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Why Is The Queer Love Interest Always White? · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  Quick look at this tweet. Describe it to me.
• 0:01
  What are 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, three
• 0:04
  things you can hear. OK, enough with the grounding
• 0:07
  exercises. The first thing that I noticed
• 0:09
  is that yeah, this year we were spoiled in gay depictions and
• 0:12
  popular TV shows and movies which we love to see but also on
• 0:15
  a close tie to. The first things that I noticed
• 0:18
  was how palm colored these depictions of gay love are.
• 0:21
  Then don't get me wrong, I definitely did see some
• 0:24
  ethnically ambiguous and brown boys in the mix, but that seems
• 0:27
  to be more of a variable, while whiteness seems to be more of
• 0:30
  the constant. In scientific terms, there is,
• 0:32
  dare I say, always a white person as a part of the equation
• 0:36
  in these queer couple representations.
• 0:38
  Hey guys, Subs emergency and welcome back to my channel.
• 0:40
  And in the past few years, we have seen a stark rise in gay
• 0:43
  media, particularly in TV shows, but also sprinkled throughout
• 0:46
  movies here and there. And of course, this should be
• 0:48
  something that is celebrated because this is an amazing
• 0:51
  thing. We love to see representation
• 0:53
  and the expansion of representation in our mainstream
• 0:55
  media because as we talk about so much on this channel,
• 0:57
  representation matters. But also the type of
• 1:00
  representation also matters. So while these shreds should
• 1:03
  100% be celebrated, they are not also above critique.
• 1:06
  And in this video, we're going to be looking at the state of
• 1:08
  queer media in the current modern landscape to not only see
• 1:11
  the growth over the years, but also to see what needs paying
• 1:14
  attention to now. You know, I'm all about pushing
• 1:16
  that needle forward, whether that be in media representation,
• 1:19
  public policy, or just general progress.
• 1:21
  But in the conversation around queer representation in media,
• 1:24
  it is important to dissect who this needle was being moved for.
• 1:27
  And I feel like it's a very common experience for people of
• 1:30
  and especially queer people of color to see media
• 1:32
  representation of queer storylines, but not seeing
• 1:35
  ourselves or people that look like us represented in any
• 1:38
  meaningful way in these storylines and narratives.
• 1:40
  Kind of giving us this feeling of like partial satisfaction.
• 1:43
  Like yes, one part of our identity is feeling seen and
• 1:45
  represented right now, but the other, arguably more important
• 1:48
  and arguably more culturally or at least physically more present
• 1:51
  identity is kind of cast the wayside Because
• 1:54
  intersectionality exists and those intersectional identities
• 1:57
  create their own separate problems or or at least separate
• 2:00
  experiences than those that don't share them.
• 2:03
  And it seems like to the higher ups, having intersectional
• 2:05
  identities is too niche. Like you can either be a person
• 2:08
  of color or you can be gay. Pick one, not both.
• 2:11
  And yes, I know in one of the more recent and trending
• 2:13
  examples of queer representation that we've got in the media,
• 2:16
  that being the show heated rivalry.
• 2:17
  Within the 1st 5 minutes, the show brings up Shane Hollander's
• 2:19
  wage and identity. And then they kind of skate past
• 2:21
  it a few times, pun intended, but it's not so much of A focal
• 2:24
  point, which of course, it doesn't have to be.
• 2:27
  But those lines that were included seemed a little Como
• 2:29
  City, say, built in, which does got to speak to another
• 2:32
  conversation, which could be an entirely different video.
• 2:34
  And very likely I had my scope to make a full video about.
• 2:36
  So like if any other creators are watching and want to like
• 2:38
  take the lead on this one, there is a conversation to be woken up
• 2:40
  around how a lot of modern popular shows almost exclusively
• 2:43
  feature a white and Asian or a white and Asian couple pairing.
