Hello I’m Rogan and welcome. Today is the last video of the Pride Project, but it definitely isn’t the end of Pride! It sure won’t be the last time I make queer videos. To close out the month, I just wanted to talk about some recent queer media I’ve enjoyed this month.
Love, Victor released on June 17th and it’s a spin off from Love, Simon. This is in TV format, 10 episodes long with thirty mins of runtime each. Right now, we don’t know yet if there will be another season, but I hope there is! Victor and his family recently moved to Creekwood, where Simon lived. Victor’s unsure about his sexuality, so he reaches out to Simon, who is off in NYC for college. They start up a conversation and it runs throughout the show, as Victor navigates his new life, his confusing feelings, family strife and stress, and getting through high school. As any good high school show, there’s drama and twists. I watched this with a friend, and we kept yelling that Victor is bi because reasons. We’re a little biased of course, since we’re both bi, but Victor eventually said he’s gay. Which is fine! There certainly aren’t enough representations of queer people of color, especially in a lead role. My friend said this, and I agree—paraphrasing here: “I think Victor is bi, because he went through that confusion with Mia, liking her and wanting to make it work. He eventually says he’s gay, but I think it could be because Victor’s in high school, and probably still sees a lot of things as black and white. I hope that gets explored some in the future.” We both really liked how the show was set up, including the confusion around sexuality and showing that it isn’t as stark as most people think it is. This also can resonate with a lot of people since Victor is “…being a fixer…and how people don’t want to make mistakes even if it’s with an identity thing, they don’t want to do the wrong thing and hurt people.” Another thing my friend said: “The way they ended it also makes me hope that they’re setting up the second season to kind of be a navigation journey for himself but also for his family because obviously as we’ve seen, some of his family members aren’t okay with it and that is honestly life for many people, I hope they show a season about a family going through this together and not just Victor dealing with it by himself.” I can’t recommend this more, go watch it if you have Hulu, or even do a trial just for this show, it’s worth it.
Another thing I watched that was also released this month was Disclosure, a documentary that takes a look at Hollywood’s depiction of trans people and the impact of this on American culture. Every single person interviewed in this is trans, and they talk about their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s moments. This was an amazing look at so much media across the years, and I learned a lot about some trans representation that I wasn’t aware of—mostly because it was very bad, and people don’t want to talk about it—but it’s important to know where we’ve come from so we can see where we need to go. This is a Netflix original documentary, so you can watch it there. If you’re at all interested in history, trans representation in anything, this is a must watch.
Of course, I couldn’t not watch the newest season of Queer Eye! Just as good as all of the previous seasons, and it all happens in Philadelphia. I can’t watch a season without wanting at least some of the Fab 5’s clothes, or some of the heroes’! If you enjoy this show, you’ll love this season.
I want to quickly mention a couple of animated shows, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. The first has some very clear queer representation throughout, with two of the princesses being married, and Bow has two dads. Kipo recently released their second season, and it makes very clear that there are two boys interested in each other. One is black and one of the main support characters, and the other is a POC I think. I’m just thrilled that more and more shows aimed to children are including more queer characters. Now can we get more main characters who are QTBIPOC? (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
Before I end this video, I want to say: Pride is for everyone, and I mean everyone, queer. Regardless of if you’re openly and loudly queer, or if you’re still in the closet for whatever reason, or if you don’t plan to ever be out because you already have your lifelong partner. If you identify as queer, you are queer period. Those people who try to tell you that you don’t count, you’re not really queer, your identity is really this or that? Ignore them. They likely don’t know you nearly as well as you know yourself. Whatever your situation—you are a valid queer person.
A couple last things before you go. The shirt I’m wearing is a design by Inka’s Screen Printing, a deaf queer artist. It was originally a limited run in 2018, but good news! Inka’s recently announced that it will permanently be in their store now, and you know me. Here’s the link! The other thing I want to remind you about—there are also links to several lists for black queer and trans organizations at the end of this post. These organizations are doing great work, and I want to see them be able to continue doing it and expand the scale of the work they’re doing. Please donate to at least one, and please don’t just pick the first one you see. Actually look and donate to one that’s meaningful to you. That’s all for today. Happy Pride month and forever!
Black queer and trans organizations to support
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBDoiY5BisQ/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBOULwrBFg4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTVJ33hTDD/
If you want to support me in addition to those above, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.