt their own set of rules regarding what content could be included in films — effectively self-censoring.

The Hays Code restricted content a great deal, and many of its rules sprung from a focus on maintaining Catholic values. Some of the rules restricted or banned profanity, nudity, sexual content, childbirth scenes, the sale of drugs, violence, and sympathy towards criminals. One rule banned any sexual perversion, which meant that homosexuality could not be depicted in any way in films. If any character was even implied to be gay, they were often the villain in the story.