• 2:47
  I'm thinking the summer it turned pretty heated robbery
• 2:49
  invincible. But moving on, this whole
• 2:50
  conversation around representation in queer media is
• 2:52
  not just speculation. According to the 2024 to 2025
• 2:56
  Glad Where We Are on TV report, gay media has seen growth in
• 2:59
  2025, but only in specific areas.
• 3:02
  Overall, across prime time scripted broadcast, prime time
• 3:05
  scripted cable, and scripted streaming original series that
• 3:07
  premiered in a new season between June 1st, 2021 and May
• 3:10
  31st, 2025, GLAD counted 489 LGBTQ regular or recurring
• 3:15
  characters. In total, this is a 4% increase
• 3:17
  in 21 additional characters from the 468 characters counted in
• 3:21
  the previous edition. Additionally, while these are
• 3:23
  decent numbers, it does not supersede the current record
• 3:25
  holding report, which is from 2021 to 2022.
• 3:28
  Like yes, Peak will let's bring woke back ladies.
• 3:31
  But unfortunately, an estimate of 200 of the 489 characters in
• 3:35
  2025, which is 41% by the way, are going to be naked due to the
• 3:40
  series endings or series cancellations.
• 3:42
  But looking big picture, I guess we could still say this is kind
• 3:45
  of a slay. Like yes, increase in LGBTQ plus
• 3:48
  representation. Yes, love to see it.
• 3:51
  But of course, with everything, it's also important to have an
• 3:54
  intersectional lens when viewing that.
• 3:56
  So let's get a little bit more specific with it.
• 3:58
  According to the study, of the 489 LGBTQ characters counted
• 4:01
  across all platforms, 85 or 17% were Black.
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  And this is a decline of 10 characters and two percentage
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  points. And this downward trend
• 4:08
  continues for Latina characters with the study stating yet
• 4:10
  Latina LGBTQ characters are severely underrepresented in
• 4:14
  television this year. A concerning ongoing pattern.
• 4:16
  Of the 489 LGBTQ characters counted in the season, 53 or 11
• 4:21
  were Latina. Though this is an increase of 13
• 4:23
  characters in one percentage point, it falls far behind
• 4:26
  reality. And As for Indigenous LGBTQ plus
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  characters, baby, just vote. There were only 8 total
• 4:32
  characters on streaming platforms with both shows that
• 4:34
  contain them currently pending renewal.
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  And there were no LGBTQ Indigenous characters counted on
• 4:39
  scripted primetime broadcast or cable programming.
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  So yeah, not looking great. And again, a win is a win in
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  terms of more queer representation on screen.
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  But it is important to be aware of what kind of representation
• 4:49
  we are all seeing. Intersectional identities exists
• 4:51
  and to me it's kind of wild that that still isn't being
• 4:54
  represented on screen. And you know, of course there is
• 4:56
  a whole section of the population not y'all.
• 4:58
  Y'all are great. Y'all are perfect that genuinely
• 5:00
  want to complain about seeing so many gay relationships on
• 5:03
  screen. Which brings me to my next point
• 5:05
  around the conversation of like forcing the gays in TV.
• 5:08
  You know, like the tried and true argument that they're
• 5:10
  trying to indoctrinate the children or force the gay agenda
• 5:13
  onto the masses with the gay agenda just being like, you
• 5:16
  know, love who you love and really inspired me to talk about
• 5:20
  this Specifically for this video was a certain video that came
• 5:23
  across my preview page. And I don't want to give the
• 5:24
  original video anymore attention.
• 5:26
  So I'm going to plug the Stitch version here.
• 5:28
  Guys, no shade, no tea, but why do we have to have LGBTQ plus
• 5:32
  representation in all of the shows?
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  Like I'm telling. Now I'm going to show you, a
• 5:37
  woman of color, how moronically ignorant you sound, guys.
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  No shade, no tea. But why do we have to have black
• 5:42
  people represented in all of our shows?
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  On you every single new show that I watch, they have to throw
• 5:47
  in a random gay couple, They have to throw in a random trans
• 5:50
  person. Like I'm telling you, every
• 5:52
  single new show has to throw in a random black or brown person.
