Pride Month may be over, but there are plenty of LGBTQ2S+ happenings in the pop culture sphere. Contrary to some reports, the turning of the calendar page from June to July does not poof queer and trans folks out of existence to lie in hibernation until next June (though honestly, that might be nice—I’m so tired).
No, we’re still here, we’re still queer and we’re still making things happen. There’s movies! TV! Castings! Coming-outs! And plenty of internet drama. Every week in “The Buzz” we keep you up to date on it all.
Here’s what you missed this week in queer and trans pop culture.
→ It turns out the mere sight of a trans person buying sanitary products is enough to throw the conservative trolls of the internet into a fit.
That’s what happened this week when a scene from the new Disney+ show Baymax! leaked online. The kids series is a spin-off of the 2014 film Big Hero 6, and follows the healthcare robot Baymax as it assists people with various care-related issues.
The series of six short episodes addresses everything from recovery after an injury to getting your first period, the latter of which is tackled when Baymax assists a young girl, Sofia, who’s scared of what it means for how people see her.
“[She] doesn’t know if she’s ready to make that leap into adulthood, and Baymax is there to help her understand that change is good and you don’t have to be afraid of it,” Scott Adsit, who voices Baymax, said.
Later in the episode, the robot goes to a store to purchase sanitary products for Sofia, and solicits help from a group of diverse women, and someone who appears to be a transmasculine person wearing a trans Pride flag. The message for kids watching is pretty clear and straightforward: lots of different kinds of people get periods and lots of different kinds of people need sanitary products.
But apparently that message was too much for the right-wing internet, who reacted by pitching a fit.
The leaked clip was initially shared by right-wing activist and writer Christopher Rufo (one of the loudest voices bringing back the dangerous LGBTQ2S+ grooming narrative) and widely circulated by anti-LGBTQ2S+ activists, media personalities and legislators this week including North Carolina congressman Dan Bishop and talk show host Dave Rubin.
Basically, it’s the Lightyear gay kiss thing all over again: the most basic, tiny and honestly barely noticable moment of LGBTQ2S+ representation in a mainstream production becomes a lightning rod for homophobia, transphobia and illogical hate from the right.
Of course, it’s important to focus on the positive impact such a small moment can have, and trans folks are applauding the show for including it.
We love to see trans ally Baymax!
→ The celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pride in the U.K., British Vogue’s August 2022 issue features a superstar lineup of queer and trans artists, influencers, actors and activists including Gottmik, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana DeBose.
→ Angel Olsen spoke to Niko Stratis for Them about her new album and what it means to make a queer record.
“People have said to me, ‘Would you say this was a queer record?’ and you know, if we want to talk about it that way, I think all the records I’ve made were leading me here and they could all be considered queer, because I’m queer,” she said. “But maybe it is! Maybe it’s human, and maybe it’s queer.”
→ Nimona and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power writer Nate Stevenson shared a comic about his new name and the process of coming to it.
→ Voice actress Ashly Burch has come out as pansexual!
→ Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese spoke about undergoing conversion therapy in 1999 when he was 21 in an interview this week with Page 6.
“I went to one-on-one therapy sessions with a person who was trying to change me straight and make me pray the gay away and alienate all my allies,” he said.
“They told me to tell my mom that my mom was the reason that I was leaning toward bisexual thoughts or whatever because she was so open. They made me come out to my mom, who was literally like my best ally, and say, ‘It’s your fault.’”
→ Sapphic songstress Brandi Carlile has a new and very gay music video for her song “You and Me On the Rock.”
→ In an interview with Out, Neil Patrick Harris reflected on aging and his relationship with husband David Burtka.
“I honestly feel better than I’ve felt in my whole life. As I’m aging, I’m feeling like I am more and more comfortable in my skin and my posture and my body,” he said. “I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life, but in more practical terms—as opposed to ‘gym body’ for others.”
→ The new season of Only Murders In the Building includes a kiss between Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez, and Delevingne said she loved it.
→ Sister Wives star Leon Brown has come out as trans. The 26-year-old is the child of Meri and Kody Brown, and has appeared on the series—which follows their polygamous family—for over a decade. They initially came out as gay during the show’s 11th season, but announced this week that they are trans and use they/them pronouns.
→ Katy O’Brian is set to star opposite Kristen Stewart in a lesbian bodybuilding movie.
→ Warner Bros. says they’re still going to make a Flash movie starring Ezra Miller, despite Miller’s increasingly long list of controversies and legal issues.
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