Hallmark Releas Its First Gay Christmas Movie Wh Two Leadg Men

Contents:

• HALLMARK RELEAS ITS FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE WH TWO LEADG MEN
• MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI
• JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER
• HALLMARK PREMIER S FIRST LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD UPLE
• FALLY, HALLMARK’S HOLIDAY FARE MAK A GAY UPLE ‘PART OF THE FAY’
• HALLMARK'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE IS HERE — AND GEE KRISSA IS OVERJOYED TO BE A PART OF
• 12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY
• TV’S GAY CHRISTMAS MOVI ARE AS BENIGN, CHARMG AND CLICHE AS WE ALWAYS HOPED THEY’D BE
• HAPPY HOLIGAYS: EVERY 2021 LGBTQ+ HOLIDAY MOVIE
• THE HALLMARK CHANNEL'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE STARS 'MEAN GIRLS' JONATHAN BENT

HALLMARK RELEAS ITS FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE WH TWO LEADG MEN

Hallmark has unveiled s first gay Christmas movie wh two male leads and ankly, ’s about time! Now they’re tryg to rectify that wh The Christmas Hoe, a movie that follows a married gay uple travelg home for the holidays as they awa news about the adoptn of their first child. Jt a few months ago they had a gay weddg one of their movi, and now this.

The tradn ntu 2021, wh films starrg RuPl, Michael Urie, Jonathan Ben and more — pl appearanc by gay favor like Jennifer your holiday season bge-watchg ssns acrdgly wh the upg movi and specials. 2, NetflixTony-wng director Michael Mayer (“Sprg Awakeng”) helms Netflix’s first gay holiday film, which se perpetually sgle Peter (Michael Urie) beggg his bt iend, Nick (Philemon Chambers), to e home wh him and pretend to be his boyiend to put an end to his fay’s nstant meddlg.

But the se is put to the tt when his mother (another gay fave, Kathy Najimy) sets him up wh her hunky traer (“Brothers and Sisters” actor Le Macfarlane) to “Sgle All the Way” for stg three out actors as gay characters — and for stg Jennifer Coolidge, perd. 3, NetflixFormer nttants return to the tents for a pair of holiday-themed episos: In “The Great Christmas Bakg Show, ” out ic Tom Allen subs for Noel Fieldg to -host wh gay prenter Matt Lus as season ne’s Jon Jenks and Kim-Joy Hewlett and season 11’s Herme and Rowan Williams whip up wondro Yuleti treats.

MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI

“The showstopper challenge, they’ve got to make a ftive feast illn ke, ” judge Pl Hollywood teased, acrdg to “The Great New Year’s Bakg Show, ” 's season five wner Nancy Birtwhistle up agast season ne champn Rahul Mandal and two nttants om season 19: Gay nerd Henry Bird and wchy Helena Garcia. Baneatta’s gay son, Kenny (Anthony Chatmon II), brgs his boyiend, Logan (Derek Chadwick), home for the holidays but is given an icy receptn. 18, Hallmark ChannelLast year, after sparkg outrage by pullg a jewelry ad featurg lbian bris, Hallmark ma amends by featurg the first gay uple one of s many, many holiday movi: "The Christmas Hoe" sred more than 13 ln viewgs over the 2020 holiday season, so a sequel was a no-braer.

JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER

In the origal, Bill and Phylis Mchell (Treat Williams and Sharon Lawrence) ved their adult sons home for the holidays, then drop a bomb that they’re sellg the fay time around, gay son Brandon (Jonathan Ben) and his hband, Jake (Brad Harr), pete wh Brandon’s straight brother, Mike (Robert Buckley), to see who n create the most ftively rated Christmas hoe. 19, LifetimeLast year, Lifetime buted s first gaycentric holiday flick, "The Christmas Setup, " and this season, 's brgg a lbian romance to the small this holiday tale om "The Christmas Setup" screenwrer Michael J.

In the movie, which buts Sunday, Bent plays Sam, a gay guy whose personal life suffers at the st of his profsnal life — work over marriage. '" Add to the formula the actor's love of the '80s classic Uncle Buck starrg John Candy, pl his sire to see a movie that was "really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022.

" And that turned to me and my love for Uncle Buck, the movie wh John Candy that I grew up on, and I kd of put those ias together and I said, "What if Uncle Buck was gay?

HALLMARK PREMIER S FIRST LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD UPLE

Sam is beg really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022 and what that experience is. As gay men, we're navigatg what our liv look like wh kids, or gettg married, or whout kids, and 's not black or whe — there's so many different avenu to startg a fay and havg a chosen fay. Somethg I found so funny is how Sam realiz that Jason is gay — when Jason ments on Sam's sho.

Like, "Oh wow, he is gay. This year, the channel cid to diversify s sts by featurg s first openly gay lead uple. However, ’s a good first step that there are even enough movi for me to create this list of Hallmark movi wh gay characters.

Most gay characters and upl the movi are whe and male.