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  I just don't get it. I understand there's gay people
• 5:57
  among us and there's trans people among us.
• 5:58
  Not everybody wants that in their shows, you know what I'm
• 6:01
  saying? Like we know y'all are there but
• 6:02
  y'all are trying to normalize it by putting it in our.
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  I understand that there are people of color among us, but
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  not everyone wants them in our shows.
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  We know y'all are there, but you're just trying to normalize
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  it by putting them in our shows. All of that sounds pretty awful,
• 6:14
  doesn't it? Well, it's exactly the type of
• 6:16
  things that white people said about seeing black and brown
• 6:18
  people in TV shows and movies not that long ago.
• 6:21
  If it wasn't for representation of Black people being shown in
• 6:23
  TV, we would never have groundbreaking shows like The
• 6:26
  Jeffersons, Good Times, or even shows like Julia where there is
• 6:30
  a female lead, Miss Diane Carroll, who was a black woman.
• 6:33
  It's so disappointing to see someone from a marginalized
• 6:36
  community do the same thing that has been done to them to others.
• 6:39
  And let's take it a step further, the same thing happened
• 6:42
  to schools. They didn't want black kids to
• 6:43
  go to school with white kids because it wasn't normal.
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  But guess what? The LGBTQ community is normal,
• 6:49
  just as people of color are normal, and everybody deserves
• 6:52
  representation. And while I must admit this
• 6:54
  might be rage bait, consider me phone for the bait calling me
• 6:57
  baited because what the hell are we talking about?
• 6:59
  What what is going on? Like no shade but this is all
• 7:03
  kind of going back to my original video talking about
• 7:05
  like the DL man epidemic. Y'all kind of prove me right I'm
• 7:08
  sorry. After a casual scroll through of
• 7:11
  this creators page, it just seems like she's giving that,
• 7:14
  you know, homophobic MAGA vibe. But that's specifically is only
• 7:17
  like an extreme viewpoint of the general conversation that I've
• 7:20
  seen around forced diversity in TV shows where some people
• 7:23
  supporting arguments that I'm absolutely heading on are like
• 7:26
  whose school actually looks like this or like whose friend group
• 7:29
  actually looks like that Because y'all are telling on yourselves
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  bad. Like of course not every single
• 7:36
  person has every drop of the rainbow in their friend group.
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  But you know, like, schools ain't segregated.
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  Not more people do have friends from different backgrounds.
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  Talk to any college freshman in their first semester, they're
• 7:45
  going to be talking to and making friends with people they
• 7:46
  have never talked to or made friends with before.
• 7:48
  OK. And aside from that, that kind
• 7:50
  of conversation reminds me a bit of something that we mentioned
• 7:52
  in the DL video. And the main thing I will give
• 7:54
  merit to which this original video wasn't saying at all, is
• 7:57
  that we can critique the kind of queer media that we're getting.
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  I don't think that this is a forced diversity problem.
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  I just think we need equal and equitable diversity behind the
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  camera and in the writers room. Because for some queer stories,
• 8:06
  whether they're the main plot focus or not, often do revolve
• 8:09
  around trauma and or coming out and sometimes become almost
• 8:12
  caricatures of real life experiences.
• 8:14
  Like God damn can we please get some queer joy in the room with
• 8:17
  us? Now not all stories are like
• 8:19
  this, and no they don't need to negate the reality of being gay
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  and the hardships that come with it.
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  But in my opinion, this is a very similar conversation to the
• 8:26
  ones we have in the black community around our
• 8:28
  representation and how for the longest time even now, low key
• 8:31
  most black representation in media consisted of trauma
• 8:34
  storylines. It was either slavery, the hood,
• 8:36
  police brutality, or a broke baby daddy in pregnancy.
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  Like that was the summation of black representation in media
• 8:41
  and it hasn't been until recently that we've broken out
• 8:43
  of that and seen the explosion of black joy or just general
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  black exceptionalism, the softness, innocence, and safety
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  behind black love. Like these things are
• 8:50
  intersectional because they are all related.
