She came, she danced, she conquered. I think about M3GAN singing David Guetta and Sia’s “Titanium” at least once a month as it was absolutely one of the most jarring 3 minutes of the year. This film was LGBTQ+ history in the making - 5/5, no notes.
The Last of Us popped out of nowhere earlier this year and not only gave us an hour a week of Non-binary icon Bella Ramsay, an earlier episode gave us one of the most beautiful same-sex love stories of the year. Nick Offerman plays Bill, and Murray Bartlett plays his stranger-turned-partner Frank. Through just one episode we see them form a close bond, despite the ongoing global apocalypse, showing that even in dark times (queer) love will always find a way.
Michelle Yeoh, the legend that she is, got her first Oscar in 2023, and it was for playing the character Evelyn who has a heartwarming(?) same-sex romance with Jamie Lee Curtis’ character during various scenes in the film!
The long-running BBC soap shined a spotlight on an important topic that's close to our hearts with a storyline pushing HIV awareness this year. It was amazing to see a show that’s so ingrained in British culture educating our audiences that HIV-positive people can live long and fulfilling lives, a crucial point to working towards an end to HIV stigma.
In the month that had us come second to last in Eurovision, and Beyonce touching down in Sunderland, there was one word on everyone’s lips. Padam. LGBTQ+ people around the world were endlessly Padaming one another, in the words of Derry Girls’ Aunt Sarah, you couldn’t move for Padams. This song signalled a new era for Kylie, and so too for the world. Padam.
For Glamour’s ‘incredible’ Pride month cover, they chose none other than Logan Brown, a Trans man who happened to be pregnant with partner Bailey J Mills. After facing a level of dysphoria due to the pregnancy , Brown said he eventually realised “I’m never gonna get this opportunity again’ to – as a queer couple – have a baby that’s biologically both ours. Which is really special to me, and eventually, something just clicked.”
Barbie was probably the biggest movie of the last few years, everyone was so obsessed with it and there was so much hype ahead of time, it felt like every brand had a partnership with Barbie, all of our favourite artists were on the soundtrack, and Barbenheimer was in full force, everyone was so immersed, I even had a Barbie themed birthday party! The film itself was great, and I was obsessed with the 0.2 seconds of queer representation we get with that gay guy who says “Love that!” to Margot Robbie’s outfit - honestly, real.
We couldn’t write this list without a shoutout to Gay Christmas itself, 2023’s Manchester Pride Festival was truly different, there are so many amazing moments that spring to mind - marching through the streets to celebrate 10 years of marriage equality, coming together to stop the hate at the Human Rights Forum, watching everyone sing their hearts out to ‘Unwritten’ by Natasha Bedingfield, seeing THE Pabllo Vittar and their insane choreography (Seriously, how do I become that flexible?), to Drag Race royalty Danny Beard closing the Sunday night in their first appearance at the Festival since winning the crown, it’s a weekend I’ll never forget.
Along with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, Layton Williams has been a standout dancer throughout the competition, and has broken boundaries as the first contestant to dance with a member of the same-sex, and the first to wear both a dress and a suit in performances across the series. I’m so happy we get to see such strong QTIPOC representation on one of the biggest shows on the BBC!
This song followed the release of Troye’s comeback single ‘Rush’, and he continues the themes of celebrating queer intimacy and relationships in the album ‘Something To Give Each Other”. It released with the music video where Troye comes out in full drag (Absolutely serving, might I add), channeling a number of 2000s pop girls and dancing around a half-dressed Ross Lynch. ICONIC!
Big Brother came back with a bang in 2023 and Gay Twitter went wild for it. Not only did it give us iconic moments like Salmon-gate, Chicken-gate, Love-triangle-gate, and Matty crying in the garden, it also had an amazing level of Queer representation, and a Queer winner!
To top off what I suspect is one of the campest years on record, naturally Cher had to drop an album. Her first ever Christmas album features covers of classics like ‘Santa baby’ as well as brand new catchy track ‘DJ play a Christmas song’. And just like that, work Christmas parties around the world have been forever changed!
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