20 LGBTQ+ Pop Culture Moments And News-Worthy Events That Happened In 2022
Amazing though it seems, 2022 has almost come to an end. As in days past, this year has brought a mix of triumph and devastation for LGBTQ+ people, running the full spectrum of emotions. While no single list could encompass them all, have a look at some of our favorite highlights of the year for all things LGBTQ.
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1.Karine Jean-Pierre became White House Press Secretary
March 2022 saw Ms. Jean-Pierre become the first openly LGBTQ, Black White House Press Secretary in history. That’s enough for us to love her, though her handling of conspiratorial reporters endures her to us even more.
2.Dahmer scared the hell out of us
The story of a gay, murderous cannibal isn’t everyone’s (pardon the expression) taste, though as an exercise in terror it left us hooked. The series also revived unpleasant memories of how LGBTQ+ people were treated by law enforcement in the '80s and '90s. It also sparked an important conversation about how shows like Dahmer glorify killers and exploit their victims and their families.
3.Fire Island warmed our hearts
Leave it to a pair of real-life gay friends — Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang — to update a Jane Austen novel into a delightful story of romance and camaraderie. That the movie also featured all LGBTQ+ actors in the principal roles, and a gay director in Andrew Ahn to boot, feels like an added bonus.
4.Queers won big on election day
Nov. 8, 2022, will go down in history not only as a harsh rebuke of Trumpism and the Republican party, but it will also be remembered as the day a record-breaking number of LGBTQ politicians won election. Among them: Tina Kotek of Oregon and Maura Healey of Massachusetts became the first openly lesbian state governors, while James Roesener, elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, became the first transgender man to win a state legislative seat.
5.Bros hit cinemas
Billy Eichner made his bid as a leading man in Bros, a gay-themed romantic comedy made by a Hollywood studio with an all-LGBTQ cast. Unfortunately, the movie flopped in theaters. Which brings us to...
6.The Bros backlash
Billy Eichner, never one to hold back, lashed out at “homophobes” following the Bros flop, blaming them for the movie’s theatrical failure. Numerous LGBTQ+ commentators, however, noted that Bros nabbed mixed reviews, and pointed to Eichner’s lack of star power as the culprit. Reluctance for audiences to return to cinemas for genres that aren't big blockbusters after the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help either.
7.Heartstopper melted our hearts
The cult graphic novel Heartstopper became an international sensation courtesy of a Netflix series. A tale of first love and coming out amid the standard headaches of middle school, the show made superstars out of leads Kit Connor and Joe Locke. It also prompted Netflix to get to fast work on Season 2.
8.Losing Leslie Jordan
The world shed a collective tear at the sudden loss of actor Leslie Jordan, who died in a car crash in Los Angeles at age 67. Jordan had rocketed to superstardom thanks to his Instagram antics, so to lose him at the height of his fame seemed especially cruel.
9.Jinkx Monsoon's run on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 is perhaps the best season of the franchise; of course, this has to do with it being an all-winners season. It goes without saying that all the queens were just fantastic on it, but it's Jinkx Monsoon who really stole the show. Arguably there was no better moment this season than when Monsoon did her impersonation of gay icon Judy Garland during the show’s Snatch Game competition. Monsoon had the Ru, her fellow contestants, and the audience in stitches as she channeled Ms. Garland’s query, “Is that my camera?”
10.Amy Schneider reigned supreme on Jeopardy
Jeopardy landed the top spot among TV game shows this year in large part due to the juggernaut 40-day run of trans contestant Amy Schneider. After becoming a household name thanks to her winning streak — the second longest in the history of the show — Schneider went on to triumph again, winning the show’s Tournament of Champions.
11.Florida warned “Don’t Say Gay”
As if the stories of lunatic Florida men aren’t enough, the Sunshine State managed to make itself look even more ridiculous in 2022 courtesy of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which banned discussion of LGBTQ+ people and issues in grade 3 and under. That managed to put LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and family members of queer people in peril...and cemented DeSantis’s obvious presidential ambitions.
12.Michaela Jaé Rodriguez made history
Just when we thought former Pose star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez couldn't make any more history, fate struck again. Rodriguez closed out her run on Pose earlier this year by becoming the first trans star in history to win a Golden Globe Award, having snagged the trophy for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in January. It's also ironic: Networks boycotted a telecast of the Golden Globes following a controversy over a lack of diversity among its voting body. That it would do so the same year a trans, Afro Latina woman wins big is ultimately everyone's loss.
13.The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act
In a shocking move for those of us that had to live through multiple attempts to ban marriage equality, the US Senate passed a bipartisan bill to protect marriage for same-sex couples from any encroachment by the Supreme Court or far-right politicians. Maybe it really does get better...
14.Love, Victor took a bow
The delightful teen rom-com Love, Victor wrapped up its three-season run with a tender tribute to first love. If anyone needs us, we’ll be riding a Ferris wheel, crying into our sleeves.
15.Spoiler Alert had us in tears
Speaking of tearjerkers, Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge milked our tear ducts in Spoiler Alert, the true story of a gay couple dealing with one of them having a terminal illness. Call it Terms of Endearment for the queers.
16.Lighteyear’s lesbian boss
Pixar and Disney took a major risk with Lightyear, marketed as the hypothetical movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy line seen in the Toy Story movies. The movie endured bans in China as well as 14 Middle Eastern nations courtesy of the character of Alisha (voiced by Uzo Aduba), an out-lesbian and Buzz’s commanding officer.
17.Club Q
On the less-than-inspiring front, a mass shooting again rocked the LGBTQ+ world, this time in Colorado Springs, where a lone gunman managed to murder five people and injure 18 others.
18.Everything Everywhere All at Once gave us the lesbian couple — and lesbian daughter — we didn’t know we needed
A movie with multiverse hopping, kung-fu, and lesbians with hot dogs for fingers? Count us in. Everything Everywhere All at Once not only features the biggest laugh we’ve had in a movie all year (no, we’ll not spoil it here), it features a touching mediation on mother-daughter relationships, and how anything is possible in an infinite universe. The film also features two of the best performances of the year, courtesy of Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curits.
19.Netflix went all in on comedy in Stand Out
Mega-streamer Netflix celebrated Pride Month with an all-LGBTQ+ stand-up comedy special, billed as the largest assembly of queer comics in history. Such megastars as Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, and Eddie Izzard reaffirmed our fandom, though we also fell in love with Patti Harrison, Marsha Warfield, Scott Thompson, and so many more.
20.Billy Porter reminded us Anything’s Possible
Not content to live off his Pose residuals — or his status as a style icon — actor Billy Porter cemented his versatility by stepping behind the camera for his directorial film debut, the rom-com Anything’s Possible. The story dealt a blow for LGBTQ+ visibility, focusing on the romance between a young trans woman (played by Eva Reign) and a high school hunk (Abubakr Ali). Like Love, Victor, the movie had us feeling both nostalgic and hopeful for the future.
