HBO's Nuclear Fay Shows A Gay Fay Fightg To Exist | Time

Contents:

• SAME STREET TRODUC FAY WH TWO GAY DADS DURG PRI MONTH
• HBO MAX’S ‘GENERA+N’: THE GEN Z SERI FORCG PARENTS AND KIDS TO TALK ABOUT FISTG THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT? VIA HBO MAXHOW A 19-YEAR-OLD WORKED WH HER GAY DADS (AND LENA DUNHAM) TO CREATE TV’S RNCHIT, MOST SHOCKG, AND REALT LOOK AT GEN Z TEENS YET. KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDPUBLISHED MAR. 11, 2021 5:05AM EST EARLY ON THE HBO MAX SERI GENERA+N, A HIGH-SCHOOL GIRL WATCH A YOUTUBE VIO ON HOW TO LIVER A BABY AS HER IEND, WHO CLAIMS TO NOT HAVE KNOWN SHE WAS PREGNANT, GO TO LABOR A MALL BATHROOM. A TW BROTHER AND SISTER ARE BOTH EAGER AND ANX TO SEXUALLY EXPERIMENT WH A GUY... THE SAME GUY. ERRANT SPUNK SHOOTS TO SOMEONE’S EYE. DICK PICS ARE SENT AROUND. DGS ARE PILFERED OM PARENTS AND SHARED. A SCHOOL-SHOOTER DRILL IS NOTED FOR S EXHSTG TEDIUM MORE THAN S TRMA.MORE REHGLY, THE FULL SPECTM OF GENR AND SEXUAL INTY IS CLAIMED AND CELEBRATED, NEVER ONCE JUDGED. WELL, NOT BY THE KIDS. THE PARENTS ARE STILL STGGLG TO TCH UP TO THE WARP-SPEED PROGRS THAT’S ALREADY BEEN NORMALIZED BY THEIR CHILDREN. AS JTICE SMH’S CHTER, A TRIUMPH OF QUEER NFINCE HIS MH CROP TOP AND NAILS PATED TO SAY “PSY POWER,” WARNS HIS OUT GAY GUIDANCE UNSELOR, POSSIBLY FLIRTATN: “I’M, LIKE, A LOT.” IT ALMOST PLAYS AS A MISSN STATEMENT FOR THE SHOW SELF.IT’S PERHAPS UNSURPRISG, THEN, THAT BEFORE A MUTE OF THE SERI HAD EVEN AIRED—THE FIRST THREE EPISOS PREMIERE THURSDAY ON HBO MAX— WAS ALREADY FORCG UNFORTABLE NVERSATNS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN; A RE OF PASSAGE FOR ANY GENERATN, BUT ARGUABLY THE FIRST TIME THE TAILS SURROUND SPECIFICS LIKE THE. NEWSLETTERSTHE DAILY BEAST’S OBSSEDEVERYTHG WE N’T STOP LOVG, HATG, AND THKG ABOUT THIS WEEK POP CULTURE.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG,” SAYS BEN BARNZ, ONE OF THE SHOW’S PRODUCERS. (THE TRAILER CLUS AN EXPLIC JOKE ABOUT THE SEX ACT.) BUT THE IEND ALSO CLARIFIED THAT HE FELT THIS WAS A GOOD THG. “THE HOPE IS THAT YOU’RE GONNA BE LIKE, WOW, THIS IS CRAZY THAT I’M HAVG THIS NVERSATN— NOT NECSARILY ABOUT FISTG—BUT THAT THERE ARE GREAT NVERSATNS TO BE HAD ABOUT ANYTHG AND EVERYTHG THAT UP ON THE SHOW.” A LIVED- LOOK TO A GROUP OF GEN Z IENDS’ LIV AS THEY SEARCH FOR THEIR OWN INTI AND, NATURALLY, FUN WHILE NAVIGATG THE EVER-“WOKE” HALLS OF A CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL, GENERA+N IS UNIQUE THAT, NOT ONLY IS A FAY AFFAIR, S -CREATOR IS NOW JT 19 YEARS OLD—AND WAS ONLY 17 WHEN SHE WROTE THE SCRIPT.ZELDA BARNZ -CREATED THE SHOW WH HER FATHER, DANIEL, A FILMMAKER BT KNOWN FOR THE DIE DRAMA CAKE, AND WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE BEN’S HBAND. IF YOU THOUGHT THE FAY IEND’S NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWKWARD, IMAGE WHAT NCEIVG, SCRIPTG, AND THEN MAKG THE SERI WAS LIKE FOR THE BARNZ FAY.