From an attempted coup to a global pandemic that refuses to end (*Omicron enters the chat*), 2021 has been a year many would prefer to forget. But that doesn’t mean there was nothing to cheer about, including in the world of queer pop culture. In fact, in that sense this year has been pretty spectacular. And since we’d much rather focus on that as 2021 comes to a close, let’s take a look at some of the pleasant distractions that helped get us through it all…
Everything Lil Nas X
Presenting the first GQ 2021 Men of the Year cover star: @LilNasX #GQMOTY https://t.co/9ElCMQGmkq pic.twitter.com/Nbj4OPsgp0
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) November 15, 2021
Lil Nas X hands down won 2021. There’s no doubt. From releasing his debut full-length album, the brilliant “Montero,” to stirring up all manner of controversy with the release of the Satan shoes, and his perfect clapbacks to his countless trolls, he showed he’s here to stay whether you like it or not. We already can’t wait to see what he does in 2022.
Gottmik makes “RuPaul’s Drag Race” history as first trans male contestant
??? pic.twitter.com/o6bBxIGTWO
— Gottmik (@gottmik) January 19, 2021
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” fans have been calling for more trans inclusion on the show for years, and this year they got it, as Gottmik became the first ever trans man to compete on the famous franchise. Not only that, Gottmik performed well, making it to the top four and becoming a fast fan favorite.
JoJo Siwa comes out as pansexual
JoJo Siwa, who first came to prominence for appearing on two seasons of the show “Dance Moms” and who has amassed a large social media following, came out this year as pansexual. The singer/dancer/YouTube personality dropped hints at the beginning of the year, and by April had officially come out as pan. Since we know that queer youths could always use more similarly aged role models to look up to, the then-17-year-old’s announcement was seen as a particularly big deal. It also brought the term pansexual, which means someone who is attracted to people of all genders, to broader recognition, with outlets like Today publishing articles explaining the orientation.
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The Olympics sets record for LGBTQ representation
The #ClosingCeremony may be over, but we're still celebrating. ? pic.twitter.com/bolpl6Wrma
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) September 5, 2021
We’ve seen our fair share of queer Olympians by now, but this year set a new standard, with over 180–yes, 180!–out athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. The summer games were positively chock full of LGBTQ competitors, so much so that it totaled more than all the previous Summer Olympics combined. How cool is that?
Carl Nassib becomes the first active NFL player to come out
View this post on Instagram
Speaking of LGBTQ athletes, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first member of an active NFL roster to come out as gay in August.
“I just want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life, I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for,” he said on Instagram.
He has since said he has gotten a lot of support from his teammates since coming out and that he feels better after making the big announcement, which should give encouragement to any fellow gay athletes considering coming out.
Billy Porter comes out as HIV-positive
Billy Porter opens up about his HIV-positive diagnosis in a new exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter. #THRNews pic.twitter.com/6Z5uAIiLdq
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 19, 2021
The actor and gay icon came out as HIV-positive in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, some 14 years after being diagnosed. Porter said that he was silenced by feelings of shame but felt it was time to come out about his diagnosis, while holding his head high.
“Yes, I am the statistic, but I’ve transcended it,” the “Pose” star shared. “This is what HIV-positive looks like now. I’m going to die from something else before I die from that…It’s not the only thing I am. I’m so much more than that diagnosis.”
Demi Lovato comes out as nonbinary
Every day we wake up, we are given another opportunity & chance to be who we want & wish to be. I’ve spent the majority of my life growing in front of all of you… you’ve seen the good, the bad, & everything in between. pic.twitter.com/HSBcfmNruo
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) May 19, 2021
Demi Lovato also came out this year, announcing they are nonbinary in a video posted to Twitter back in May.
“Over the past year and a half I have I’ve been doing some healing and self-reflective work, and through this work I’ve had the revelation that I identify as nonbinary. With that said, I’ll officially be changing my pronouns to they/them,” the performer said.
“I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression, and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am and still am discovering.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” crowns first trans winner
All hail our reigning Queen! ? #AllStars6
Best of @xoSonique ? https://t.co/itSZzOFWXu pic.twitter.com/jFvJA9AwDv
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) September 21, 2021
Even more “RuPaul’s Drag Race” history was made in early September when Kylie Sonique Love became the first out trans person to be crowned the winner. Love won her spot in the “Drag Race Hall of Fame,” along with $100,000, after beating out fellow finalists Eureka, Ginger Minj and Ra’jah O’Hara on the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.”
New Superman comes out as bi
bisexual superman and his pink haired socialist bf pic.twitter.com/1WlhnM5l46
— matt (@mattxiv) December 7, 2021
This year also saw the new Superman, Jon Kent, son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, coming out as bisexual. The revelation came with the fifth issue of the DC comic series “Superman: Son of Kal-El,” wherein Superman falls for reporter Jay Nakamura. And we think you’ll agree, they make for a cute couple.
