The Beijing Winter Olympics are here, and with at least 36 openly queer athletes competing, it’s the queerest Winter Olympics yet! Already we’ve seen stunning results from queer figure skaters, curlers and a record-breaking fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal from the immortal bisexual Dutch speedskater Ireen Wüst.
But while the best and the brightest in winter sport have been competing in Beijing, the culture train has kept on rolling elsewhere around the world. Every week in “The Buzz,” we catch you up on the latest happenings in LGBTQ2S+ pop culture. This week, we’re looking at a veritable smorgasbord of queer and trans delights, from game shows to TikTok to Star Trek and more.
Here’s what you missed this week in queer and trans pop culture.
→Sometimes TV game shows are the gift that keeps on giving. Just look at Jeopardy!’s Amy Schneider and her historic run. But sometimes the gift they give is more gutbusting than groundbreaking—like what happened on Family Feud this week.
To set the stage for the uninitiated: hosted by Steve Harvey, Family Feud involved two duelling families who must guess responses to various questions from a survey of 100 people. The topic at hand in this case was “name an activity that brings men closer together.”
To start, the families guessed the usual answers you’d expect from straight people—sports, beer, poker. But no one guessed the fourth answer. It remained a mystery. And when Harvey finally revealed the answer, well, it was certainly an activity men enjoy doing together.
There’s something so distinctly wild and delightful about an entire TV audience chanting “gay lovemaking” in unison. And social media users had to agree.
The entire sequence is honestly a work of art. More gay lovemaking on daytime game shows please and thank you!
→Oscar nominations are here, and they’re surprisingly queer!!
→TikTok star Emira D’Spain is set to become the first Black trans Victoria’s Secret model.
→In “things that are technically very queer but still feel straight,” the trailer for that truly bizarre Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell adaptation of Tiger King, Joe vs. Carole, is here, and it certainly is something.
→We will never be free. Last week, news broke that The L Word: Generation Q will return for a third season of mess, drama and whatever’s going on with Alice’s talk show.
Promotional materials suggest that fan favourite Gigi will be back in an elevated role alongside all of the usual faves like Bette, Shane and Alice. But the big question from fans? Will And Just Like That’s controversial comedy they/them Che Diaz—who coincidentally moved to L.A. to pitch a pilot at the end of their series—show up?
Forget Marvel movies—that would be the greatest crossover event in history.
→GLOW’s Betty Gilpin is set to star as Anna Nicole Smith in a new film, and I can only assume she just barely beat out Drag Race’s Adore Delano.
→Star Trek Discovery’s Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander spoke to Out about being the franchise’s first openly trans and non-binary actors.
“When I was really little, I didn’t have many very visible transmasculine people to look up to,” Alexander said. “And it wasn’t until I got into high school that I started seeing trans people on YouTube posting about their transition. So it makes me really happy that on such a mainstream franchise like Star Trek, there are two happy, successful trans people, and there’s more than two queer people on the show too.”
→There’s going to be a Lil Nas X comic book!
→Gentleman Jack is coming back, and these first-look photos look steamy!
→Ever wish there was Drunk History for the gays? A new show premiering later this year on Discovery+ called The Book of Queer will take a hilarious and musical look at queer history.
→Comedian River Butcher has started a thread of trans and non-binary artists, actors and creators. It’s a great place to check out some rad folks you may not have heard of!
→The new video game Drag Her is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for a full launch, if you want to make the dream of fighting Kim Chi with Leganja Estranja a reality.
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