#Sam is queer cowards

[batboyblog]

My Super Gay/Queer Reading List

The Long Run by James Acker

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Another Dimension of Us by Mike Albo

Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak

Alan Cole Is Not a Coward by Eric Bell

Alan Cole Doesn’t Dance by Eric Bell

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Felix Yz by Lisa Bunker

Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron

Dragging Mason County by Curtis Campbell

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Wild by Sally Green

Half Lost by Sally Green

Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green

Gay Club by Simon James Green

You’re the One That I Want by Simon James Green

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra

Totally Joe by James Howe

After School Activities by Dirk Hunter

At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson

A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly Straight by Jeff Jacobson

Haffling by Caleb James

The Lightning-Struck Heart by T.J. Klune

A Destiny of Dragons by T.J. Klune

The Consumption of Magic by T.J. Klune

A Wish Upon the Stars by T.J. Klune

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune

Flash Fire by T.J. Klune

Heat Wave by T.J. Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Every Day by David Levithan

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Ryan and Avery by David Levithan

How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis

Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden

When Ryan Came Back by Devon McCormack

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Fraternity by Andy Mientus

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller

Hero by Perry Moore

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Junior Hero Blues by J.K. Pendragon

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid

Kens by Raziel Reid

Emmett by Lev A.C. Rosen

Jack of Hearts by Lev A.C. Rosen

Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez

Rainbow High by Alex Sanchez

Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez

So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez

The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

All Kinds of Other by James Sie

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Freak Show by James St. James

Ray of Sunlight by Brynn Stein

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

366 Days by Kiyoshi Tanaka

The Language of Seabirds by Will Taylor

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas

Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes

Always the Almost by Edward Underhill

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Tumblr got rid of yellow so I couldn't do pride colors, sorry!

If you want help picking something out just send me an ask with what kind of thing you're looking for and I'll select something for you, and if you end up reading something because you saw this list, please let me know

[castielstwigandberries]

if the supernatural movie doesnt include a reference to

nevada and georgia turning blue, stop the count, destiel making putin resign, sherlock season 5 rumors, destiel news meme, which political person had to be briefed on what destiel is now?, jensen looks like he was holding back homophobic slurs, weird cuts in the confession scene, which way was dean thrown now?, bury your gays speedrun, gay angels get send to superhell/eeby-deeby/cas plinko, recognizing the confession scene only by the first letters of each word, 'homosexual declaration of love', The Tapes™ (Release them now jensen!!!), meta analysis after 15x18, 'i gripped you tight and raised you from perdition' callback as dean saves cas from the empty, why lamp?, onion field, pizza man montage, parallels be paralleling, dean screaming cas name so loud in one take that people heard it blocks away, dean offering to kill sam if it means chuck brings cas back, the 4 year old son of lucifer becoming god, chuck won theory, 'we explore the nature of destiel in act two', excitement for a long finale which could only be about dean saving cas, right?, the insanity inducing quotes of the day for episodes, 'the night we met' and 'angel with a shotgun' songs of the day on set, filming in a barn, worst finale ever (even worse than game of thrones), weirly short with 11 scenes cut, two thirds montages, carry on wayward son playinf twice, back to back, one a weird cover version, vampmimes, no cas in the finale but instead some random vampire from season one no one remembers, dean finally gets nailed from behind, dean dies from tetanus, party city wig, good cars go to heaven, Car/Cas and Biden/Bi!Dean/Bye!Dean, 'cas helped', blurry wife, misha and jensen are not in the thank you video, everyone was supposed to be at the roadhouse originally but no one was informed of those plans, walker backdoor pilot, covid/capitalism destroyed everything, misha was in vancouver for filming the last episodes and was in less episodes than he was contracted for, misha denies ever having been in vancouver, misha says originally he was supposed to be in the finale as jimmy, misha says cas was supposed to be in the finale and 'sidle up to dean in the roadhouse', heterosexual destiel whose kisses would have created entire universes, destiel reciprocated in spanish, rogue translator, #TheySilencedYou, Jensen Ackles sexy silence, jensen ackles longcon, deanbenny breakup in season 8 script leak, Heller Obama, fake italian dub, misha collins x bill clinton sex scandal, misha addressing the "scandal" and tagging bill clinton and monica lewinski, 'still beautiful, still dean winchester', mishapocalypse 2.0 and 3.0, 'eyes like the sky' beer from jensens brewery rumored to be misha description, cockles anniversay photo, chaos machine jensen ackles' production company, 'rainbow road' beer close to deans birthday, blue green ('destiel') shotglasses from jensen brewery, ash and ellen's actors roleplaying roadhouse reopening in twitter, people think they are planning destiel wedding, disappointment when thats not the case, fans celebrate Destiel Wedding anyway on Valentine's Day 2021, fallout with both actors after one said a 'queer interpretation would damage the integrity of the show',

