Much research has looked at the framing of political issues and events in the mainstream media. Little work, however, has focused on the framing of these issues in alternative media; and no study to date has examined political framing in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) publications. This study explores the framing of political content through a distinctively queer lens. A thematic analysis was conducted on articles from three online LGBT news outlets to investigate how the queer news media framed the 2012 presidential election. The following four distinctive themes emerged: the creation of a gay angle without obvious gay content, the idea of 2012 being a historic election year for LGBT people, a sense of community between journalist and readers, and a focus on marriage equality above all else. A uniquely queer frame was identified as being central to the coverage of the election, the candidates, and all things political.
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