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  Like these all can exist together.
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  But it seems like for a while in the media queer stories were
• 8:56
  strictly trauma informed narratives.
• 8:58
  As if that's the only valid way to talk about queerness as an
• 9:01
  identity. I think we have been seeing an
• 9:03
  uptick in just like fun romantic queer stories this year and also
• 9:06
  in recent past years. But we must leave a door open
• 9:08
  for nuance. Like does a joyous or fun and
• 9:10
  cringy storyline have to negate racial diversity?
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  Actually answer that one for you.
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  No, unfortunately. However, it does introduce a
• 9:18
  profitability paradox. Apparently intersectionality is
• 9:25
  niche. Oh queer stories are niche
• 9:27
  enough and making them BIPOC and queer now We are asking for too
• 9:32
  much. And while studios and
• 9:33
  productions have the larger hand in this, with that being like
• 9:36
  getting to choose which projects get greenlit, it's always
• 9:38
  disappointing when their stories are deemed unprofitable.
• 9:40
  Which is kind of crazy to think about because every time one of
• 9:42
  these queer stories or a queer shows or queer projects is
• 9:45
  dropped, it immediately goes #1 like they are popular.
• 9:49
  The need and demand is definitely there.
• 9:51
  But also unfortunately, I think we do got to take a little look
• 9:55
  into our own communities here. And I know, I know, internalized
• 9:57
  misogyny, toxic masculinity, and machismo culture will get us
• 10:00
  all. And again, we got more into this
• 10:02
  in my previous video talking about DL men.
• 10:04
  But by and large, statistically black and brown communities are
• 10:06
  not always the most LGBTQ friendly, especially when it
• 10:09
  comes to that G and that T because of misogyny and deeply
• 10:12
  ingrained patriarchal beliefs. Being A pipoc man and gay can
• 10:15
  seemingly be the worst thing you could ever be.
• 10:17
  And we see this so many times in real life where you have these
• 10:19
  men that are actual terrible people that have a history of
• 10:22
  beating people, being misogynistic, abusing women,
• 10:24
  children, everybody. And everyone just makes excuses
• 10:26
  for them because their talent is just so unmatched and so unreal.
• 10:30
  And you can separate the art from the artist but God forbid
• 10:32
  they lay with a man or are suspected to have laid with a
• 10:34
  man. Then that goes out the window
• 10:35
  real quick and y'all have no problem combining the art with
• 10:37
  the artist. So that's the state of our
• 10:39
  communities and obviously not everyone.
• 10:41
  Then you have people that should be a part of the racial
• 10:43
  demographic to support these shows intentionally not watching
• 10:45
  regardless of how good the show actually is because of their own
• 10:48
  homophobia and internal biases. And not that that's fair at all
• 10:51
  but I can see why this in part can result in lower viewership
• 10:53
  for these stories. But like also like damn can
• 10:55
  everyone else pick up the slack? Like hello.
• 10:57
  And honestly let me go off script a little bit just to rant
• 10:59
  because I have some thoughts about this around the whole
• 11:02
  conversation around like Oh my God bipod queer stories couldn't
• 11:05
  sell Like no one wants to watch them.
• 11:06
  I think the sheer fact that we have not gotten nearly any
• 11:10
  representation where it is 2 queer people of color having
• 11:13
  like a love story that the demand and anticipation is there
• 11:16
  and is actively building. Like we just need the first show
• 11:19
  to do it because these conversations are ongoing.
• 11:21
  And you can look on social media and just look at the numbers
• 11:23
  done on content talking about this to see that the demand is
• 11:26
  there. We just need someone in the
• 11:28
  industry to take the chance to make it and to make it good.
• 11:31
  Like don't just hear damn us a bipod queer love story.
• 11:33
  Like be intentional about it. Have the budget behind it and it
• 11:36
  will do numbers because people are itching for it regardless of
• 11:39
  if they share those identities or not because we just do not
• 11:42
  see that often that would be grounded on breaking but I
• 11:45
  digress we've talked a lot about the gays.