FALLY, HALLMARK’S HOLIDAY FARE MAK A GAY UPLE ‘PART OF THE FAY’

Let’s be clear, as of the start of 2021, no Hallmark movie has featured gay characters as leads. No matter what official Hallmark reps say, The Christmas Hoe and Mix Up the Mederranean do not feature gay leads. While I tly enjoyed The Christmas Hoe and loved seeg the happily married gay uple, they played send-fiddle to the ma straight uple’s romantic storyle.

It jt so happens that Jeremy Jordan, who is playg that straight man is also playg his gay tw.

This do not qualify as a gay lead character, and dog the bare mimum isn’t enarg Hallmark to anyone. The only memorable thg about this movie was one of the only tim a Hallmark character has said “I am gay.

HALLMARK'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE IS HERE — AND GEE KRISSA IS OVERJOYED TO BE A PART OF

Y, back 2012, Hallmark premiered a Christmas movie which the sister proclaimed she was gay. At first, I thought was jt a way to keep a man om htg on her, but an earlier scene shows that she actually is gay.

It also had the most subtle ht of a gay uple I have ever seen on TV.

This movie also marks the first time a gay uple has shared an on-screen kiss on any Hallmark work.

12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY

Though there is no POC love tert as of yet, Dani McKellar’s Kayleigh was given a gay bt iend, which for Hallmark is a gigantic step forward. My only knock on the movie is how Hallmark attempted to market as the work’s first movie wh gay leads. This is the send Kimberly Stad/Pl Campbell llaboratn that has clud a gay uple.

I love how they’re slowg chippg away at archaic notns of love one edy and one gay character at a time. After all, the project hails om Hallmark Channel, whose annual “Countdown to Christmas” lp of origal movi — a seasonal mastay both lucrative and beloved — clud 23 tl 2019, none featurg a gay uple.

TV’S GAY CHRISTMAS MOVI ARE AS BENIGN, CHARMG AND CLICHE AS WE ALWAYS HOPED THEY’D BE

)As turned out, Bent‘s love tert wasn’t a woman at all: Instead, he’ll play half of the first gay uple highlighted the work’s heavily watched holiday programmg. ”Grossman — who is gay, as are Bent and Harr — unrstands where they’re g om and hop to meet some of the Hallmark fans halfway. The new, LGBTQ+ holiday films and seri are gog to make the yuleti hella gay this holiday season!

Drama and secrets get exposed this brand new, queer-clive fay saga that featur a gay uple played by Broadway actor/photographer Anthony Chatmon II and out mol Derek Chadwick!

HAPPY HOLIGAYS: EVERY 2021 LGBTQ+ HOLIDAY MOVIE

Nonbary actor Hugh Sheridan is takg on their first gay role, playg the happily married David alongsi hubby (played by Nicholas Brown) the Asie Christmas rom- Christmas on the Farm! Directed by Tony wner Michael Mayer and starrg a stacked st that clus Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, Le MacFarlane, Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Robertson, and edy screen legends Jennifer Coolidge and Kathy Najimy, Sgle All the Way is Netflix's highly-anticipated, first gay holiday film and tells the story of a gay man named Peter who is "sperate to avoid his fay's judgment about his perpetual sgle stat, " acrdg to the film's official (and relatable AF) scriptn. Emmy-wng TV in and Drag Race legend RuPl is gettg on all of the gay cheer this year by releasg her very own special holiday special for VH1, aptly entled The Bch Who Stole Christmas!

Tellg the story of the Diaz fay, the seri featur a gay uple, as well as one of the first transgenr love stori to ever be featured a holiday rom-! Part of the Hallmark Channel's imprsive and packed slate of 41 brand-new Christmas movi beg released this holiday season, the upg sequel to last year's gay-clive The Christmas Hoe, tentatively entled Deck Those Halls, is rng the origal st for another round of queer holiday cheer, cludg Mean Girls alum Jonathan Bent and Brad Harr, the two actors who played the loveable hband-hband duo the first movie.

THE HALLMARK CHANNEL'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE STARS 'MEAN GIRLS' JONATHAN BENT

For Lifetime, which last year had “The Christmas Setup, ” the channel’s first-ever movie starrg gay leads, the move was a big one: the premiere of “Unr the Christmas Tree, ” s first movie featurg lbians as the uple at the center of a holiday romance.

Meanwhile, Hallmark ma a smaller step by settg “The Christmas Hoe 2: Deck Those Halls, ” a sequel to 2020’s “The Christmas Hoe, ” which featured Jonathan Bent and Brad Harr as a gay uple lookg to adopt. The dispary between the extents to which the Christmas-obssed ble channels are focg on LGBTQ holiday ntent 2021 is nsistent wh their rpective cisns ma on the matter last year, when Lifetime st a gay uple as leads “The Christmas Setup” and Hallmark featured s first homosexual uple as part of an ensemble “The Christmas Hoe. “Even though we’ve got ‘Unr the Christmas Tree, ’ which is a real highlight, we’ve got several others the mix that are clive, whether they’re gay upl or jt characters, we’ve been tryg to make sure that people are reprented across the board, ” Lifetime head of programmg Amy Wter told TheWrap durg an Oct.