[1] Straightwashing plays out through both historical revisionism and through works of fiction, especially television and cinema, whereby characters who were originally portrayed as homosexual, bisexual, or asexual are misrepresented as heterosexual.
Common justifications for straightwashing include "producers' concerns about audience reactions and social norms and stereotypes regarding acceptable forms of queerness.
[7] The Motion Picture Production Code also led to the elimination of depictions of bisexuality in the film version of Truman Capote's novel Breakfast at Tiffany's.
As well, the Code led to the elimination of a gay relationship in the film version of Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
[9][10] The New York Times published no more than two front-page articles per year that made any kind of references to gays from the end of World War II through until 1965.
[14] Edward Alwood (1996),[14] James Kinsella (1989)[15] and Randy Shilts (1987)[16] all commented on The Times' silence in relation to LGBT issues, especially the AIDS crisis.
[17] The X-Men character Mystique is depicted as bisexual in the comic books, with her most prominent relationship was with Destiny, a female "fellow member of the Brotherhood of Mutants with whom she raised a child.
As well, several translations into other languages of the final season, Stars, also changed the Sailor Starlights of Yaten, Seiya, and Taiki, who take on a day role as part of a boy band but who transform into females when they take on their superheroine persona.
[24] The 2004 Japanese anime adaptation of the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, the character of Eugénie Danglars was altered to being the heterosexual love interest of Albert de Morcerf.
Evocative of phallic penetration, the task is to "shoot 10 players with the Silver Shafted Arrow", which is a special holiday item that creates a small, cupid-like goblin that flits about the target.
Chang states that video games such as Assassin's Creed and World of Warcraft "manipulate race and sexuality, reinforce stereotypes and sometimes lack diversity".
[32] After the mass shooting of gay men at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a gay club, some commentators did not refer to the LGBT victims, with the Republican National Committee denouncing "violence against any group of people simply for their lifestyle or orientation" and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not mentioning LGBT people in his statement.
Activist John Becker stated that media are "straightwashing" the attack by "downplaying or even omitting the fact that the shooting was a crime of hatred against the LGBT community".
[36] She says that while big companies sponsor activities and include rainbow themes in their publicity materials, they hire straight celebrities to endorse products and brands for the event, with few "dar[ing] to use the words "gay", "lesbian", "trans" or "bi" when they show their support for Pride".