*takes a deep breath*

jared calling cas junkless and comparing his love for dean to the love he has for his children, misha collins cameo including 'still beautiful, still dean winchester', saileen and midam wedding, spn prequel announcement and subsequent j2 fallout, '@/robbiethompson et tu brute wow. what a trully awful thing you've done #bravo you coward', the prequel being about the least favourite characters of supernatural and a love story disproved by canon, 100000 destiel fics on ao3, misha tweets about that, rumors if mishas secret ao3 account, real italian dub going 'you're kinda okay' instead of i love you, misha tweeting a video of him saying 'te amo' in response to that', jensen saying if there'd been more time he (he meant dean but he used first person pronouns) would have hugged cas and said 'i love you too', first anniversary, misha collins coming out as bisexual on accident and then saying he 'happens to be straight' three days later in a five post apology thread, hot sauce from adam/micheal actor advertised by him playing midam, casbaiting in the winchesters trailer, jarlos shipping by winchester main actors, dean with beard and turtleneck, jensen saying he wanted misha in the winchesters but it didnt work out because of scheduling conflicts but hed be there in a season two shortly before the show was cancelled, death of the rogue translator and destiel getting dragged to the trending page every time there is news

*panting* then i dont want it.

yes this is all i could remember without looking it up

[inthemiddleofmybackswing]

just rewatched McKay and Mrs Miller to bring me some joy amidst the raging despair, and it got me thinking….

*this is not to say i would have wanted the writers to… it frustrated me to no end when they did this kind of shit (get together in AU or some shit but not in canon) to sam and jack or daniel and vala, and it would have been worse if they did it for a queer couple. BUT just for a thought experiment…

[tartt9]

while i'm here... on jamie's bisexuality.

there are no out queer premier league players. none. the first ever english player to come out was justin fashanu in the 90s, and his story is a tragic one that i'm not going to go into details here about but know that jamie knows it and it deeply impacts him. the only out queer footballer in english football right now plays for blackpool in league one (and he's really only on the development team).

the homophobia in english football is rampant. there's homophobic chanting in the stands frequently, despite it being banned by the fa since 2007. there's a yearly campaign run by the prem called rainbow laces, and just look at the replies to the posts about it on twitter if you want to see the attitudes of people who watch english footy in regards to queerness. some clubs have systems where you can report homophobic chanting, and city is notably the first premiership club to be recognized as a queer-friendly employer, but that number of out top tier footballers is still zero.

jamie has always been (canonically) a coward. he'll do what's right.... only if a few people do it first (see: sam's dubaiair campaign in s2). he'll speak up about things with his teammates (see: city are great, but so are we). and he doesn't mind being put on a pedestal and asked questions (there's a clip on twitter of him doing this after sam's campaign). but he's not brave enough to be the first. he just isn't.

he knows he's bisexual, but he'll never put that label on himself without a lotttt of therapy. while georgie would obviously never have a problem with it, would be proud of him no matter what, as long as he's happy she's happy, he also had a lot of james' influence growing up. james who would call him slurs for having his hair too long, or watching roy's games/pressers/etc too much, or just about anything that he perceived as emasculating. that influence won't just disappear.

jamie would never ever demean someone for their queerness (we see him outright supporting colin in the best way he can), but he can't label it in himself. he loves being with men, hooking up with them, kissing them, touching them. he'll easily kiss his teammates' faces/necks when they score goals. he did that interview where he said beard wasn't his type on national tv after the fa cup semifinal in s2. it's not like he hides who he is. but he'll never be able to get up on those big platforms and Come Out without someone else going first. he finds it difficult to try to tackle romantic relationships with men because he has to hide who he is in public.

the number is zero. and jamie's too afraid to be the one.

[musclesandhammering]

(sorry, I had to respond in a reblog because I ran out of characters in my reply)

I’m sorry if I had an attitude with my reply!! I feel bad about commenting now cause I usually make a point not to bring my anti attitude onto pro posts & vice versa. I really did get a laugh out of it just because of my *insert shocked Mr krabs meme* when I realised we were on different pages lol- not because I thought your tags were wrong, just because I expected it to go in a different direction.

I probably did let some passive aggression slip in there, though, just because I always feel like Dean is largely a fandom sweetheart (especially among shippers) and usually when he’s criticised, it’s met with outrage and accusations. I should’ve been more careful not to project that onto your post, though, because i don’t even disagree with anything you mentioned.

Like… people trying to make Sam into the one who always pushed back against John and stood up for the “good” monsters and tried to protect Jack and didn’t want to kill demon vessels, while Dean did all the opposite? Yeah, definitely not. Part of the complexity of their dynamic is that they were both problematic in different ways and a lot of their issues overlap. I SO agree with you on that.

That being said, I will mention that a large part of my issue with both the character and the fans (not you in specific, I’m just speaking generally) is the exact thing you made the post about- just in the opposite direction. People insisting certain things about him are hard canon when they’re either strongly up to interpretation or just flat out fanon. I see the things I mentioned as examples of this.

