By Emi Gruender
Gay people have always existed, despite what dullards on the interest may insist, what with the somewhat “recent” explosion of queer media popularized in the United States. From danshoku in feudal Japan to 18th century homoerotic letters between two Victorian women, the steadily more apparent prevalence of queer people is not the result of an internet “queer trend,” but rather the result of developing societal acceptance towards the LGBTQ+ community. However, despite gay history’s breadth, much evidence has been lost due to the stigma surrounding same-sex relationships for much of human history. Only recently, starting in the late 1980s with films like Maurice, has the media begun to include non-trivializing portrayals of queer characters. Slowly—very slowly—queer media has found its way into mainstream media, over a 20-year process starting in the 2000s. In fact, gay marriage in the US had only been legalized in 2015: exactly 11 years ago this June. In honor of the 2026 Pride Month, let’s review some of the most influential landmarks of queer media, and how it has evolved into what it is today.
Starting with one of the most well-known pieces of queer media today, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is a cornerstone of LGBTQ+ media, being one of the first to celebrate gender nonconformity and sexual liberation. Through a wacky Frankenstein-esque adventure with lots of musical numbers and its iconic comedy-horror style, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, along with its stage predecessor (The Rocky Horror Show) have become classics for queer and heterosexual/cisgender audiences alike.
After the 1980s, queer media began to find a foothold in the media, though admittedly still quite obscure. In the 1990s, musicals like Rent by Jonathan Larson and Falsettos by William Finn slowly but surely increased in popularity, both focusing on the impact of the AIDs epidemic on the gay community. In 1999, the cult classic But I’m a Cheerleader hit the box office, becoming one of the only female-on-female romances to enter popular mainstream media. Even today, female-on-female representation in queer media seems to be much less prevalent than that of male-on-male representation.
As the 2010s roll around, newer franchises with gay relationships—such as Alana/Margot in Hannibal and Kurt/Blaine on Glee—emerge in tandem with the popularization of Tumblr, an older social networking platform. Let me tell you, if you’re not chronically online, Tumblr is often lauded as the safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, open to discussions about queer representations, art of the fans’ favorite pairings, writing snippets, blogs, science explanations, and anything else you can think of—not simply queer-centered discussions. I mention this detail majorly because I believe that Tumblr’s popularization, and by extension the popularization of popular pairings like Destiel (Supernatural) and Johnlock (BBC Sherlock) highly contributed to the popularization of queer media as it exists today.
And finally, with the most recent additions to the list of influential queer media, I would be remiss not to mention the popular comic-series-turned-show Heartstopper, or the more recent hockey romance, Heated Rivalry. Both of which, judging by their extensive 100k reviews each, were very much mainstream media. Doubtlessly a far cry from their underground and “experimental,” queer media predecessors, I’d argue.
Though attitudes about the LGBTQ+ community are far from being widely accepted, the continuation of queer-centered media—or even media simply featuring queer identities and relationships—will help to spread tolerance throughout the US, and hopefully beyond. After just 20 years of mainstream awareness, the gay movement has gained much traction: largely with the help of art, comics, TV, movies, and theatre. However, much is yet to be done before the world might be safe for all sexualities and orientations to express themselves truly and faithfully. Perhaps awareness is the first step; what better way to start than to visit these historic landmarks of queer media?