The Last of Us Lets Gay Love Flourish the Apolypse - IGN

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO 'TRICK' DIENC TO WATCHG THE GAY ROMANCE STORY
• ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? WHAT’S THEIR RELATNSHIP?
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• 'THE LAST OF US' DIRECTOR WANTED TO 'TRICK' AUDIENC INTO WATCHG GAY LOVE STORY
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO
• ‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• FROM REVIEW-BOMBG TO BURYG S GAYS: THE LAST OF US AND S EPIC HISTORY OF LGBTQ REPRENTATN, EXPLAED

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Bisexual men are perceived to sound more mascule than men who are straight, acrdg to a study of Atralian subjects.Amics at the Universy of Sydney pared the voic of gay, straight and bisexual men a study volvg 160 people.In the rearch led by clil psychologist Jam Morandi, people were reced to analyse the voic of 60 men, 20 of whom were gay, 20 straight and 20 bisexual.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

They were then asked to rate the men on their sexual orientatn g a sle om zero (exclively heterosexual) to 10 (exclively homosexual).Listeners were also asked to rate each man’s perceived level of femy or masculy the voic on a siar sle.The men volved the study were asked to rerd themselv on a smartphone recg the first two l of the Atralian natnal anthem.Voice sampl were then modified to remove any background noise while volume levels were ma the same to ensure nsistency.Rults om the study showed listeners uld distguish between gay and straight men’s voic wh an accuracy of 62 per cent, apparently nsistent wh prev rearch.However, the study participants uld not terme any differenc between bisexual and straight men’s voic wh any gree of accuracy.

The thors said their rearch showed bisexual men’s voic were perceived as beg more exclively attracted to women pared wh both gay and straight men’s voic.Bisexual men’s voic were rated as more mascule than both gay and straight men’s voic.Rearchers claimed the abily to intify a man’s bisexual inty om his voice alone uld have cril social implitns such as helpg to rce feelgs of alienatn.‘Voice may unter visibily many bisexuals feel’An abstract of the study, tled Can listeners tect if a man is bisexual om his voice alone, reads: “The prent study examed whether bisexual men n be intified om their voic ak to how gay men n be intified on their voice alone.“If this is the se, voice may be an important target of discrimatn on the one hand but may also unter the visibily many bisexuals feel (if their bisexual inti n be apprehend by their voice alone, whout explic disclosure required).“The fdgs may also she light on whether bisexual male voic, like gay male voic, differ om straight voic terms of their genr non-nformy – a qutn that to date has not been examed.”But amics noted the rearch was limed on the grounds all men who participated the study are Atralian, which may not be reflected among wir cultur.And the thors nced the study did not ntrol for the rerdg environment or microphone-to-mouth distance, which uld have affected the qualy of the voice sampl.The thors said the fdgs suggted that while the voic of bisexual men the sample were perceived as more mascule and attracted to femal, listeners did not associate this imprsn wh bisexualy.As a rult, while bisexual men may appear to be at lower risk of facg voice-based intifitn and discrimatn than gay men, they may often be mistaken as beg straight.The study was published the Journal of Sex Rearch. Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars strength ach, Kev Maxen, has e out as gay — makg him the first male ach a U.

While Maxen is believed to be the first male ach to have e out publicly as gay, there have been a few female ach U.

THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO 'TRICK' DIENC TO WATCHG THE GAY ROMANCE STORY

When to players, there have only been 16 the history of the NFL to e out as gay or bisexual as of September 2022, per Outsports. What we got stead was a psule episo, and a particularly bracg one, given the show’s opprsively bleak mood th far: The hour is dited to the love story of Bill and Frank, a gay uple who—due ially to Bill’s skills as a bunker-stockg, booby-trappg, Don’t Tread on Me survivalist—manage to build a largely happy existence together an abandoned and eventually fortified ral hamlet for almost 20 years.

Wh Bill and Frank, we were given a portra of love—specifilly gay love—that feels surprisg and urgent. In our own 2023, we are not exactly lackg for media imag of whe gay men. For one thg, we see gay sire portrayed all s plexy, but wh a touch as light as a breeze playg through curtas.

ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? WHAT’S THEIR RELATNSHIP?

Bill’s is not a “type” of gay man I n say I’ve ever seen mastream media before, and watchg him slowly reveal and epen that aspect of himself wh Frank’s help—sexually, y (Hollywood: more hairy bear love scen please!

But Bill and Frank create somethg else, a ltle oasis of their own that’s regnizably gay, full of quiet bety and joys the size of new strawberri. Frank wants to fix up the block and some of the “not stupid” shops—the we and furnure stor, the clothg boutique—bee he hop they might one day have unfected guts (which they eventually do, the form of Joel and Ts), but really bee makg thgs nice, pecially when nicens isn’t valued, is one of the great gay llgs. As an echo of the gay experience wh AIDS, is, as veteran activist Peter Staley put a Facebook post, a ftg tribute to the “tenr love & bravery gay men summoned when facg ath durg the plague years, cludg those who did so on their own terms.

