Gay pop culture
For the most part, pop culture in 2024 was “very demure, very mindful,” even as we were all having a Brat Summer.
The year kicked off with Elmo checking in to watch how everyone was doing, which led to the largest trauma dump the little red guy has ever seen, and it was a roller coaster all the way to the end.
Beyonce came riding in on horseback with her country album “Cowboy Carter,” lgbtq+ women like Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish dominated the charts, Kamala tried to stop all the drama-la and once “Wicked” was released in theaters, we were all taking the lyrics of “Defying Gravity” and really holding space with that.
As we do every year, we own been trying to make sense of all the pop culture happenings in 2024, and the best way we know how is to start with our ABCs.
lan Cumming wins the Emmy for Outstanding Truths Competition host, beating RuPaul and finish the drag icon’s eight-year winning streak, at the Primetime Emmy Awards in September.
illie Eilish comes out as gay to Variety in the publication’s Authority of Women issue in November. Later, during the publication’s annual Hitmakers Brunch, Eilish expresses apologize talking about her sexuality, saying she prefers to ke
Lady Gaga
It’d be unachievable to understate out bisexual musician and actor Lady Gaga‘s impact on customs and pop harmony, or the impact she’s made as an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Every Gaga production and high-camp costume was iconic. Her male alter-ego Jo Calederone was absurdly hot. Her tune video for “Telephone” opened with Gaga making out with butch Canadian act artist Heather Cassils and ended with her holding hands with Beyonce and driving into the sunset. “Born This Way” doesn’t even matter —it’s “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face” and “Alejandro” and “Bad Romance” and “You and I” and “Paparazzi.” Lady Gaga is a queen of gay pop.
Hayley Kiyoko
On the cover of Nylon Magazine’s first-ever Pride Issue, Hayley Kiyoko was described as an unprecedented force in the gay pop scene, a lesbian teen heartthrob unafraid to court a fiery, starving queer fan base who crowned her Lesbian Jesus. She was the first lesbian pop star signed to a major label to make multiple music videos in which she kisses girls. It’s incr
This past year will likely be remembered by the true inescapability of two things: Barbie and Taylor Swift. The former was a pop-culture juggernaut over the summer, bursting from meme to hot-pink vision. The latter was arguably even more dominant, with Swift dominating the tour circuit, album charts and theatres with her Eras Tour film and even the football field in 2023.
Both of those, regrettably in the case of Barbie and with apologies to the Gaylors, are for the most part straight culture. But don’t worry: plenty happened for the gays as adv. From M3GAN to “Padam Padam,” George Santos to Gag City, 2023 was a rich year when it comes to gay and trans culture.
Don’t assume me? Let’s journey assist through 50 queer and trans moments that defined 2023.
1. To kick off the year and coming out of 2022, nepo babies had their moment, including peak nepo toddler and noted gay, Ben Platt.
2. Janelle Monáe brought sex sex sex with The Age of Pleasure.
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3. A bunch of prudes got
Beaming With Pride: How TV Became the Unsung Hero For Homosexual Representation
The turn of the 21st century was a pivotal moment for LGBTQ+ representation. Before streaming services and social media, television was the medium that mattered. Mainstream movies largely avoided lgbtq+ themes, which could cost studios at the box office. And those that did tread in queer waters weren’t widely seen, such as Too Wong Foo, Julie Newmar, Jeffrey, and Thanks for Everything! In the melody world, pop stars like Male child George, Elton John, and George Michael either danced around their sexuality or avoided pronouns or other telltale specifics in their lyrics.
But television was universal. There were only a handful of channels, watched by millions of people, mostly in real moment. The impact of a solo scene couldn’t be underestimated.
I keep in mind vividly the first time I saw a gay person on TV. Not a gay character—or an actor that everyone “knew” was gay in real animation. I mean a real-life out-and-proud gay man. It was Norman Korpi on the first season of MTV’s The Real World.
By the time I was 14, I figured out I was gay. But the only mentions of homosexuality on TV were either played f