Ryan Murphy argues that 'Glee' has been integral to US equal rights battle

Ryan Murphy has argued that Glee has been a major driving force behind America’s changing attitudes toward its LGBT community.

While accepting an award from the Family Equality Council, the Glee co-creator explained that he believes the FOX show has played a vital role in presenting LGBT issues to people who would have otherwise remained ignorant to the community’s cause.

“I think the success of Glee brought gay kids and gay families to millions of people who think they didn’t know those kinds of people, and then suddenly, within the course of one month, they did,” said Murphy. “To me, that is the great legacy of these shows and is why public opinion, I think, has changed so radically and so quickly.”

He continued: “I have been told that seven years ago, before Glee and Modern Family and Transparent and Orange Is the New Black, that only 18% of Americans believed that a gay or non-traditional family was entitled to equal rights.”

“Today, that number has grown to 52%. That is a great change, that is a great victory, shockingly in such a short amount of time, but there is more work to be done,” he added.

Glee’s final season is currently airing on Sky1 in the UK.

Ryan Murphy argues that ‘Glee’ has been integral to US equal rights battle

In This Article: