'Sgle All the Way' marks Netflix's first gay holiday romantic edy

Contents:

• WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS
• THE GAYT CHRISTMAS EVER: INSI 2020’S BIG, QUEER HOLIDAY EXPLOSN
• MAKE THE YULETI GAY: INSI THE MAKG OF THIS YEAR'S LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVI
• MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI
• A GAY CHRISTMAS ‘POEM’
• 'LIKE A GAY DREAM E TE': NETFLIX'S FIRST GAY HOLIDAY ROM- 'SGLE ALL THE WAY' RELISH JOY
• THE BT QUEER HOLIDAY MOVI TO MAKE THE YULETI GAY
• 12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY
• 25 CHRISTMAS SONGS ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND (INTELLIGENT) STRAIGHT PEOPLE KNOW ARE TLY GAY BOPS

WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS

"Merrie cherryAn extravaganza of the supernatural, all thgs sweet and larger-than-life stum, many LGBTQ Amerins like Roberts hail Halloween as "gay Christmas. " But the ntemporary excement around the supernatural holiday has a long history wh the LGBTQ morn phrase "gay Christmas" actually stems om an earlier queer nickname for the holiday, "bch Christmas, " acrdg to Marc Ste, a profsor of history at San Francis State Universy, and thor of "Cy of Sisterly and Brotherly Lov. "Durg the 1950s and '60s, Philalphia's LGBTQ muny celebrated "bch Christmas" by drsg up drag and partyg the cy's gay bars, Ste said.

"Followg the wave of LGBTQ activism and visibily sparked by the 1969 Stonewall rts, more formal versns of queer Halloween celebratns began poppg up "gayborhoods" around the untry. " As a gay man, he scribed Halloween as one of the only tim a year growg up when he was not "ostracized or punished or cricized for havg the flamboyant, creative tennci.

Christmas 2020 is the gayt Christmas ever.

THE GAYT CHRISTMAS EVER: INSI 2020’S BIG, QUEER HOLIDAY EXPLOSN

This holiday season has gifted dienc wh four—y, four—gay Christmas roms: Hallmark’s The Christmas Hoe, Hulu’s Happit Season, Lifetime’s The Christmas Set-Up (December 12), and Paramount’s Dashg December (December 13). There have been more mastream gay holiday roms released 2020 than every other year rerd pop culture history bed.

Gays didn’t jt startg lovg Christmas this year. “I thk when they said make the Yuleti gay, they meant , ” said Jonathan Bent, one half of the gay uple at the heart of Hallmark’s The Christmas Hoe.

MAKE THE YULETI GAY: INSI THE MAKG OF THIS YEAR'S LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVI

By featurg a married gay uple ont and center (Brad Harr plays Bent’s onscreen spoe), the film is a major step forward for the work.

'” The works—Hallmark, Lifetime, Paramount—fally donned their gay apparel, jtifyg s of passn for this historilly heteronormative holiday.

MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI

Bee, honey, the gays have always been here for Christmas—even if Christmas hasn’t always been here for . “It’s so classic, so typil that the queer muni have often loved a lot of the stutns that have not necsarily loved back, ” said Ben Lewis, the other half of The Christmas Setup’s gay power uple, sharg a sentiment echoed by pretty much everyone else terviewed.

And so I thk for gay men, I thk even for Christmas enthiasts, I thk we’re chasg after that childhood fort and safety that maybe we missed at that time. Victor Garber—a hero to a generatn of gay people thanks to his work on Broadway, Tanic, Alias, Legends of Tomorrow, and jt beg Victor Garber—played straight Happit Season as closeted Harper Caldwell’s uptight polician father.

A GAY CHRISTMAS ‘POEM’

I remember meetg a lot of gay kids when I was growg up who weren’t so happy about Christmas and, not unlike Happit Season, would have to go home and pretend [to be straight]. “Your hoe be this other thg for this season, ” said Lee, touchg upon many gay men’s reason for the season.

That seri—Holiday Home Makeover—serv a different purpose 2020’s avalanche of gay ntent. That show is hosted by an out gay man who sually refers to his partner ont of the straight fai he’s been tasked to make merry.

Seeg a gay man openly talk his your same-sex partner at Christmas around strangers? That’s a transformative notn for a lot of gay people.

'LIKE A GAY DREAM E TE': NETFLIX'S FIRST GAY HOLIDAY ROM- 'SGLE ALL THE WAY' RELISH JOY

Even if gay dienc haven’t seen leral gay characters on screen, we still have our touchston. Benjam Bradley lov Christmas Connecticut for gay in Barbara Stanwyck, and Na Wt returns to Whe Christmas every year thanks to the looks and stunts of Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney.

BenDeLaCreme realized as an adult that Christmas at Pee-wee’s Playhoe is “the gayt thg, ” part bee “Miss Yvonne is the bt Christmas drag queen anyone uld ever hope for. Frank Oz, for example, is not a gay man, but somehow created Miss Piggy, who is the most inic, most nonil ‘gay’ character. ” While thkg aloud, Lewis realized why so many Christmas specials seem so low-key gay.

“There is somethg very gay about puppetry and stop motn animatn, jt general.

THE BT QUEER HOLIDAY MOVI TO MAKE THE YULETI GAY

Particularly wh stop motn — to put that amount of pastakg tail, the amount of hand glterg that mt have gone to the makg of any one of those movi, is textbook gay. “He’s this amazg bchy gay guy! All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Gay Leads.

“I thk [Happit Season is] groundbreakg bee ’s an hont-to-god holiday-themed rom that is for queer people, by queer people, ” said Jkx Monsoon of Happit Season, Hulu’s star-studd, major stud gay holiday rom starrg Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis.

Gay creators have been tryg to make history for a mute. That may be why he didn’t ially nsir makg Dashg December a gay romance—and then leapt at the chance to make this particular dream e te (a dream starrg out actors starrg Peter Porte and Juan Pablo Di Pace).

12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY

” This simple tweak opened up the entire story for Helgren, turng what was jt a uple sentenc of plot to a full-fledged screenplay that speaks to not only the holiday season, but to the specific experience of beg gay a small, ral muny. By stg gay actors, the performers felt embolned to put their own experienc to their characters.

The scene that mattered the most to Bent, and every sgle queer person watchg The Christmas Hoe at home, was Brandon and Jake’s kiss—y, a gay kiss on Hallmark.

25 CHRISTMAS SONGS ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND (INTELLIGENT) STRAIGHT PEOPLE KNOW ARE TLY GAY BOPS

One of our art partment guys who’s gay me up to me and had tears his ey. Ben Lewis felt pelled to make sure that his character’s emotnal arc Lifetime’s The Christmas Setup would ronate wh gay dienc.

May your gays be merry and bright. Bent, as an executive producer, origally me up wh the ia of a “gay ‘Uncle Buck’ for Hallmark” on the set of another holiday movie three years ago. “It was important that the actor was openly gay and out; was important to me that we were able to tell the story loud and proud, ” Bent said.