• 11:46
  Let's talk about another issue in our presentation specifically
• 11:48
  to do with what I like to call as the side plot sapphics
• 11:51
  because we also have to consider the girls and gays but what
• 11:53
  about the girls that are the gays?
• 11:55
  I'm talking about sapphic representation in TV.
• 11:57
  And while yes, they exist in the context of the aforementioned
• 12:00
  shows as side characters or side plots, why not have more whole
• 12:03
  shows giving that same feeling and attention to a Willowa
• 12:06
  couple? And then when I say this, I
• 12:07
  harken back to my previous point, a really good
• 12:10
  intentionally written and well written story given to a Willowa
• 12:13
  couple because we've gotten some of the past.
• 12:15
  And again, this Harkins back to my previous point that have come
• 12:17
  out and have done numbers debuted #1 or have risen to #1
• 12:20
  on the Netflix charts, on whatever streaming charts, but
• 12:23
  still end up getting cancelled, not renewed, whatever would have
• 12:25
  you. I'm looking at you first kill
• 12:27
  and warrior nun. Like this isn't to say that
• 12:29
  lesbian shows don't exist at all, but why is it literally
• 12:31
  just the mess, the L word or like feel good, which is amazing
• 12:34
  in its own right, but it's definitely not a cutesy light
• 12:37
  hearted watch. We want lowbrow WLW ROM com
• 12:40
  esque media. And now no one opened their
• 12:42
  mouths to fix it to say happiest season because is one that was a
• 12:44
  movie and two trauma was at the forefront.
• 12:47
  Okay, what happened to fun? What happened to whimsy?
• 12:49
  What happened to low stakes? What happened to no one giving a
• 12:52
  gaffe? Would anyone really be mad if
• 12:54
  the gay girls got to experience queer joy?
• 12:55
  And I mean, I know the answer to that is yes, which is why,
• 12:58
  again, they ended up nuking first guilt.
• 13:01
  But like shows with side plot saphics or queer romance that
• 13:03
  aren't necessarily at the forefront of the show, like
• 13:05
  things like Ginny and Georgia sex lives with college girls,
• 13:07
  etcetera, etcetera, and overcompensating are definitely
• 13:09
  important to the normalization of these relationships.
• 13:12
  But it seems that that's the only representation that the
• 13:14
  girls get. Like what's the popular lesbian
• 13:16
  version of Heartstopper on a major network or streaming
• 13:19
  platform? Right, right, right.
• 13:21
  And of course the small moments that we do get are tucked into
• 13:24
  these other main plot points. Or also love to follow the
• 13:26
  scientific formula of gay shows having at least one white person
• 13:29
  as the constant variable or constant love interest.
• 13:31
  Or they love to tease the subtextual queerness between
• 13:34
  characters, never confirming it for real, but just like giving
• 13:37
  the audience little tease. Like there are so many shows
• 13:39
  that are considered queer media, and media in question is all
• 13:42
  subtext. Like guys, if they aren't
• 13:43
  kissing or holding hands or even stealing glances then what the
• 13:47
  hell are we talking about? Like guys who put it to the
• 13:50
  test? Yellow jackets, Warrior nun
• 13:52
  euphoria, sex lives with college girls, heartbreak high, Ginny in
• 13:55
  Georgia, Gen. V Hell even I love LA.
• 13:57
  It's almost as if we always got to exist in the context of white
• 14:01
  proximity to make our equal sin of being BIPOC and queer.
• 14:05
  OK Like yes that's as crazy as it sounds.
• 14:07
  And getting back to the whole profitability paradox, there
• 14:09
  does still seem to be a demand from Malema shows from women as
• 14:13
  well. Like it's not just the gays that
• 14:15
  are watching because a lot of the viewership of these gay
• 14:17
  shows are from women. Like just look at the and
• 14:19
  discourse around heater rivalry. But this does transition us into
• 14:21
  the next conversation around desirability and MLM gay shows.
