Hallmark Releasg Its 1st Gay-Led Holiday Film—Will 2022 Have More?

Contents:

• THE GAYT CHRISTMAS EVER: INSI 2020’S BIG, QUEER HOLIDAY EXPLOSN
• MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI
• NETFLIX’S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS ROM-COM IS THE #3 MOVIE RIGHT NOW
• HAPPY HOLIGAYS: EVERY 2021 LGBTQ+ HOLIDAY MOVIE
• THE BT QUEER HOLIDAY MOVI TO MAKE THE YULETI GAY
• A SUPER GAY CHRISTMAS
• 12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY

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

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! 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.

Takg the tried-and-te Christmas movie formula of a big cy slicker returng to their small home town for the holiday season to fd love unexpectedly, but makg gay? Whether ’s Happit Season on Hulu or new romantic edi om the lik of Hallmark Channel and Netflix, there are plenty of optns to make the yuleti gay.

MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI

In 2020, both the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime announced their first-ever gay-led, Holiday-themed rom-s, The Christmas Hoe and The Christmas Setup, jog an creasgly diverse mix of origal movi produced each year. Although the stars of The Christmas Setup, married actors Ben Lewis and Blake Lee, admted to beg nervo about translatg their real-life relatnship to a romance onscreen, they were pleased wh not only the experience of playg Lifetime’s first gay uple but also seeg so much queer reprentatn behd the scen as well.

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

NETFLIX’S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS ROM-COM IS THE #3 MOVIE RIGHT NOW

“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.

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]. 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. 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. “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.

HAPPY HOLIGAYS: EVERY 2021 LGBTQ+ HOLIDAY MOVIE

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).

” 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. 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. 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.

THE BT QUEER HOLIDAY MOVI TO MAKE THE YULETI GAY

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.

A SUPER GAY CHRISTMAS

“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. 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.

12 MERRY AND GAY MOVI TO SPICE UP YOUR HOLIDAY

And although Happit Season was predated by pennt films like Make the Yuleti Gay and holiday flicks wh queer storyl like Let It Snow, never before had an LGBTQ+ narrative been prented on such a grand sle a big-budget Christmas, a year later, Netflix has quickly followed su wh their first gay holiday rom-, Sgle All the Way. It n't be a cince that openly gay actor Le Macfarlane—who has starred a number of h (heterosexual) Hallmark movi like Mistletoe Promise and Christmas Land— was st one of the leadg romantic rol for this film.

” But also, the entire premise of Peter and Nick fallg love purposefully verts the historil trope of gay men verg up their relatnships by llg their partners their “roommat. ” Instead, the two roommat are a space where they're accepted and the whole fay is actually tryg to set them up (while also acknowledgg that some stanc gay men really are jt iends) Sgle All the Way isn't solely tertg bee of s nstctn.

It also featur genuely funny moments, like when Nick tells Peter's father that he learned many of his rpentry skills om watchg HGTV and the dad asks if that stands for “Homosexual Gay” televisn, or like when Peter's nt, Sandy (Coolidge), hears he's gog on a date and asks, “Like om Grdr? Meanwhile, would be nice if some of the stars of the film (like Coolidge) were given a ltle more room to all though, Sgle All the Way succeeds what sets out to do, wh a wholome and progrsive tale of gay romance that rv out s own space among a long le of Christmas flicks.