straightwashing

Let them kiss! Gays share their fave queer-coded characters “forced into” hetero relationships

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In what feels like a golden age for LGBTQ+ representation in film and TV, it’s easy to forget how few and far-between gay characters used to be just a few years ago.

Now, forgive us for getting crotchety for a moment.

But today’s generation will never know the struggle of seeking out stolen glances and subtext in sitcoms, clinging to unassumingly homoerotic sequences on the big screen (Top Gun‘s volleyball scene, anyone?), or trying to tune into Logo late at night when your parents were asleep.

That being said, we’ve always had LGBTQ+ characters… even before groundbreaking gay-centered flicks like Love, Simon, Bros, and Moonlight.

Amongst a cast of straights, gay people could find relatable characters and romances. But only if they were well-versed enough in the ancient art of queer coded-ness.

It’s a skill that’s resonated amongst the media-obsessed gays on Twitter X, where @TheCinesthetic invited users to spill on all our favorite obviously queer characters… whom “the writers forced into a heterosexual relationship,” a.k.a. “straightwashing.”

From the forced chemistry between Ron and Hermione in Harry Potter, to the odd hookup between the canonically queer butler and housekeeper in The Parent Trap, the prompt struck a nerve.

The post received 7.5 million views and over 1,800 quote replies, allowing us to recognize how these gay-leaning characters made us feel seen.

And also complain about the fact that they were forced into a hetero Hollywood happy ending!

Related:

Gay Twitter™ sounds off on movies that needed more “detailed, graphic” M4M sex scenes

Let the people boink!

Here are five of our favorite “heterosexual” characters whom we’ve canonically accepted as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

1. Ryan & Kelsi – High School Musical

A flamboyant, fedora-wearing, musical theater-loving twink and a quiet, mousy girl who’s more comfortable working in the wings?! Anyone who’s spent time in a high-school drama department could tell you this should’ve been a no-brainer. But letting High School Musical‘s Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) and Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin) go full homo wasn’t an option for Disney Channel, who maintained a squeaky-clean rep in the early aughts. (But how did that homoerotic baseball dance number, complete with dudes swapping clothes, slide?!)

If it’s any validation, director Kenny Ortega eventually admitted Ryan was queer-coded. “[He would have] probably … come out in college,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2020, adding he included details that “those who were watching would grab.” At least the character got his queer redemption in spinoff High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, when he kissed an unnamed boyfriend in a cameo appearance. We’ll take the crumbs.

2. Janice Ian – Mean Girls

Janice Ian (Lizzy Caplan) was the “too cool to be cool” artsy heroine of 2004’s Mean Girls. Although a pivotal plot point involved North Shore’s queen bee spreading a rumor that Janice was a lesbian –– and her best friend was literally “too gay to function” –– screenwriter Tina Fey ignored the hairpin hints and partnered her with Kevin G. at the end. Fittingly, Rajiv Surendra (who portrayed the mathlete/emcee) came out as gay IRL… along with the rest of the film’s male leads.

In a rewriting of history, the character got her lesbian happy ending with a random girl in this year’s movie-musical adaptation. But we’re still peeved that all the sexual tension between Regina and Janice went to waste!

3. Duckie – Pretty in Pink

Is there any ’80s movie character as crush-worthy –– and queer coded –– as Jon Cryer’s Duckie in Pretty in Pink?! Perhaps his obsession with best girlfriend was actually a cover up for the fact that he, too, was in love with the hunky Blane McDonnagh. (Weren’t we all?)

OK, so director Howard Deutch told Yahoo! Entertainment that he “[didn’t] think [Cryer] played it like that.” But Molly Ringwald, who portrayed Andie, thought otherwise. “Duckie doesn’t know he’s gay,” she told Out in 2012. “I think he loves Andie in the way that [my gay best friend] always loved me.” Case closed!

4. Billy & Stu – Scream

Boys who murder together, stay together. There’s no denying the homoerotic vibes between Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) in 1996’s Scream. Just look at how they embraced! While threatening to kill Billy’s traumatized girlfriend. And as it turns out, the men behind Ghostface were friends of Dorothy. Kind of.

Neve Campbell, who played Sidney Prescott, theorized that perhaps “some of their anger [came] from not being allowed to be who they [wanted] to be.” Furthermore, in 2022, screenwriter Kevin Williamson admitted there were clear parallels between the two bros and infamous LGBTQ+ serial killers Leopold and Loeb.

5. Bert & Ernie – Sesame Street

Alright, alright. Can you really force heterosexuality onto a puppet? Debatable. However, we’ve been up and down the block past Sesame Street enough times to know what “roommates” is code for.

But don’t take our word for it! In 2018, Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman exclusively told Queerty that Bert and Ernie were gay in his mind –– and their hijinks often paralleled his relationship with late husband Arnold Glassman. “I was already with Arnie when I came to Sesame Street,” he explained. “So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple.”

Related:

EXCLUSIVE: Are Bert & Ernie a couple? We finally have an answer…

A former ‘Sesame Street’ writer dishes on the famous duo, Jim Henson, flirting with monsters, Elmo’s scandal, and more.

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