How powerful, then, to see not only a gay uple given an entire hour of a marquee show, but a gay uple who are held up as the keepers of civilizatn, as stewards of bety, as emblems of human digny and possibily. The show is already garnerg high praise for s third episo, which lved ep to a si story wh two gay characters at s re. Several more gay characters are sttered among the game’s st, and future episos — and seasons — will see the h characters realized live-actn for the first time.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

Ellie Image via Nghty Dog That’s right, the lead character The Last of Us is part of the gay muny. The character’s sexualy is hted at the Last of Us gam, and many players termed that he was gay, but players didn’t get nearly the romance the origal that HBO livered wh “Long Long Time.

Acrdg to crics who have seen the show, we're gettg a whole lot more of The Last of Us' gay characters than we thought.The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across a post-apolyptic Ameri tryg to avoid fung-fected zombi. The Last of Us' director for episo three has revealed that he wanted to ‘trick’ dienc to watchg a gay love first two episos of the seri, based on the beloved 2013 game, follow Joel (Pedro Pasl) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they stick together to survive a athly viral fectn that has n rampant across the US.

”Ah y, the old sneakg the shredd rrots to the brownie, who is gay, also spoke on Bill’s sexualy and how his characterizatn shatters LGBTQI+ stereotyp. I would fely argue that Bill don’t e across as a gay man, ” he said. Shortly after the episo aired, one person wrote on Twter: “Was not prepared for the Last of Us or Nick Offerman to grab me by the throat and stroy me wh one of the most betiful gay storyl I've ever seen, but here we are.

'THE LAST OF US' DIRECTOR WANTED TO 'TRICK' AUDIENC INTO WATCHG GAY LOVE STORY

In a world where we see virtually nothg but awful stereotyp of gay men our ntent, the pictn of Bill & Frank (and their relatnship) was betiful and expertly handled. If you are wonrg whether Frank and Bill are gay the show and the 2013 Nghty Dog vio game is based on, we got you vered.

It gradually be apparent to the men that they both are gay.

HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE

It is que apparent that Frank was openly gay the world before the outbreak, whereas Bill had never been wh a man before Frank. “Frank’s an out and proud gay man, but Bill is Bill, ” Peter Hoar, the director of the episo, told Variety.

“Even though I’m not a middle-aged, married gay man, I’m a middle-aged, married man, ” he stated. How The Last of Us creat a betiful oblivn for two gay men love. The third episo of The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time, ” featur a gay love story between two characters, Nick Offerman’s doomsday prepper, Bill, and Murray Bartlett’s wanrg artist, Frank.

Stori on TV featurg queer characters are routely mishandled, givg rise to the “Bury Your Gays” trope where queer stori are plagued wh unwarranted pa and ath, so ’s rehg that The Last of Us shows don’t have to be that outbreak ed massive loss of life and stctn across the world, but for Bill, who adms a letter to Joel that at one pot he hated the world and was happy everyone died, the zombie apolypse is a eeg experience.

HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO

It’s probably a safe bet that, before the apolypse, Bill chose to stay the closet bee he wanted to spare himself the judgment and discrimatn gay people face, not to mentn humane anti-LGBTQ+ laws. But, thanks to the outbreak, all that disappeared overnight, and wh , seemgly, all of Bill’s fear about beg openly gay. Episo 3 director Peter Hoar and wrer Craig Maz get pots for tellg an excellent story that looks at the zombie apolypse genre through a queer lens, showg how would uniquely (and unexpectedly) affect a closeted gay man, but they go one further by learng om mistak ma by other shows.

The director behd the groundbreakg third episo of "The Last of Us" has said that he wanted to "trick" his dience to watchg a gay love story. The episo, directed by Peter Hoar, who is gay and is known for his work on the Brish LGBT+ miseri, "It's a S, " was tend to show viewers that love has no boundari. I would fely argue that Bill don't e across as a gay man, " he said.

‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS

Bill is gay the game, but ’s referenced so vaguely that plenty of players missed .

THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE

The cisn to keep muted, hted at a sgle le of dialogue and a hidn letter, was both praised and cricized — was easy to overlook, but also avoid a lot of gay-character trop, and allowed Bill to be a human and not “a maniftatn of sexualy, ” as Polygon’s Danielle Rien put at the time.

The game’s storyle don’t avoid trop altogether, though: It was cricized for “buryg s gays. The four-part te crime seri, now streamg, foc on four victims, gay men the 1990s, who were murred, dismembered, their remas found garbage bags along a New Jersey highway.

FROM REVIEW-BOMBG TO BURYG S GAYS: THE LAST OF US AND S EPIC HISTORY OF LGBTQ REPRENTATN, EXPLAED

Adapted om an Edgar-wng 2021 book also lled “Last Call” by director Anthony Caronna and producer Howard Gertler, what ultimately emerg is an unsttg portra of the vlence done not jt to a gay quartet but to gays, lbians, trans people general. That mak the climatic urt trial a tense tt se of basic gay civil rights.

“What we wanted to do was set the table so people unrstood that 2005, ” Caronna said, “gay marriage wasn’t a thg. For gays, 2005 was still a time where somebody uld get off for somethg heo.