• 14:25
  To put it simply, straight women love.
• 14:27
  OK. There is a reason why the BL or
• 14:29
  MLM fandom relationships are so popular.
• 14:32
  Women, particularly straight women love it.
• 14:35
  And I do think there are layers to this phenomenon.
• 14:36
  But there are at least two or three ish components of this.
• 14:39
  Number one being that there is something about women seeing men
• 14:42
  be vulnerable and loving. And I empathize with y'all
• 14:44
  because straight women don't get enough of that.
• 14:46
  And I mean seriously, we're both partners in questions start off
• 14:49
  as equal and generally removes partner gender based violence
• 14:52
  that is also common in hetero relationships both in real life
• 14:56
  and on screen. And this TikTok explains it so
• 14:57
  well if you're interested in hearing more in that when.
• 14:59
  It comes to something like heated rivalry.
• 15:00
  I think the most obvious answer is something akin to like how
• 15:04
  lesbian corn is a really, really popular industry for straight
• 15:07
  men. If you're a woman, you're
• 15:07
  attracted to men. It's so reasonable that you
• 15:10
  would find it interesting to watch men make out with each
• 15:13
  other. But my other hypothesis is this.
• 15:15
  Straight women in the world that we live in are generally
• 15:19
  conditioned to accept relationships that are not
• 15:22
  egalitarian. Historically, women as a social
• 15:24
  class have had less rights than men, have been perceived as a
• 15:27
  strong or smarter capable than men, and overall have just been
• 15:30
  viewed as different, right. We live in a patriarchy.
• 15:33
  A lot of weird bio essentialist views kind of tied into what
• 15:35
  everybody grows up with. So even in like the healthiest,
• 15:39
  kindest heterosexual relationship, there is a lot of
• 15:43
  like cultural programming that you have to unlearn in order to
• 15:47
  work towards a really equal relationship, to work towards
• 15:51
  being on equal footing with your partner.
• 15:52
  So I hypothesize that for a lot of women, like watching gay men
• 15:56
  in a romance is a way of like projecting and enjoying a
• 16:00
  relationship with like somebody that they would be attracted to
• 16:03
  where like they could really be on equal footing from the start.
• 16:06
  Quality is presupposed where you are already assuming that the
• 16:08
  two of you are on equal footing. In two these characters and
• 16:11
  stories are just generally better written than their sister
• 16:13
  counterparts. And I really hate to say that,
• 16:15
  but let's look at 2 Netflix projects.
• 16:17
  You have the right writing and quality of Young Royals, and
• 16:19
  then you have the writing and quality of First Kill.
• 16:22
  Young Royals came out roughly a year before First Kill and got
• 16:24
  greenlit for three whole seasons before the show reached its
• 16:27
  natural conclusion where the creator wanted to end it.
• 16:29
  And 1st Kill did crazy numbers but got killed after its first
• 16:32
  season. And there's a joke in there
• 16:34
  somewhere. I just know it.
• 16:35
  And while the premise of First Kill should have made it a
• 16:36
  success, it was a bit corny. Netflix had it plastered on the
• 16:42
  main page. You knew people were watching it
• 16:44
  and people were like, oh, well, it's cringy.
• 16:46
  So like, why can we get listen, there is 1,000,001 cringy
• 16:50
  straight movies. You're telling me Twilight sound
• 16:52
  a little cringe? Yeah, it is a little bit.
• 16:54
  Yeah, it is a little bit. Sorry.
• 16:56
  Cringe never stopped something from being entertaining.
• 16:59
  I sat down. I watched first Kill.
• 17:00
  I was entertained. Are you not entertained?
• 17:03
  Yes. It was clear.
• 17:04
  The budget was $2.00 and a paper clip.
• 17:06
  However, comma. What's wrong with a show that's
• 17:11
  a little cheesy? Like straight people can have a
• 17:13
  million and one cheesy shows, but but the gay people can't
• 17:17
  have a little cheese. We can't have a little cheese
• 17:18
  like. Both in its effects and
• 17:20
  storyline and having better writing and special effects
• 17:22
  would have done a world of a difference.