Britney Spears was finally freed
Good God I love my fans so much it’s crazy ??? !!! I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day !!!! Best day ever … praise the Lord … can I get an Amen ?????? ???? #FreedBritney
?: @AbbyShalawylo pic.twitter.com/yk1vO3H02L
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) November 12, 2021
Were it not for Britney Spears, most people would likely be unfamiliar with the term “conservatorship.” Spears, who for 13 years was placed under the restrictive arrangement, which kept her from getting to make her own personal, professional, and financial decisions, was finally released from the court-ordered oversight in November. She thanked her fans for fighting for her, as part of the #FreeBritney movement, sharing a video on Twitter of a celebration that took place when the news hit. “Good God I love my fans so much!!!” she said. “I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day!!!”
ptn2719
For me personally (and I’ve heard others say the same), 2021 was worse than 2020. I didn’t think that was possible! But, a year ago we had hope that Covid would get better, and now we now that will literally never happen. Personally, I’m getting very tired of being locked in my home 24/7 because the vaccines that seemed so promising turned out to be totally worthless. Can 2022 please suck just a tiny bit less, please?
Bosch
So your favourite pop culture moment this year is anti-vaxx conspiracies? The unvaccinated packing the ICU clearly agree with you.
Kangol2
The vaccines are not “totally worthless.” If you get vaccinated and boosted and somehow catch Covid-19, chances are you are not going to end like hundreds of thousands of Americans who were not vaccinated and got very, very sick and died. Being vaccinated and boostered also helps prevent you from contracting a severe bout of Covid-19 that could turn into “Long Covid.”
2022 will be much better if you can convince anti-vaxers and anti-maskers that changing their behavior will not only help them but everyone else and get us off this pandemic track!
Italtopcop
Make an appointment with a good therapist. You are clearly stressed to the max and making no sense whatsoever. Vaccines have saved many many lives. If you continue to focus only the negative you will never see the light. Get some help.
Mister P
The vaccines are not worthless.
Fahd
One definitely notices the lack of anyone moderating in the comments when someone tries to sneak in an anti-vax message in a comment, however depressed the person may seem. The vaccines have saved millions of lives. We all know what to do.
Jaquelope
Why does there need to be any “moderating” on a site that was made for opinions to be expressed? From what I’ve seen, the commenters themselves are pretty able to moderate any anti-LGBT+ comments, by sharing their own opinions on any given subject.
I’m sure that moderators exist who will delete some vicious, personal attacks against another commenter, but that is how things should be, but personal opinion arguments usually tend to work themselves out. Nobody really wants just an echo chamber.
Fahd
@Jaquelope
In my opinion, it would be better if Antivax and other Q-Anon BS were moderated away. The orange menace has been banned for a reason. Disinformation is dangerous and shouldn’t be considered “opinion” because you and others like to write nasty retorts, etc. to yourselves in the comments section.
Fahd
For me, Carl Nassib coming out was truly remarkable. I am somewhat surprised he and his coming out haven’t garnered more attention, given the large role that football plays in American life.
He seems to be a very private person and doesn’t seem to be saying yes to interviews – I only know of one.
In a way, however, that has allowed the huge sports media machine in the US (think Realsports with Greg Gumbo, Sportscenter etc), to overlook Nassib’s coming out, and not report too much on something that may not be a welcome topic to their average viewer/sports fan.
It’s clear that Nassib doesn’t want to be THE gay player in the NFL for media purposes and for helping a presumably homophobic subculture come to terms with a really good defensive end on the Las Vegas Raiders being gay.
He and this sociological happening (or lack thereof) are something special.
cliche guevara
I don’t think it garnered much attention because people have been coming out for decades. There are enough out LGBTQ+ public figures that another gay guy isn’t a huge deal to the public. Is it a huge deal for Carl Nassib personally, yes. As for the NFL, I think they had their big “gay” moment with Michael Sam.
Inspector 57
What is “queer” about the news that Britney Spears’ conservatorship ended?!
Jesus Christ, Queerty. Way to stereotype all gays as vapid and pop-star-gossip-obsessed. Thanks so much for that insult.
Chrisk
Well, it seems that enough vapid queens cared to show up to this event. I don’t get it but enough apparently do to make it queer news.
Jaquelope
While there are “vapid and pop-star-gossip-obsessed” Gays, most people realize that not all of us are that way, and can also recognize that that is a stereotype that needs to be expunged, but the expunging needs to be done by the ones perpetuating the stereotype. It also needs to be repeated that there are probably just as many, if not more, of these people in the Hetero community, and there has been as long as there has been an entertainment and “news” industry.
Just as the stereotype of the lisping, swishing, limp-wristed, crossdressing gay whose only interests were home decoration, fashions, and other “feminine” interests have slowly (in many cases) been gotten rid of, there are still even more (even in the Hetero community) that still need to die out (and yes, every ‘community’ has their stereotypes that need to be contended with, whether it has a National, color, religious or other component that originated the stereotype).
cliche guevara
There is nothing inherently queer about Britney Spears’ conservatorship. There are no shortage of queers who have experienced people trying to control their lives, narratives about them and their public perception that they can be empathetic to her situation. Intersectionality is a thing and attributing it to stereotypes might be shortsighted.
Inspector 57
Chrisk and Jaquelope, thank you for those comments. You make good points. Happy New Year!
MISTERJETT
i may be the only one who feels this way, but does Kylie Sonique Love really deserve to be in the Drag Race Hall of Fame? don’t get me wrong, she was very good, but in my opinion, she didn’t do all that well when she was in the competition in season 2 and there are so many more deserving contestants – Jujubee, Shangela, Raven just to name three. i mean winning the competition for the crown and 100K is one thing, but the Hall of Fame? i don’t think so. was her being a trans woman the deciding factor? it shouldn’t have been. i know there are those who disagree with me, but that’s my opinion.