“THERE WERE FELY MOMENTS WHEN WAS STRANGE TO TALK ABOUT BLOW JOBS AND STUFF LIKE THAT WH YOUR PARENTS, AND SHOULD BE,” ZELDA LGHS. BUT SHE TOUTS THAT DANIEL AND BEN WERE ALWAYS OPEN WH HER AND HER BROTHER, DASHIELL. “WHEN MY BROTHER AND I FIRST STARTED ASKG QUTNS ABOUT SEX, MY PARENTS WERE JT HONT WH . THEY DIDN'T WANT TO, LIKE, TELL MA-UP LI UNTIL THEY CID WE WERE OLD ENOUGH.”AS FOR GENERA+N’S DUAL VIEWG EXPERIENCE AS BOTH TNAL AND AN ABSOLUTE HORROR SHOW FOR PARENTS LEARNG WHAT, EXACTLY, KIDS THE DAYS ARE UP TO, DANIEL AND BEN ULD ALSO ONLY LGH. “LIKE WHEN OUR KIDS HAD A PARTY AT OUR HOE AND WE FOUND OUT A MONTH LATER THAT THE PS SHOWED UP?” DANIEL SAYS, RELAYG A REVELATN THAT ME UP WHILE SCRIPTG A HOE PARTY EPISO WH ZELDA.“THE THG THAT’S TERTG IS THAT PARENTS KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON BEE WE WERE CHILDREN ONCE,” BEN SAYS. “BUT CHILDREN THK THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON. SO, THE HOPE IS WH THIS SHOW THAT THOSE N START NNECTG AND YOU N ACTUALLY HAVE A NVERSATN TO SAY, ‘I WAS THERE, I KNOW.’”THAT NNECTN, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO GENERATNS THAT, IF THE MEDIA IS TO BELIEVED, ARE HAVG AN CREASGLY HARD TIME UNRSTANDG EACH OTHER, IS AT THE CX OF GENERA+N’S EXISTENCE. ADVERTISEMENT BEE OF ZELDA’S VOLVEMENT, AND THE FACT THAT THE VERY IA WAS HER BRACHILD, THE LL, THIS SE, IS G OM SI THE HOE. THE GEN Z EXPERIENCE IS NOT BEG FILTERED THROUGH OLR, SCTIZG EY. IT’S TEENS LIVG HOW SHE LIVED—AND LIV—; THE PARENTAL BEFUDDLEMENT THAT PROVIS A PARALLEL ARC THE SERI IS WHERE HER OWN PARENTS AND LLABORATORS E . “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG.” THE SHOW’S ORIG STORY ULD BE STRETCHED BACK TO WHEN ZELDA WAS 15 AND ME OUT AS QUEER. WHILE AT SUMMER MP, SHE REALIZED THAT HAD BEEN ABOUT A YEAR SCE SHE REALIZED SHE INTIFIED AS QUEER AND THOUGHT WAS ABOUT TIME SHE TOLD HER PARENTS. SO SHE WROTE A LETTER HOME, A LONG TAILG OF WHAT SHE WAS UP TO AT MP ENDG WH, “OH, BY THE WAY, I’M BISEXUAL.”HER GAY DADS WERE OF URSE SUPPORTIVE, M SOME GOOD-NATURED TEASG ABOUT THE WAY SHE ME OUT. BUT STILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE FAY DYNAMIC. ZELDA’S BROTHER, DASHIELL, HAD E OUT THE SEVENTH GRA, SO THEY WERE NOW AN ENTIRELY QUEER FAY UN. THE DNER TABLE SUDNLY BEME AN IRREVERENT SALON OF SORTS HOSTG NVERSATNS ON SEXUALY, QUEERNS, AND INTY ACROSS GENERATNS. ONCE THE “OL PARENTS,” DANIEL AND BEN WERE NOW LEARNG JT HOW OUT OF TOUCH THEY WERE WH THE NEW GENERATN.ZELDA QUICKLY CID SHE WANTED TO WRE ABOUT HER HIGH-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE AND THE EXPERIENC OF HER IENDS, MOST OF WHOM ALSO INTIFY AS QUEER, AND WHO HAD YET TO SEE THEMSELV REPRENTED A REALISTIC WAY CULTURE.“QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY,” SHE SAYS. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE PERSONALI AND TERTS BIS SIMPLY BEG QUEER. A LOT OF OUR CHARACTERS ARE GAY AND THEY HAVE 1000 OTHER THGS GOG ON, AND THAT’S NOT NECSARILY THE MOST TERTG PART OF WHO THEY ARE.” ADVERTISEMENT BEE BOTH BARNZ PARENTS ARE FILMMAKERS, DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A LEAP TO AGREE TO HELP ZELDA ATTEMPT TO TURN HER IAS TO A TV SHOW. AT FIRST, THEY ASSUMED WAS GOG TO BE AN TN HOW THE BS WORKS: WHAT PCH MEETGS ARE LIKE, AND HOW TO HANDLE REJECTN. BUT THEN THGS SNOWBALLED, AND THE SERI BEME A REALY. AMONG OTHER KEY TURNG POTS, LENA DUNHAM JOED AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.THE GIRLS CREATOR AND STAR HAD BEEN TALKG WH DANIEL AND BEN ABOUT LLABORATG FOR A WHILE WHEN THEY MENTNED ZELDA’S IA FOR A SHOW ABOUT GEN Z TEENS TOLD OM A GEN Z PERSPECTIVE. DUNHAM WASN’T JT STCK BY THE IA, SHE CID TO MENTOR ZELDA. WHEN DUNHAM WAS THE U.K. SHOOTG HBO’S INDTRY, WHICH SHE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED AND DIRECTED, SHE VED ZELDA OUT TO LIVE WH HER AND WORK AS AN TERN ON PRODUCTN, SHADOWG HER ON SET. “QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY.” THERE ARE NATURALLY, THEN, PARISONS TO BE MA BETWEEN HOW DUNHAM CHRONICLED THE LENNIAL EXPERIENCE AND HOW ZELDA WILL APPROACH PORTRAYG GEN Z, ALBE AT A YOUNGER AGE THAN THE CHARACTERS GIRLS WERE.IT’S HARD TO FET, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THE GIRLS PILOT, DUNHAM’S CHARACTER TELLS HER PARENTS (WHILE STONED), “I THK THAT I MAY BE THE VOICE OF MY GENERATN. OR AT LEAST, A VOICE OF A GENERATN.” IT’S A GREAT, CHARACTER-FG LE, BUT ONE THAT HAD THE UNFORTUNATE SI EFFECT OF CRICS AND DIENC ASSUMG THAT DUNHAM WAS ALSO RONATG HERSELF, SUATG THAT HER SHOW WAS THE FIVE TAKE ON HER GENERATN.“WHAT SHE ACPLISHED WH GIRLS WAS A REALLY THENTIC LOOK AT LENNIAL WOMEN, AND I THK WE ARE KD OF TRYG TO GET A SIAR GLIMPSE TO QUEER GEN Z YOUTH,” ZELDA SAYS. AS FOR WHETHER SHE FEELS ANY BURN OF RPONSIBILY, THE KD OF WHICH WAS THST ONTO DUNHAM, BEE THE SHOW IS BROADLY LLED GENERA+N, SHE SAYS, “WE’RE FELY NOT TRYG TO SPEAK FOR THE GENERATN. WE'RE JT GIVG A LTLE PICTURE OF, LIKE, ONE PART OF THIS GENERATN.” ADVERTISEMENT ADDS DANIEL, “THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS A SHOW THAT HAD AN SI-OUT PERSPECTIVE ON GEN Z BEE ONE OF S CREATORS IS GEN Z RIGHT NOW. THE OTHER POT OF THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT SOMETHG ABOUT HOW KIDS THE DAYS ARE GENERATG SO MUCH. THEY’RE GENERATG LOOKS AND INTI, AND THERE’S THIS SORT OF CREDIBLE ORIGALY.”ALL THE BARNZ REGNIZE THAT THERE WILL BE A FASCATN WH THE SHOW’S DIVERSY AND S ANK PICTN OF TEENS HAVG SEX. BUT THERE WAS A NSC EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT SCEN OF SEXUAL TIMACY DID NOT EXIST TO TILLATE, BUT RATHER TO ILLTRATE HOW THE SHOW’S CHARACTERS ARE G SEX TO FIGURE OUT WHO THEY ARE—AND, OFTEN, LOOK AS AWKWARD AND BUMBLG WHILE DOG AS MOST REAL TEENS.“WHAT WE WANT TO DO WH THIS SHOW IS TO EVOKE A FEELG OF WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A TEENAGER,” DANIEL SAYS. “WHETHER YOU ARE A TEENAGER WATCHG THE SHOW OR AN ADULT WATCHG THE SHOW, YOU’LL EHER HAVE THE REACTN OF, ‘OH YEAH, THAT IS WHAT FEELS LIKE FOR ME NOW,’ OR, ‘YEAH THAT’S WHAT FELT LIKE FOR ME THEN.’”THEN, HOPEFULLY, PEOPLE OF ALL GENERATNS WILL TALK ABOUT TOGETHER... FISTG OR OTHERWISE. KEV FALLON
