Gen Z is shaping up to be the queerest generation ever.
Back in February, a Gallup survey found that nearly one in six American respondents between the ages of 18 and 23 identified as queer or trans, marking a huge increase compared to their older peers, where 5.6 percent of all adults identify as LGBTQ2S+.
And in 2021, we saw the rise of the queer generation on full display. From queer TikTok to young trans kids vocalizing against legislative attacks on their rights, LGBTQ2S+ youth were more visible than ever. We only have to look at the recent makeover episode of Canada’s Drag Race to see that the kids are more than all right.
Sure, celebrity queers of all ages had a big 2021. Kristen Stewart is in the midst of a renaissance, fuelled by her likely Oscar-recognized turn as the late Princess Diana in Spencer; Elliot Page is on the cover of Time; Demi Lovato’s non-binary and looking for aliens; and MJ Rodriguez could win a Golden Globe.
But in the midst of a surging Gen Z queer cohort, it was the young one ones who really brought it in 2021. And arguably no one is more emblematic of this year’s queer sweep than its biggest stars: Lil Nas X and JoJo Siwa.
At first glance the only real similarity between the former Dance Moms child star and the beacon of queer horniness is their perpensity for TikTok. But looking at the 2021 arcs of Lil Nas X and JoJo Siwa, we can paint a remarkable picture of what it means to be young, queer and famous in 2021.
Their respective years show that not only are the kids all right, they’re thriving. And they’re both redefining what queerness means not just for Gen Z, but for the rest of us, too.
The moment
In 2021, Lil Nas X was the moment. We knew this year was going to be different after the release of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” The same kid who made “Old Town Road” had evolved and blossomed.
Hints of the larger-than-life, fully realized gay man that Montero Lamar Hill would become were evident in his earlier work. But “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” showed the now 23-year-old to the world in bright Technicolur.
From giving the devil a lap dance to kissing himself, the song’s music video is unapologetically gay.
From there, Lil Nas X continued not only to rise, but to thrive. His debut full-length album MONTERO has dominated year-end lists. He’s already won a slew of awards and is nominated for several Grammys going into 2022. He’s on former U.S. president Barack Obama’s year-end playlist. And he’s done it all while having fun.
From a marketing stunt involving so-called “satan shoes” with human blood…
To a viral “baby bump” ahead of his album release…
From the Friday Night Lights meets Brokeback Mountain meets condom ad video for “That What I Want”…
To an elaborately conceived appearance on Maury…
Lil Nas X just kept going in 2021. And everything he did this year, from his videos to his social media to his live appearances, maintained that sense of queer joy that we’ve come to expect from him. He’s arguably the biggest celebrity of a generation who shares their lives on TikTok (including his unironic love for Shrek). He’s boosted bail funds while cracking jokes. In 2021, he’s simultaneously redefined what it means to be a rapper, to be a musician and to be a celebrity, and it’s all come through the lens of his queerness.
In his review of MONTERO for Xtra, contributor Darc Cottingham summed up Lil Nas X’s influence.
“He’s more than an ‘industry plant,’ one-hit wonder or internet troll; he’s Montero Lamar Hill, an unapologetically Black gay man trying to live each day to the fullest,” Cottingham wrote. “He’s an artist with many inspirations and a wildly expansive imagination. He is the moment.”
There is a generation of young artists who will look to Lil Nas X as their icon, much like previous generations did The Beatles or Freddie Mercury. And in him they will see a Black gay man who’s made art about being a Black gay man.
The new lesbian icon
But he wasn’t the only Gen Z queer icon to thrive in 2021. While 18-year-old JoJo Siwa didn’t release the album of the year—or probably any song her new adult fans could name—her impact is arguably just as large as that of the young Montero Lamar Hill.
While Lil Nas X evolved into a gay sex symbol on awards show stages and in music videos, Siwa mainlined queerness straight into family homes through her existing fan base and TV appearances.
The former Dance Moms star came out as queer on TikTok in January.
And that kicked off a year full of evolution where she ditched her signature bow and fully embraced her queerness. Until this year, Siwa was known for her appearance on Dance Moms as a child, which she translated into TV deals and a thriving kids music career. But with her coming out, Siwa showed the same kind of evolution her fanbase has undergone: you can still be a kid and be queer.
Paparazzi photos captured Siwa and then-girlfriend Kylie Prew at Disneyland and drive-in movies. And then Siwa started really leaning into the lesbian of it all, complete with an appearance at the MLB All-Star game where she made every lesbian proud and even got a hit in.
But perhaps most notably, Siwa was cast on Dancing with the Stars, becoming the show’s first celebrity to be matched with a same-sex partner. Her presence was a boon for the show’s marketing, and made a legion of queer fans (like me) suddenly interested in the aggressively straight institution. It’s not that there haven’t been queer stars on the show before—there just haven’t been queer stars turning a song from Grease into a gay love story.
Siwa could’ve maintained her teeny-bopper sanitized image, but almost entirely within the show’s run, she evolved into a fully-formed queer woman. Her November finale freestyle performance to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” complete with a crew of same-sex backup dancers, is a triumph, and a full circle moment from her coming out TikTok set to the same song at the start of the year.
Prior to the pandemic, millions of kids flocked to Siwa’s concerts and millions bought her merch from Target to Walmart. She’s a huge brand with a huge so-called “family” audience. To bring queerness to their level, to come out in such a joyful way and integrate that into her public persona—that’s groundbreaking.
Siwa coming out is the 2021 equivalent of if Big Bird from Sesame Street or Steve from Blue’s Clues came out. This year, she showed a legion of kids that not only is it okay to be gay, but that it’s something worth dancing about.
The brave new queer future
Lil Nas X and Siwa both brought something new to queer culture in 2021. The former, an unabashed and open embrace of queer sexuality at the top of the charts; the latter, by bringing queerness into the homes of millions.
Every queer teen has their idols. Growing up in late aughts and early 2010s, I didn’t know I was queer and I definitely didn’t know I was trans. But I couldn’t shake my fascination with certain figures. When you’re figuring out who you are and who you love, it’s always so helpful to be able to point to someone and say, “That! That’s like me!” For me, it was Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel singing “Defying Gravity” on Glee and Ellen DeGeneres on my mom’s TV when I came home for lunch in high school. Kristen Stewart wasn’t out yet, but deep in my heart I knew there was a reason I fixated on her in Twilight so much. And my obsession with the shapeshifting Animorphs book series makes a lot of sense the more I’ve come to understand my transness.
The new generation gets Lil Nas X and JoJo Siwa, amongst a wave of other emerging icons. Both are someone kids can point to and say “That’s like me.” They’re also gateways for parents and other older generations to better understand the LGBTQ2S+ youth in their life and frame their experiences.
Nas X and Siwa are rewriting what it means to be queer, and defining queer joy for a new generation. Both are revolutionary in their own right, and will continue to be as they evolve and grow up with the generation that looks to them now.
They’re just two examples of the infinite ways to be queer in 2022 and beyond.
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