Your 2021 guide to the best in queer pop culture so far

Late last year, Schitt’s Creek broke the internet when it set a record with a wholesome sweep of the comedy category at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. This was not just a big win for queer stories, but it also signalled that we were finally moving past tokenism and gay-baiting on screen. Perhaps for the first time, you saw your straight friends posting about a gay-themed series and actually liking it. 

Despite the fact that the past year and a half has attempted to pigeonhole us in the loop of endless despair, the queer world has so far responded quite viscerally to its blues. To celebrate Pride Month, we round up the best from this year.

Books

Torrey Peters’ debut Detransition, Baby made history by being the first novel written by a trans woman to be longlisted for the Woman’s Prize for Fiction 2021. To say that it is a no-holds-barred account of the trans experience would be an understatement because it certainly does not dress up the bare truths with sophisticated vocabulary. With unbridled energy and without waiting for you to catch up, Peters shuttles you across the messy crossroads of infertility, the changing nature of desire, the emotional toll of transitioning, falling out of love, and everything in between. 

With The Prophets, debut author Robert Jones Jr has redefined the known boundaries of love while also confronting the larger questions of intimacy and meaning. It took the writer a decade and a half to work on this book and it shows. The result is a lyrical, humane, and haunting account of two enslaved queer black men irrevocably in love with each other—set against the bitter landscape of a Mississippi neck-deep in the slave trade and mass murders. 

What happens when Orthodox Jewism, mysticism, magical mirrors, communication detox exercises between mothers and daughters, and lesbianism combine together? Milk Fed by Melissa Broder is a hilarious yet tender study of all kinds of hunger—the sexual, the emotional, and the spiritual. 

Movies

Queer guilt can be quite damning. It can paralyse potential relationships, plunge you headfirst on anxiety’s unexpected rollercoaster rides, and drown you in gallons of self-hate. Based on the 1968 play of the same name by Mart Crowley, the Ryan Murphy-produced drama Boys in the Band powerfully captures the push and pull of queer friendships and queer guilt with an ensemble cast that doesn’t let your attention waves even for a second. 

David Pablos’ film Dance of the 41 aesthetically captures the scandal of the century that had rocked Mexico in the 1920s. Based on a true story of the time when forty-one men had gathered in a private villa, half of them dressed in “feminine” clothing, which also included the son-in-law of the sitting President of Mexico. Cops raided the party, names were thrown, a nation was shocked, and the press continued to report despite the Government’s best efforts to hush the incident. With a director’s eye for detail and balance, Pablos does full justice to the historic “society scandal” of Mexico that had inadvertently pushed homosexuality to Mexico’s national consciousness for the first time.

Rosamund Pike’s Golden Globe award-winning performance as a lesbian con artist in I Care A Lot was just the deliciously dark cocktail we didn’t think we needed. There is a certain class that Pike brings to any performance—a steely gaze and a face that betrays no emotion. You add writer-director J Blakeson’s Hitchcock-like directorial precision to the mix, and you have yourself a movie that will have you reaching for the replay button. 

Graphic Novels 

A family-friendly gay manga that is at once heartening as it is enlightening, Okura hilariously narrates this tale of a doting mother who thinks one of her kids is gay because he just won’t stop talking about this boy from his school. At times just laugh-out-funny, I Think Our Son Is Gay is queer manga at its finest and warmest. 

From the bestselling author of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness comes yet another revealing, autobiographical manga from Kabi Nagata, My Alcoholic Escape from Reality. There is alcoholism, numerous breakdowns, and an honest assessment of it all. At the end of it, you are definitely worried for the writer considering it is autobiographical, but you will keep hoping she will grace the world with yet another one of her gritty creations. 

Web Series 

Ryan Murphy’s landmark drama Pose was the biggest win for meaningful inclusion on TV when the first season aired on FX in 2018. With a cast and crew that included actual trans people of colour, the first two seasons of the series went into the heart of the gender non-conforming ballroom culture of New York of the 1980s and ’90s. It also showed the heart-breaking reality of the AIDS epidemic that had ravaged the queer community of the time. Now with the final season finally here, Pose builds upon the technical and emotional mastery of the first and second seasons. The incredible voguing moves on the dance floor, drag queens strutting around with their embellished pumps, opulent sets to the flashy costumes—all of it make it a must-watch. 

The character of Montrose in HBO’s powerful drama Lovecraft Country is a textbook study of how to effectively portray the complicated socio-political realities of a gay man—particularly when the character is part of a historical setting that is not dictated by the wokeness of contemporary times. Boldly spotlighting the horror of racism in the 1950s Jim Crow America, the JJ Abrams and Jordan Peele-executive produced series challenges the idea of black masculinity, the nuances of a father-son relationship, and the burden of unresolved queer issues. 

The final season of Netflix’s Special is a fitting end to the tender, light, and sometimes just outright hilarious story of a gay man with cerebral palsy who has finally come to terms with the idea of accepting the world for the kingdom of extroverts that it is. There is heartbreak, cute couples and their adorable fights, and things getting super awkward super quick—even as they all celebrate Diwali. 

Podcasts 

Hosted by Mufseen Miah and Spencer Cooper, the award-winning podcast Queer Talk focuses on the optimistic side of queer news. They also invite guests to talk about a range of diverse issues otherwise swept under the rug, from bisexual visibility, and disparities in STEM to non-binary fashion. 

Winner of the Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards 2020, The Log Books is a unique take on British queer history. The hosts, Tash Walker and Adam Smith revisit the archives of Switchboard—an LGBTQ+ helpline active since 1974. There are real-life stories of the time when gay booksellers fought the custom officers who tried to shut them down, a gay teenager who took the government to the court in the ’80s, and also stories of hope and strength. 

Hosted by disability awareness consultant Andrew Gurza, Disability After Dark gets into the deepest aspects of ableism present in every pore of modern civilisation as we know it. Apart from discussing critical, never-thought-of topics like representation of disabled people in sex education—it is also a damning indictment of supposedly inclusive queer spaces that are often acutely ableist.  

Also read: 

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