• ‘NUCLEAR FAY’ DIRECTOR RY RSO-YOUNG ON EXAMG MEANG OF FAY AND GAY PARENTHOOD THE ’90S

SAME STREET TRODUC FAY WH TWO GAY DADS DURG PRI MONTH

Ry and her olr sister Ca were born via sperm donors; two gay men that the girls grew up knowg. When Rso and Young wanted to have kids the early 1980s, not only was gay marriage s away om beg legalized, but most sperm banks would not serve same-sex upl, and same-sex upl had no legal protectns.

HBO MAX’S ‘GENERA+N’: THE GEN Z SERI FORCG PARENTS AND KIDS TO TALK ABOUT FISTG THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT? VIA HBO MAXHOW A 19-YEAR-OLD WORKED WH HER GAY DADS (AND LENA DUNHAM) TO CREATE TV’S RNCHIT, MOST SHOCKG, AND REALT LOOK AT GEN Z TEENS YET. KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDPUBLISHED MAR. 11, 2021 5:05AM EST EARLY ON THE HBO MAX SERI GENERA+N, A HIGH-SCHOOL GIRL WATCH A YOUTUBE VIO ON HOW TO LIVER A BABY AS HER IEND, WHO CLAIMS TO NOT HAVE KNOWN SHE WAS PREGNANT, GO TO LABOR A MALL BATHROOM. A TW BROTHER AND SISTER ARE BOTH EAGER AND ANX TO SEXUALLY EXPERIMENT WH A GUY... THE SAME GUY. ERRANT SPUNK SHOOTS TO SOMEONE’S EYE. DICK PICS ARE SENT AROUND. DGS ARE PILFERED OM PARENTS AND SHARED. A SCHOOL-SHOOTER DRILL IS NOTED FOR S EXHSTG TEDIUM MORE THAN S TRMA.MORE REHGLY, THE FULL SPECTM OF GENR AND SEXUAL INTY IS CLAIMED AND CELEBRATED, NEVER ONCE JUDGED. WELL, NOT BY THE KIDS. THE PARENTS ARE STILL STGGLG TO TCH UP TO THE WARP-SPEED PROGRS THAT’S ALREADY BEEN NORMALIZED BY THEIR CHILDREN. AS JTICE SMH’S CHTER, A TRIUMPH OF QUEER NFINCE HIS MH CROP TOP AND NAILS PATED TO SAY “PSY POWER,” WARNS HIS OUT GAY GUIDANCE UNSELOR, POSSIBLY FLIRTATN: “I’M, LIKE, A LOT.” IT ALMOST PLAYS AS A MISSN STATEMENT FOR THE SHOW SELF.IT’S PERHAPS UNSURPRISG, THEN, THAT BEFORE A MUTE OF THE SERI HAD EVEN AIRED—THE FIRST THREE EPISOS PREMIERE THURSDAY ON HBO MAX— WAS ALREADY FORCG UNFORTABLE NVERSATNS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN; A RE OF PASSAGE FOR ANY GENERATN, BUT ARGUABLY THE FIRST TIME THE TAILS SURROUND SPECIFICS LIKE THE. NEWSLETTERSTHE DAILY BEAST’S OBSSEDEVERYTHG WE N’T STOP LOVG, HATG, AND THKG ABOUT THIS WEEK POP CULTURE.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG,” SAYS BEN BARNZ, ONE OF THE SHOW’S PRODUCERS. (THE TRAILER CLUS AN EXPLIC JOKE ABOUT THE SEX ACT.) BUT THE IEND ALSO CLARIFIED THAT HE FELT THIS WAS A GOOD THG. “THE HOPE IS THAT YOU’RE GONNA BE LIKE, WOW, THIS IS CRAZY THAT I’M HAVG THIS NVERSATN— NOT NECSARILY ABOUT FISTG—BUT THAT THERE ARE GREAT NVERSATNS TO BE HAD ABOUT ANYTHG AND EVERYTHG THAT UP ON THE SHOW.” A LIVED- LOOK TO A GROUP OF GEN Z IENDS’ LIV AS THEY SEARCH FOR THEIR OWN INTI AND, NATURALLY, FUN WHILE NAVIGATG THE EVER-“WOKE” HALLS OF A CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL, GENERA+N IS UNIQUE THAT, NOT ONLY IS A FAY AFFAIR, S -CREATOR IS NOW JT 19 YEARS OLD—AND WAS ONLY 17 WHEN SHE WROTE THE SCRIPT.ZELDA BARNZ -CREATED THE SHOW WH HER FATHER, DANIEL, A FILMMAKER BT KNOWN FOR THE DIE DRAMA CAKE, AND WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE BEN’S HBAND. IF YOU THOUGHT THE FAY IEND’S NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWKWARD, IMAGE WHAT NCEIVG, SCRIPTG, AND THEN MAKG THE SERI WAS LIKE FOR THE BARNZ FAY.“THERE WERE FELY MOMENTS WHEN WAS STRANGE TO TALK ABOUT BLOW JOBS AND STUFF LIKE THAT WH YOUR PARENTS, AND SHOULD BE,” ZELDA LGHS. BUT SHE TOUTS THAT DANIEL AND BEN WERE ALWAYS OPEN WH HER AND HER BROTHER, DASHIELL. “WHEN MY BROTHER AND I FIRST STARTED ASKG QUTNS ABOUT SEX, MY PARENTS WERE JT HONT WH . THEY DIDN'T WANT TO, LIKE, TELL MA-UP LI UNTIL THEY CID WE WERE OLD ENOUGH.”AS FOR GENERA+N’S DUAL VIEWG EXPERIENCE AS BOTH TNAL AND AN ABSOLUTE HORROR SHOW FOR PARENTS LEARNG WHAT, EXACTLY, KIDS THE DAYS ARE UP TO, DANIEL AND BEN ULD ALSO ONLY LGH. “LIKE WHEN OUR KIDS HAD A PARTY AT OUR HOE AND WE FOUND OUT A MONTH LATER THAT THE PS SHOWED UP?” DANIEL SAYS, RELAYG A REVELATN THAT ME UP WHILE SCRIPTG A HOE PARTY EPISO WH ZELDA.“THE THG THAT’S TERTG IS THAT PARENTS KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON BEE WE WERE CHILDREN ONCE,” BEN SAYS. “BUT CHILDREN THK THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON. SO, THE HOPE IS WH THIS SHOW THAT THOSE N START NNECTG AND YOU N ACTUALLY HAVE A NVERSATN TO SAY, ‘I WAS THERE, I KNOW.’”THAT NNECTN, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO GENERATNS THAT, IF THE MEDIA IS TO BELIEVED, ARE HAVG AN CREASGLY HARD TIME UNRSTANDG EACH OTHER, IS AT THE CX OF GENERA+N’S EXISTENCE. ADVERTISEMENT BEE OF ZELDA’S VOLVEMENT, AND THE FACT THAT THE VERY IA WAS HER BRACHILD, THE LL, THIS SE, IS G OM SI THE HOE. THE GEN Z EXPERIENCE IS NOT BEG FILTERED THROUGH OLR, SCTIZG EY. IT’S TEENS LIVG HOW SHE LIVED—AND LIV—; THE PARENTAL BEFUDDLEMENT THAT PROVIS A PARALLEL ARC THE SERI IS WHERE HER OWN PARENTS AND LLABORATORS E . “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG.” THE SHOW’S ORIG STORY ULD BE STRETCHED BACK TO WHEN ZELDA WAS 15 AND ME OUT AS QUEER. WHILE AT SUMMER MP, SHE REALIZED THAT HAD BEEN ABOUT A YEAR SCE SHE REALIZED SHE INTIFIED AS QUEER AND THOUGHT WAS ABOUT TIME SHE TOLD HER PARENTS. SO SHE WROTE A LETTER HOME, A LONG TAILG OF WHAT SHE WAS UP TO AT MP ENDG WH, “OH, BY THE WAY, I’M BISEXUAL.”HER GAY DADS WERE OF URSE SUPPORTIVE, M SOME GOOD-NATURED TEASG ABOUT THE WAY SHE ME OUT. BUT STILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE FAY DYNAMIC. ZELDA’S BROTHER, DASHIELL, HAD E OUT THE SEVENTH GRA, SO THEY WERE NOW AN ENTIRELY QUEER FAY UN. THE DNER TABLE SUDNLY BEME AN IRREVERENT SALON OF SORTS HOSTG NVERSATNS ON SEXUALY, QUEERNS, AND INTY ACROSS GENERATNS. ONCE THE “OL PARENTS,” DANIEL AND BEN WERE NOW LEARNG JT HOW OUT OF TOUCH THEY WERE WH THE NEW GENERATN.ZELDA QUICKLY CID SHE WANTED TO WRE ABOUT HER HIGH-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE AND THE EXPERIENC OF HER IENDS, MOST OF WHOM ALSO INTIFY AS QUEER, AND WHO HAD YET TO SEE THEMSELV REPRENTED A REALISTIC WAY CULTURE.“QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY,” SHE SAYS. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE PERSONALI AND TERTS BIS SIMPLY BEG QUEER. A LOT OF OUR CHARACTERS ARE GAY AND THEY HAVE 1000 OTHER THGS GOG ON, AND THAT’S NOT NECSARILY THE MOST TERTG PART OF WHO THEY ARE.” ADVERTISEMENT BEE BOTH BARNZ PARENTS ARE FILMMAKERS, DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A LEAP TO AGREE TO HELP ZELDA ATTEMPT TO TURN HER IAS TO A TV SHOW. AT FIRST, THEY ASSUMED WAS GOG TO BE AN TN HOW THE BS WORKS: WHAT PCH MEETGS ARE LIKE, AND HOW TO HANDLE REJECTN. BUT THEN THGS SNOWBALLED, AND THE SERI BEME A REALY. AMONG OTHER KEY TURNG POTS, LENA DUNHAM JOED AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.THE GIRLS CREATOR AND STAR HAD BEEN TALKG WH DANIEL AND BEN ABOUT LLABORATG FOR A WHILE WHEN THEY MENTNED ZELDA’S IA FOR A SHOW ABOUT GEN Z TEENS TOLD OM A GEN Z PERSPECTIVE. DUNHAM WASN’T JT STCK BY THE IA, SHE CID TO MENTOR ZELDA. WHEN DUNHAM WAS THE U.K. SHOOTG HBO’S INDTRY, WHICH SHE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED AND DIRECTED, SHE VED ZELDA OUT TO LIVE WH HER AND WORK AS AN TERN ON PRODUCTN, SHADOWG HER ON SET. “QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY.” THERE ARE NATURALLY, THEN, PARISONS TO BE MA BETWEEN HOW DUNHAM CHRONICLED THE LENNIAL EXPERIENCE AND HOW ZELDA WILL APPROACH PORTRAYG GEN Z, ALBE AT A YOUNGER AGE THAN THE CHARACTERS GIRLS WERE.IT’S HARD TO FET, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THE GIRLS PILOT, DUNHAM’S CHARACTER TELLS HER PARENTS (WHILE STONED), “I THK THAT I MAY BE THE VOICE OF MY GENERATN. OR AT LEAST, A VOICE OF A GENERATN.” IT’S A GREAT, CHARACTER-FG LE, BUT ONE THAT HAD THE UNFORTUNATE SI EFFECT OF CRICS AND DIENC ASSUMG THAT DUNHAM WAS ALSO RONATG HERSELF, SUATG THAT HER SHOW WAS THE FIVE TAKE ON HER GENERATN.“WHAT SHE ACPLISHED WH GIRLS WAS A REALLY THENTIC LOOK AT LENNIAL WOMEN, AND I THK WE ARE KD OF TRYG TO GET A SIAR GLIMPSE TO QUEER GEN Z YOUTH,” ZELDA SAYS. AS FOR WHETHER SHE FEELS ANY BURN OF RPONSIBILY, THE KD OF WHICH WAS THST ONTO DUNHAM, BEE THE SHOW IS BROADLY LLED GENERA+N, SHE SAYS, “WE’RE FELY NOT TRYG TO SPEAK FOR THE GENERATN. WE'RE JT GIVG A LTLE PICTURE OF, LIKE, ONE PART OF THIS GENERATN.” ADVERTISEMENT ADDS DANIEL, “THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS A SHOW THAT HAD AN SI-OUT PERSPECTIVE ON GEN Z BEE ONE OF S CREATORS IS GEN Z RIGHT NOW. THE OTHER POT OF THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT SOMETHG ABOUT HOW KIDS THE DAYS ARE GENERATG SO MUCH. THEY’RE GENERATG LOOKS AND INTI, AND THERE’S THIS SORT OF CREDIBLE ORIGALY.”ALL THE BARNZ REGNIZE THAT THERE WILL BE A FASCATN WH THE SHOW’S DIVERSY AND S ANK PICTN OF TEENS HAVG SEX. BUT THERE WAS A NSC EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT SCEN OF SEXUAL TIMACY DID NOT EXIST TO TILLATE, BUT RATHER TO ILLTRATE HOW THE SHOW’S CHARACTERS ARE G SEX TO FIGURE OUT WHO THEY ARE—AND, OFTEN, LOOK AS AWKWARD AND BUMBLG WHILE DOG AS MOST REAL TEENS.