Rev. Stephen Pieters, HIV survivor and gay activist, di at 70

Contents:

• SURVIVOR: CLOSET GAYS
• A REVERSAL OF PROGRS: A CLOSER LOOK AT SURVIVOR’S GAY CONTTANTS
• WATCH ROMEO E OUT AS GAY TO HIS ENTIRE TRIBE SURVIVOR LETED SCENE
• REV. STEPHEN PIETERS, HIV SURVIVOR AND GAY ACTIVIST, DI AT 70
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

SURVIVOR: CLOSET GAYS

Is Rocky om Fiji really gay or is that a mor? I've read before that he's gay, so as a gay male I was terted seeg how he'd perform Fiji. I started episo one and he acted sanely straight, which I thought was a ol ed for a supposed gay du on Survivor.

However, when I looked up if he was actually gay, the only "proof" was that there was a picture of him kissg a guy on the cheek Facebook, which is hardly proof my opn. So is there somethg that I've missed, or is this one of those Shambo thgs where everyone jt kd of says that they're gay wh no proof? There have been stanc of homophobia, transphobia and the reprentatn of LGBTQ+ nttants has been que limed.

A REVERSAL OF PROGRS: A CLOSER LOOK AT SURVIVOR’S GAY CONTTANTS

Richard Hatch ma history as the very first wner of Survivor, and he did as an openly gay man. His iendship wh Courtney Yat was lightful to watch; many queer fans nsir Courtney a gay in herself, and they rema bt iends to this day. Brice Izyah Johnston (Survivor: Cagayan).

WATCH ROMEO E OUT AS GAY TO HIS ENTIRE TRIBE SURVIVOR LETED SCENE

Brice Izayah was the first openly gay Black nttant on Survivor and his charmg personaly and inic purple troers stantly won him a followg. Brice's time on Cagayan was short-lived, as he was voted out the send episo, but after Jeff Probst snuffed his torch he found his time to she:. Bret felt a kship to Zeke, who was also gay and felt fortable sharg this part of his inty.

Smh was out as gay while petg, but he had never discsed his genr inty wh his tribemat prr to beg outted by Varner (who is also gay).

REV. STEPHEN PIETERS, HIV SURVIVOR AND GAY ACTIVIST, DI AT 70

***Spoilers below***Survivor, the CBS realy TV show which maroons strangers together on a serted island jt to watch them vote each other out one by one, has been a queer show om the very begng — the first player voted out was gay.

The first wner was gay. In s first few seasons (which aired the early 2000s), was evint that stg directors saw LGBTQ+ staways as ltle more than opportuni to produce "button-phg" TV, brgg on one or two (typilly whe) gay men hop of gettg a brawl or, better, an unlikely iendship à la Rudy Boch and Richard Hatch. Rather than there beg one whe gay male teractg wh a field of straight staways, today we have queer BIPOC, nonbary, and transgenr people all teractg and provg that the muny isn't a then, of urse, there are the fans.

‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

Whatever the se, I n anecdotally say that the number of gays I know who have watched all 42 seasons is credibly high. Another Feature Article is g your way today, as Ozlet Clay Shirley, tak a look at the role gay Survivor nttants have on the game.

In his article, Clay argu that gay nttants are ls proment Survivor’s current era, that they are not ed to their full potential terms of storyl and that this is a terment of the show. In stg Richard Hatch as one of their staways, Survivor gave Ameri a look at somethg had rarely, if ever, seen before: a pictn of a real gay man. Sure there had been gay characters on televisn, but the climate of gay culture 2000 was remarkably different om what is today and at the time, seeg a real gay man simply beg picted as he was drove to new terrory.

While is te there had been prev realy-based shows wh gay participants, they weren’t on natnal televisn and they weren’t gettg the astoundg ratgs that Survivor was gettg. An enormo portn of Ameri was stg down every week to watch a show which one of the central “characters” was a gay man.