Queer Island

So, while I no longer feel it’s my lesbionic duty to watch every queer piece of media ever produced anymore, I do still feel bound to support the fellas and our trans/nonbinary friends when it comes to entertainment. So I’ve dutifully watched both Hulu’s “Fire Island” and Peacock’s rebooted “Queer As Folk” which have come out this month in time for Pride. I mean it when I say there should be more LGBTQ+ media of all types, and I want to support that with my eyeballs when I can. (Same goes for “Bros” when it eventually comes out this fall — but come on, girl, waiting until September instead of Pride? Hm.)

Truly, I recommend them both. While they both have flaws (don’t we all), both are interesting and work hard to show us the lives of queer people who haven’t necessarily always been centered in queer media before. Asian gay men and women (well, woman, bless you Margaret Cho), POC queer men, trans women, nonbinary people of color, disabled queer people.

“Fire Island” is a well-crafted rom-com loosely based on Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. The story pulls the curtain back a little on what the circuit party life is like for anyone who isn’t your typical white, ripped shirtless gay boy. And it embraces the power of our chosen families, which queers everywhere can certainly relate to. Bown Yang is particularly good, and Joel Kim Booster should already be a star.

The new “Queer As Folk” reboot brings needed diversity to the series. But, admittedly, the first few episodes are a tad rocky — heavy on the sex, drugs and trauma instead of the humanity. Choosing to follow the fallout of a Pulse-style shooting at a gay club is a big swing, and it works sometimes and doesn’t others. The series gels more toward the end of its eight-episode run when the characters’ messiness becomes less about making a show of their messiness and more about the organic messiness of being alive in this world. Jesse James Keitel is very good as Ruthie, who feels real and complicated and could be Dominique Provost-Chalkley’s sister in another universe.

Plus, both “Fire Island” and “Queer As Folk” have made a point of hiring LGBTQ+ people in front of and behind the cameras. And in my book, that’s a win any way you look at it. The more we get to tell our own stories our own ways, the better.