How the New ‘Gossip Girl,’ and the Rt of Teen TV, Got So Gay - WSJ

Contents:

• 7 HBO TV SHOWS THAT FEATURE PROMENT GAY CHARACTERS
• HANNAH LEARNS HER EX-BOYIEND IS GAY ON HBO’S GIRLS
• HOW THE NEW ‘GOSSIP GIRL,’ AND THE RT OF TEEN TV, GOT SO GAY

7 HBO TV SHOWS THAT FEATURE PROMENT GAY CHARACTERS

Although the blue makeover might not be que as fabulo as HBO Max’s inic purple, Max still has a cent claim to beg the gayt streamer around. Asi om the obv drag elements (Andrews looks fabulo her tuxedo), the movie featur a gay lead character the form of Victoria’s own flouncy Henry Higgs, Toddy, played by Broadway and screen legend Robert Prton. Though an early role for Day-Lewis, was que rare for well-known actors to take on gay rol 1985.

Featurg proment members of the scene proment rol — Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Angie Xtravaganza, and Willi Nja clud — the movie featur credible footage of the ball petns that the var ho take part , and sh a light on how s subjects al wh the racism, poverty, and homophobia surroundg them durg the peak of the AIDS crisis. The charmg Jeff Hiller, too often relegated to cliched character bs, is given center stage as a sweetly optimistic gay man makg the bt of datg the Midwt. ” From Murray Bartlett’s fugue-state breakdown Season 1, to Jennifer Coolidge’s inic “the gays, they’re tryg to murr me” awakeng, Whe seems to have crafted the beats of his darkly wty melodrama like a queer fantasy football league.

HANNAH LEARNS HER EX-BOYIEND IS GAY ON HBO’S GIRLS

Sardonic Aubrey Plaza, a gay bal, and an ensemble of newly disvered eye ndy that n also act?

While seems every show has a gay supportg character the days, “The Flight Attendant” has a few, all si a quick-wted, totally addictive, woman-onted thriller. Wh solid support om two gay characters, both wh distct personali totally unrelated to the other — not to mentn lic turns om seasoned actrs Rosie Perez and Michelle Gomez — “The Flight Attendant” will have you flyg high. Pneers of lbian parentg, Rob and Rso had a fantasy of llective queer parentg, vg their gay sperm donors to their fay liv.

The show is also reful to skewer the lopsidns of attus — both hetero and homo — toward bisexualy as somethg that, as Carrie Bradshaw would say another HBO seri, is perceived as a “layover on the way to gay town. Though may have ed terror the streets, when fans of “The Wire” hear the warng ll “Omar’s g” — announced the arrival of one of televisn’s greatt gay characters of all time, Omar Ltle.

HOW THE NEW ‘GOSSIP GIRL,’ AND THE RT OF TEEN TV, GOT SO GAY

Created by “Weekend” filmmaker Andrew Haigh, “Lookg” is often dubbed the gay “Girls. The queerns and mps of the ics tends to get sand-off and replaced wh, at most, embarrassg tokenism serted to fill a diversy quota (the “first gay character” “Avengers: Endgame, ” anyone?

But what gay characters existed shows aimed at kids were generally hidn, and their queerns only hted at stead of nfirmed.