A new report from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) claimed that there’s been a decrease in what it labeled LGBTQ representation in films, down from a high the previous year.

According to the advocacy group’s 2024 Studio Responsibility Index, the study — which tracks the “quantity, quality and diversity” of LGBTQ characters in movies — found that of these 256 films in 2023, 70 contained an LGBTQ character. The report bemoaned that this was down from the 100 LGBTQ characters that appeared in 350 movies the organization tracked in 2022.

It looked at the movies from the ten major studios, listed as Netflix, The Walt Disney Studios, A24, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros. Discover, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, Sony, and their subsidiaries, GLAAD noted.

GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index Finds Decline in Overall LGBTQ Representation, But More Lead Roles and Racial Diversityhttps://t.co/BISh3FabKG

— Variety (@Variety) September 17, 2024

The report analyzed how each of these studios did representing the LGBTQ community and the results are pretty shocking. Despite having numerous films that fit this criteria, GLAAD gave most an “insufficient” or “fair” rating.

For example, Walt Disney, who it said produced 14 “LGBTQ-inclusive” films out of 37, was given an “insufficient” score. A24 created 5 “LGBTQ-inclusive” films out of just 16 movies, and also was considered “insufficient.”

In one section of the report, the organization bemoaned the fact that there hadn’t been enough LGBTQ characters in kids/family entertainment, writing that “the overall lack of representation in the kids and family genre is disappointing.”

“Last year, GLAAD called for more representation in this area, and rather than stepping up, studios told even fewer LGBTQ stories in kids and family films this year,” it added.

Earlier this year, The “Where We Are on TV” report from GLAAD noted that 468 LGBT characters appeared on TV shows last year compared to 596 the previous year, as previously reported. It found that 36% of those characters would not be returning for the upcoming season.

GLAAD reported 39 LGBT regulars on 64 primetime series, representing a decrease of 44% (31 characters) compared to the previous year. However, this reduction could be partly due to fewer primetime shows across the spectrum.

On cable, the watchdog organization noted 77 LGBT characters, a 45% drop from last year. Those 77 will be further reduced next year as 38 will leave due to canceled shows or characters dying or being written off. 

Despite recent decreases, LGBTQ representation has definitely increased since the first Studio Responsibility Index report in 2013. At that time, 14 films out of the 101 it looked at from major studios in the 2012 calendar year, “contained characters identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual. There were no films containing transgender characters.”

Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.

Related: If It Feels Like LGBTQ Characters Are Everywhere On TV, GLAAD Just Confirmed It

Iowa police arrested a trans-identifying 19-year-old on Monday and charged her with a “threat of terrorism” after she revealed in therapy that she wanted to shoot up an elementary school, The Daily Wire has learned.

The Norwalk Police Department announced Monday that it had arrested Margaret Anderson after being made aware last week of a “potential threat” to Oviatt Elementary School, located in Norwalk, Iowa. In a release, the department said that Atwood has been charged with a “Threat of Terrorism” under Iowa Code 708A.5, and had been processed into the Warren County Jail.

Anderson is a 19-year-old female who identifies as a transgender man, Warren County Attorney Doug Eichholz confirmed to The Daily Wire on Tuesday. The police department said on Monday that Margaret also went by Maxwell, raising initial suspicions that gender identity was at play in the case.

Eichholz said that the case arose out of statements that Anderson made to her therapist during the course of her “regular treatment.” The therapist then reported the statements to the Des Moines Police Department, he said, which forwarded the information to the Norwalk Police Department in her hometown.

“And then the investigation took off from there,” he explained.

According to Eichholz, the complaint about Anderson says: “The defendant stated that she had thoughts that she wanted to take a gun to Oviatt Elementary School in Norwalk, at 11 am through the cafeteria, and shoot children.”

The complaint did not contain context as to why Anderson was motivated to shoot children, the Warren County Attorney said. He noted that after Anderson shared these thoughts, she was immediately entered into Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, which has a mental health facility attached. She was then arrested on Monday, Eichholz said, released Tuesday morning to house arrest with restrictions including a GPS bracelet, and is currently on pretrial release.

Shawn Holloway, superintendent of Norwalk Community School District, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Courtesy of the Norwalk County Sheriff’s Department.

The revelation comes more than a year after a trans-identifying shooter killed three children and three adults at Covenant Christian School in Nashville in March 2023. News that the shooter identified as transgender caused many in the mainstream media to suggest, even as families were newly mourning the victims, that the shooter’s transgender identity was irrelevant and that the LGBTQ community was in danger from reprisals.

A number of LGBTQ groups told Newsweek that the publication of the shooter’s manifesto could have “serious consequences,” and NBC News published a story saying that “fear pervades Tennessee’s trans community amid focus on Nashville shooter’s gender identity,” citing a transgender activist who reportedly told the publication, “We were already fearing for our lives. Now, it’s even worse.”

The FBI would claim that it withheld the shooter’s 100-page journal in the name of public safety, suggesting that it would lead to “conspiracy theories” and “inaccurate information.” The Tennessee Star published the shooter’s entire journal in early September, and the writings revealed the shooter was obsessed with ideas of transgenderism and white privilege, and frequently wrote about her autism and depression.