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An LGBTQ+ activist in Lima and a university student in Wisconsin answer the same two questions: how is their community shown in the news and on TV, and what has living it been like?
“Lo que no se muestra bien, no existe.”
Juan Nicolás Montoya · LGBTQ+ Activist & Marketing Strategic Planner
An activist in Lima and a student in Wisconsin answer the same two questions about representation.
The baseline survey that shaped what Refract became, before a single article was published.
The same students, months later. What changed after Refract's first stretch of publishing.
Refract's Investigations section contains original research, survey data, primary source documents, and video investigations that require editorial review before access is granted. This protects sources and ensures content reaches the right audience.
Refract's first reader survey found that 85.7% of secondary school students in Lima rated the accessibility of LGBTQ+ news at 1–2 out of 5. We wanted to hear from the people behind that number, so we asked two members of the LGBTQ+ community, one in Peru and one in the United States, the same two questions: how do they see the community represented in the news and on television, and what has their own experience been like?
“Sinceramente, la tele peruana casi siempre nos ha puesto en dos cajones: o somos el chiste del programa cómico o salimos en la sección de policiales. En marketing siempre decimos que ‘lo que no se muestra bien, no existe’, y acá la representación ha sido superinjusta. Últimamente se ve un poquito más de apertura en redes sociales, pero la televisión abierta todavía le tiene pánico a mostrar nuestras vidas con normalidad, sin morbo ni caricaturas.”
“Honestly, Peruvian TV has almost always put us in two boxes: either we're the joke on the comedy show or we show up in the crime section. In marketing we always say ‘what isn't shown well doesn't exist’, and here representation has been deeply unfair. Lately there's a little more openness on social media, but broadcast TV is still terrified of showing our lives as normal, without morbid curiosity or caricatures.”
“Mira, ha sido un camino de puro aprendizaje y de ponerse fuerte. Vivir en una sociedad conservadora te obliga a estar afirmándote todo el tiempo. Pero haber pasado por eso también me dio mucha empatía y visión; hoy uso justamente lo que sé de comunicación y estrategia para abrir cancha, meter el tema de la diversidad en la mesa y demostrar que nuestras historias importan y valen igual que las de cualquiera.”
“Look, it's been a road of pure learning and of growing stronger. Living in a conservative society forces you to keep asserting yourself all the time. But going through that also gave me a lot of empathy and perspective; today I use exactly what I know about communication and strategy to make room, put diversity on the table and show that our stories matter and are worth as much as anyone's.”
“I haven't seen much representation, any really, that isn't from small indie studios or that causes public issues and controversy.”
“It's… hard? I guess, to just ‘ask’. I'm afraid to be more open and find people like me.”
Before Refract published a single article, the team ran a baseline survey of secondary school students in Lima to test two assumptions behind the whole project: that young people felt ignored by mainstream media, and that LGBTQ+ news specifically was hard to find in the first place. The survey wasn't a formality — it directly shaped what Refract became.
The baseline survey told Refract what to build. This one asked whether building it made any difference. The team went back to the same population, students, months later, after Refract's first stretch of publishing, and asked the same questions again.