“WHAT WE WANT TO DO WH THIS SHOW IS TO EVOKE A FEELG OF WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A TEENAGER,” DANIEL SAYS. “WHETHER YOU ARE A TEENAGER WATCHG THE SHOW OR AN ADULT WATCHG THE SHOW, YOU’LL EHER HAVE THE REACTN OF, ‘OH YEAH, THAT IS WHAT FEELS LIKE FOR ME NOW,’ OR, ‘YEAH THAT’S WHAT FELT LIKE FOR ME THEN.’”THEN, HOPEFULLY, PEOPLE OF ALL GENERATNS WILL TALK ABOUT TOGETHER... FISTG OR OTHERWISE. KEV FALLON

“People didn’t know what to do wh both the gay and lbian muny and outsi of , ” Young rells. “Gay fai, my fay, were so unr the radar.

” In argug for his right to be Rso-Young’s father, Steel and his legal team prented sexist and homophobic psdo-science, cludg the now-funct theory of “lbian fn”—a psychologil theory om the 1980s that lbians form overly close nnectns that are ultimately bad for the child.

‘NUCLEAR FAY’ DIRECTOR RY RSO-YOUNG ON EXAMG MEANG OF FAY AND GAY PARENTHOOD THE ’90S

In New York state, where Steel’s lawsu was filed, protectns for LGBTQ fai have grown much stronger the years sce the legalizatn of gay marriage. Then a (now-former) iend of theirs named Cris Arguedas found an stctnal pamphlet one of San Francis’s gay bookstor about how lbians n take motherhood to their own hands. ” She’d even spent multiple happy vatns wh the man who’d eventually sue one of her moms for ctody: then–superstar gay lawyer Tom Steel, to whom Cris had troduced the uple back when they were searchg for their send donor.

Rob and Rso, as much as they were mted to the project of gay liberatn and a part of s “wild, loose” culture, sist that they weren’t tryg to do anythg radil havg kids, like “queerg” the tradnal fay un. (Even though Tom was gay himself, his lawyers suated that two lbians weren’t f for motherhood by relyg on bunk anti-gay psychiatry. I approached the Rso-Youngs’ story wh great personal tert, both as someone who experienced the trmas of ctodial urt battl as a child and as a gay woman nsirg whether I want to have children.

I wouldn’t have to worry about my partner beg nied legal rights as the non-birthg parent, and gay motherhood, while still stigmatized, is much more wily accepted and celebrated today — thanks large part to trailblazers like Rob and I wouldn’t be afford the luxury of stayg home wh my kids, as Rob was able to do while Rso went to work as a lawyer; though rat of stay-at-home parents have risen durg the panmic, ’s bee far ls fancially feasible for many fai to survive on a sgle e. It’s a geic impossibily for a lbian uple to create a tly “nuclear” fay, bigotry and anti-gay prejudice notwhstandg — and perhaps that’s actually a good thg.