• 17:23
  But viewership didn't follow to the end of the season
• 17:25
  apparently. But also on the other hand one,
• 17:26
  has cringy but entertaining media ever stopped people from
• 17:29
  watching anything? Like what vampire media hasn't
• 17:31
  been at least a little bit cringy?
• 17:33
  Like come on. Let's be real.
• 17:34
  I think the show being cancelled was tough because it was fun and
• 17:37
  had a main black lesbian character, though of course her
• 17:39
  love interest was white. But it's like no one wants to be
• 17:42
  entertained. We didn't see some originality
• 17:44
  and storytelling anymore, even if it is a little bit corny.
• 17:46
  Like when did y'all become the corny police?
• 17:47
  Like come on. And I'm not saying that we have
• 17:49
  to sit through bad representation when it's given
• 17:51
  to us, but like come on. I know I watched every last
• 17:54
  episode of that BS because I want more stories and because it
• 17:58
  was entertaining. Not that we should have to do
• 17:59
  that to continue to get representation, but like that's
• 18:01
  where we are with this. And honestly a tertiary point I
• 18:03
  wanted to add to the 1st 2, or maybe this kind of goes to the
• 18:05
  first point, is that the aforementioned gay love stories
• 18:08
  portrayed have a certain formula.
• 18:09
  Aside from the constant variable of 1 white male lead, there does
• 18:12
  to be the trend of a taller, lankier, maybe nerdier guy match
• 18:15
  with a hypermasculine guy, or in some cases get a double whammy
• 18:18
  where both are hypermasculine, really pushing the whole mask
• 18:21
  for mask agenda. But what we generally never see
• 18:24
  in both scenarios is a more feminine male lead.
• 18:26
  And for this I would love to bring Judy Gatwa to the stand.
• 18:29
  He was such an icon on sex education and his more feminine
• 18:32
  style and makeup looks were not only a staple to his character,
• 18:35
  but it seemed like at that time the actor himself would also
• 18:37
  wear a similar style. And it wasn't until after Sex
• 18:39
  Education and he began to get more mainstream roles like the
• 18:42
  Doctor and Who and as a Ken and Barbie that he and his team
• 18:45
  began to tone it down. It's almost as if being a
• 18:47
  feminine black gay man was too unpalatable for mainstream
• 18:50
  audiences. And the only way to be a gay
• 18:52
  man, especially if you're a person of color, is to be hot in
• 18:55
  trade or at least straight passing or looking for the whole
• 18:58
  fantasy. And a white example of this who
• 18:59
  women just love to lust over is Jonathan Bailey, with many
• 19:02
  people either not knowing that he's gay or just forgetting the
• 19:05
  fact that he's gay, but the ladies love him in his Prince
• 19:07
  like face. Like being hot and straight
• 19:09
  passing seems to be the only acceptable way to be a liked gay
• 19:12
  man representative in television, which sucks.
• 19:14
  And since we're getting real, let's get a little bit realer
• 19:16
  and talk about the recent merger that's been going on in media,
• 19:19
  specifically in the streaming world, and what that means for
• 19:21
  the future of queer entertainment.
• 19:23
  Netflix has just made an $82 billion deal to merge with
• 19:30
  Warner Brothers Discovery. If this doesn't concern you, it
• 19:34
  should. This is a gigantic deal, and it
• 19:37
  contributes to the entertainment industry being monopolized.
• 19:41
  The Writers Guild of America directly opposed this deal,
• 19:45
  saying that it must be blocked. There's a really good deadline
• 19:48
  article about the merger and specifically about what the
• 19:51
  Writers Guild of America had to say about it.
