‘As a gay man who grew up the Eighti – I need Heartstopper’: Queer fans on what the Netflix show means to them

‘YOUNG GAY PEOPLE BEG OUT AND HAPPY? IT’S REVOLUTNARY!’ MEET THE HEARTSTOPPER GENERATN
GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
AS A GAY 14-YEAR-OLD, I NEED A TV SHOW LIKE HEARTSTOPPER
'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG
I CAN’T STOP THKG ABOUT ‘HEARTSTOPPER’S’ MR. AJAYI THE CONTEXT OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ AND I WANT TO SCREAM
‘AS A GAY MAN WHO GREW UP THE EIGHTI – I NEED HEARTSTOPPER’: QUEER FANS ON WHAT THE NETFLIX SHOW MEANS TO THEM

‘YOUNG GAY PEOPLE BEG OUT AND HAPPY? IT’S REVOLUTNARY!’ MEET THE HEARTSTOPPER GENERATN

Charlie, a highly-stng, openly gay over-thker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted gby player, meet at a Brish all-boys grammar school. Content warngs: Depictns of an eatg disorr, mentns of self-harm, mentns of past bullyg, equent homophobia, swearg, very d vlence, one cint of a non-nsensual kiss. Aimed primarily at a younger dience, the show is about an openly gay male sixth former at an English prehensive (played by 18-year-old Joe Locke) who falls love wh the school’s most popular gby player the year above.

By the time – episo eight – the two ma characters had tly fallen for each other, teenage Blackpool FC footballer Jake Daniels had e out; he was the first gay male profsnal footballer to do so sce Jt Fashanu 1990.

A week after Fashanu me out more than three s ago, his own brother – fellow footballer John – all but disowned him: “John Fashanu: My gay brother is an outst” read a headle The Voice. When I left school, jt over a ago, LGBTQ+ societi were credibly unmon: my sendary tn began only a year after sectn 28 was repealed, legislatn which banned lol thori and schools om “promotg homosexualy” any form. Wh mut, one sixth-former, Ada, is tellg me how a heteronormative society, spac n by and for queer people – such as their school’s active Gay Straight Alliance – are important plac for self-exprsn and personal stunt shar reflectns on their own experienc: 18-year-old Greg reunts his disfort his prev tn settg, a fah school, while holdg hands wh his now boyiend; Milo, a non-bary sixth-former, was readily accepted by most rners of the school muny wh ltle send Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian“I had a really posive experience of beg queer when I was younger, ” says Amy, a fal year pupil.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

“Young, Brish gay people beg out and happy? Havg spent 14 years workg at the club var paci, she has seen huge shifts the way clivy at the club is implemented: at every level, players and staff have attend Football v Homophobia ssns and trag, and 2018, Leeds Uned was the primary sponsor for the cy’s Pri events. Staff never e homophobic language, when at one stage they might well have done whout thkg about .

AS A GAY 14-YEAR-OLD, I NEED A TV SHOW LIKE HEARTSTOPPER

” On multiple ocsns, young Leeds players have reported homophobic language om opponents on the pch to refere, who haven’t always taken any actn. There’s no nyg much has changed sce Queer As Folk, the seri he wrote about three young gay men livg Manchter, was first released 1999.

In the same way, shows like Heartstopper take the dialogue further: the mentorship picted between an out gay teacher and a gay pupil feels firmly new terrory; as Sex Edutn, young gay male characters are fally shown to foster close iendships wh their heterosexual male peers. “If we look to the 1980s and early 90s, ” Cook explas, “there was a clear effort by gay and lbian people to make themselv heard and visible. In the ntext of that upsurge of homophobia, sectn 28 and the Aids crisis, there was a fight agast silence as so many were dyg or havg their voic siled.

Unr Tony Blair’s Labour ernment, sectn 28 was scrapped, the Equali Act troduced, the age of nsent was equalised, and out gay men and lbians uld for the first time serve the armed forc.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Along me Queer As Folk, LGBT History Month, gay bt iends Sex and the Cy, and openly queer nttants on major shows such as Big Brother. That was tremendo for people g out, but there’s a parallel loss: gay bars closed, muni disaggregated.

Charlie and Nick - played by newer Joe Locke and Rocketman actor K Connor - are subjected to homophobic bullyg by Nick's so-lled (Yasm Fney), a transgenr teen, has recently moved om the boys' grammar school where all her iends are, to the girls' equivalent, after also sufferg cel, who has a built up a big followg on TikTok, postg about her experienc of beg a young, black transgenr woman the UK, endured difficulti at school source, NetflixImage ptn, Elle fds hard to make iends at her new school at first"For me, school was the same. "The bate about thentic stg is still ongog - should gay rol only be played by gay actors, for example? Netflix revealed the st for their live-actn adaptatn of Alice Oseman's gay g-of-age graphic novel Heartstopper.

I put the seri, based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, on the background while assemblg furnure (very gay, I know) and I was transfixed.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

The path om “I’ve only ever met one openly gay person before” to planng a triple date is swift.

I CAN’T STOP THKG ABOUT ‘HEARTSTOPPER’S’ MR. AJAYI THE CONTEXT OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ AND I WANT TO SCREAM

Charlie was outed the prev school year, but has now e to his own and claims his gayns fortably. Popular jock is aggrsively homophobic and bulli feme gay boy, all while sexual tensn simmers.

Fally, they fd themselv alone and the attractn explos an illic sexual pa, which the outwardly straight athlete turned sexual aggrsor reveals himself to be secretly gay.

) This pattern is not only enmic among portrayals of queer people on screen; seeps to our assumptns about ternalized homophobia real life.