September 9, 2024
Happy Monday, my friends! Last week I was scrolling through TV shows and movies in the LGBTQIA+ section of one of the streaming services and came across the US version of Queer as Folk. It’s been more than 15 years since I watched the show and so I turned on the pilot. When I was in high school the family computer was located in our kitchen, a far too public space to afford me any opportunities to explore “gay” or “Queer” websites, regardless of their content. Instead, I would find a time when I could be alone and catch an episode of Queer as Folk. Far from a perfect depiction of LGBTQIA+ life at the turn of the 21st century, it nevertheless was one of the first Queer shows or movies which portrayed two elements of the Queer community that before and since have often been absent from similar media, joy and celebration.
If you’re not familiar with either the British or American versions of Queer as Folk, I encourage you to use some caution before Googling the shows. Largely set on Pittsburgh’s Liberty Street, a fictionalized version of the real Liberty Avenue, the American series focuses on a group of gay men and lesbians beginning in 2000 and continuing until 2005 when the show ended. Though a work of fiction, real life political and cultural events play a role in the narrative. That said, Queer as Folk is perhaps best remembered by its fans and critics for the significant amount of sex, drugs, alcohol, and pounding club music. Though I was too young, naïve, and inexperienced to know it at the time, Queer as Folk followed its characters through a transition period in Queer American history. The majority of the characters, people in their late 20s and into their 30s, were solidly part of Gen X, having been born during the 1970s, experiencing the 1980s as teenagers, and coming of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were largely spared the devastation of early HIV/AIDS, but even in the pilot episode there are brief discussion of HIV/AIDS diagnoses. Though it’s laughed off as being undesirable or simply “not cute,” it’s obvious that more than a few characters are worried about having sex with anyone. Some of these people lived openly in all facets of their lives while others were closeted professionally and even socially. One character is the nephew of a gay man and the son of a Mama Bear and PFLAG organizer. They are all members of an LGBTQIA+ community which is quickly emerging from the shadows and making its presence known. That said, no political party fully supports them and the Bush administration will soon take office. And though these characters are relatively liberated, they are all white professionals. And though I completely missed it as a teenager, the lack of people of color in the show is blinding.
When Queer as Folk premiered in the US in 2000, marriage equality was still illegal in all 50 states and the World Health Organization estimated that as many as 20% of all new HIV cases were caused by improper screening of blood donations and testing of blood products.[1] Four years into its five-year run, marriage equality would be passed in Massachusetts and ten years after Queer as Folk left the air, the Supreme Court would rule for marriage equality in Obergefell. As I rewatched the pilot now almost 17 years after I came out, after claiming my identity as a Queer person, and achieving something of my own liberation, I nevertheless experienced an old feeling of fear and shame. I felt the fear of being found out by one of my parents or my sister and I felt the shame of pretending to be the good church kid who wanted to be a priest but was easily seduced by the thought of spending nights at clubs with other gay men and hooking up without shame. Granted, as a teenager I didn’t understand the risks involved in that type of lifestyle for anyone regardless of identity.
However, Queer as Folk was my first window into a reality I continue to live into; a reality where LGBTQIA+ people are celebrated and not only can claim joy but have an undeniable right to joy. Despite the lies we were taught and the narratives that the media sold us, we can be joyful, and we should be celebrated. Though the time is often shadowed, there have been epochs during which we were thought to be magical, even revered for our perspective. One of the best ways we can not only create more community but organize and energize our movement is to celebrate the Queer community and each individual. It is no longer enough to affirm LGBTQIA+ people and other marginalized people alone, we must celebrate marginalized communities.
How do you celebrate Queer people and Queerness? How could the communities you’re part of celebrate LGBTQIA+ people more?
Let us pray: God of wild love and extravagant acceptance; spirit of boldness and beauty; you are faithfully present in both the grit and glitter of life, and you are present with us now. Awaken us to your dream for creation: a world in which every member of the human family is free to flourish however you have made them. Forgive us for the moments we have held back your ever-flowing current of love, dignity, and justice. Remake us into a people eager to see you in the faces, bodies, and expressions of all people. Remind each of us to step out of the shadows of our lives and shine fearlessly and courageously. Ignite the Divine Light within us to sparkle through the prism of our bodies and brighten every corner of this Earth. Holy One, you call each of us beloved, each of us cherished, each of us desired, each of us sacred. And so, we give you thanks now and forever. Amen.
(Written by the Rev. Sam Lundquist for St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, CA)
Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Faithfully,
Ben
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