• 19:54
  But in short, this monopolization of entertainment
• 19:59
  and media will lead to less diverse content and probably
• 20:02
  also less things in theaters. Now, if you keep a pulse on
• 20:05
  what's been happening in the world of entertainment, you may
• 20:06
  have heard the recent deal of Netflix buying Warner Brothers
• 20:10
  in an early fall, Skydance Media completed its merger or buying
• 20:12
  out of Paramount Pictures. This news, which is a little bit
• 20:15
  old at this point, has caused havoc in the entertainment
• 20:17
  world, leaving the future of it even more on the ropes, with
• 20:20
  many saying that it could be the collapse of entertainment as we
• 20:22
  know it. I mean, the writers go
• 20:23
  themselves that the deal must be blocked and absolutely was not.
• 20:27
  The reason why this is a little bit concerning is that the
• 20:29
  monopolization of media and entertainment will have serious
• 20:32
  repercussions as to what we see on our screens.
• 20:35
  Now. Putting this in context with the
• 20:37
  Evergreen conversation about IP and why there's so many reboots
• 20:40
  and remakes and not so many original stories right now, as
• 20:42
  well as the whole conversation around us being tired about
• 20:45
  seeing the same faces in Hollywood all the time.
• 20:47
  All of these things are red yarned by the same idea.
• 20:49
  Why is Disney live action adapting every single one of
• 20:52
  their films? Why is Timothy Chalamet and
• 20:54
  Pedro Pascal and everything? Well, shocker, it's because of
• 20:57
  money. What's a surefire way to get
• 21:01
  butts in movie theater seats showing stories that people
• 21:03
  already know and love? What actors they already know
• 21:05
  and love? And this isn't to say that
• 21:06
  originality hasn't paid off time and time again.
• 21:09
  I mean, just look at some of the Oscar nominations for 2026.
• 21:11
  Like you have Sinners, which was a huge hit this year.
• 21:13
  You have films like Bugonia, which both had very popular and
• 21:16
  famous talent, but also a lot of new talent as well.
• 21:18
  So if this was already the direction Hollywood was heading
• 21:21
  before this insane merger, and we already know that Netflix
• 21:24
  only really cares about Netflix's profitability and
• 21:26
  bottom dollar, where do artful or even just fun and cringy
• 21:29
  original stories about queer people land in all of this?
• 21:31
  Like, this is all just speculation, but it feels like
• 21:33
  diversity in media is going to become even more challenging, at
• 21:36
  least in the mainstream. And not to get super political,
• 21:38
  but if we follow the money and we follow the people behind the
• 21:40
  money, it is already clear that those in charge of the companies
• 21:43
  behind the merger and those in power right now being super
• 21:45
  aligned with this country's administration, the future of
• 21:48
  representation is looking a little spooky.
• 21:49
  And if storytelling quality and care are not what matters in TV
• 21:52
  and film, I'm just sad to think about all of the shows that we
• 21:55
  could have had. And I really hate to leave with
• 21:56
  a non resolution for real. But as media consumers and
• 21:59
  scrollers, and I know I say this a lot, our attention is our
• 22:02
  power and how we decide to use it is important.
• 22:04
  And I know saying to boot up your Vimeo or to watch
• 22:07
  independently produced web series isn't enough.
• 22:09
  And honestly, it sucks that that is the extent to our
• 22:12
  representation that we actually want.
• 22:13
  I mean, unless that's already your back and in that case, keep
• 22:15
  going. But we do have to invest our
• 22:16
  attention to the things that we want to see.
• 22:18
  Then rest in peace, those 200 queer characters that got
• 22:20
  cancelled or just got no renewal this year.
• 22:22
  Studios, networks, green light. Things that would bring an
• 22:24
  audience viewership and that are probably so to show you care,
• 22:27
  show love to the stories that are out there.
• 22:29
  And this obviously isn't a big call to action, but it is
• 22:31
  something my friends like. Invest your attention to stories
• 22:34
  you want to be told and like, girl, make a fan Cam.
• 22:36
  I don't know. But what I do know is that we
• 22:38
  are still seeing progress in queer media and that we still
• 22:41
  have a long ways to go to get intersectional and diverse
• 22:44
  representation on our screens.