And I really think like 80% of it (particularly the early seasons stuff- the porn thing and the slut shaming and jailbait comments etc etc) is that, at the time, the writers just genuinely didn’t see anything wrong with any of that stuff, so they didn’t intend those things to be negative traits on Dean’s part. They just wanted to give him some edginess and some funny one liners. Which is annoying but understandable. But now we can look back at it and say “yea so that was.. iffy” and it results in some Dean fans either calling it ooc (which.. unfortunately, it’s not) or twisting themselves into knots to explain why those things weren’t actually that bad or he only said them because of internalised whatever whatever etc… that’s a bit irritating.

The only other issues I have are how some deangirls have a slight disconnect when it comes to his actual personality (ie emphasising his protectiveness/brotherly love and brushing over his domineering behaviour and anger issues). But I mean samgirls and casgirls do that too- it’s just kinda natural to focus on your fav’s best traits and ignore their worst ones.

The other thing is his sexuality. …Listen. I’m queer myself so I know how frustrating it is to see such a perfect opportunity to make a character bi/gay- to see so many little hints and offhand comments that could have been developed into something if the writers weren’t cowards- and have to admit that all those bits of “evidence” never got solidified into anything… but they just didn’t. I’m being completely genuine. It’s so so easy to read Dean as bi via interpretational subtext, and I don’t disagree with anyone doing that… but canonically? He’s not. It’s a missed opportunity and it’s unfair as hell but he’s just not. Jensen has said he’s straight, the writers have, Dean himself has. Every bit of bi evidence can be explained away as a joke or coincidence.

And it really pains me to say that, because I get why people are so ready to die on the “Dean was intentionally queer coded” hill. But stating it as a fact, calling anyone who disagrees homophobic, letting the writers off the hook for chickening out by deluding themselves into believing bi!Dean is as good as canon when it likely never will be?? It’s so annoying. Especially when there’s other characters who (imo) were a bit more intentionally queer coded (like sam) or were outright confirmed to be lgbtq (like cas).

Again, I’m not shading you with any of this, cause I have no idea if you’ve said any of those things before. I’m just ranting out my opinions. I’d love to see your take on it, though! Seriously, I think it’s really cool that you were so nice about it and I’m really interested to hear your thoughts!!

(Reading back over this, I feel like my tone here sounds a little standoffish too, but I swear it’s not! I just don’t know how to convey emotions on the internet!! ���😭)

so much supernatural discourse boils down to claiming a thing we actually see dean do on the show is something he would not do, claiming a thing we see dean specifically not do on the show is something he would do, claiming something all the main characters do is something dean alone is doing, or claiming something sam does on the show is something dean did.

and im so confused. because the answer is comically simple and it's a thing we all allegedly love doing and that is... watching supernatural?

[shotofstress]

The fans of Kojima never learn. Is almost funny. The other day I saw a comment about Die-Hardman being cool and one of the good guys and being bisexual. And is like, my guy, Sam, his father, mother and sister, all of them, said via Sam: we hate you, you are a coward piece of shit and we never loved you at the end and no one respected you (not even the soldiers of BRIDGES), no one, nor Heartman, Deadman, Mama, Lockne, nor Fragile. Here, take this gun and fucking shot yourself bc we all hate you and were disgusted by you for never stand for anything for real, never have a true political stand nor even be able to do something for the people that you supposedly loved not even for our son. You will be awful no matter what you do or say.

And yet there is ppl like "yeah good Die-Hardman such a hero". You have Sam and the Deadless Dream Team, you have Cliff for fuck sake. All of them queer as fuck and complex but that did the right thing. You even have Amelie with all the amount of complexity of that character. But no, this people think Die-Hardman is one of the good ones.

Kojima did everything to make it clear that Die-Hardman is not a good guy bc he has seen for decades how their fans loss the point of his work, and yet. Is like the guy that after playing MGS he joined the imperialist soldiers.

No matter how on the nose authors do the things, apparently ppl will never understand.

[lifereallysaidfuckyouhuh]

Ok but Sam Winchester and spencer Reid would have the sweetest most wholesome love story ever and no one can tell me I’m wrong.

[absolutebl]

You're in filmmaking and working on your big dream BL production, your writer is one of the best, you got decent budget, interested sponsors, a great director, a professional crew. Now, you gotta cast your actors, the mains and maybe a sidedish. Who would you chose and why? Which criteria would you apply for example age, appearance, acting style, experience, ability to create chemistry, on-screen charisma, name recognizability? Which actors would you pair and why? Make it country specific.

MY ULTIMATE FANTASY CAST + BL MASTERPIECE!

If I could have any BL in the world. What would I pick? 

I kinda already did this here: 

TOP 10 BL PAIRS + What They Should Play Next - I chose SamYu for the gay Descendants of the Sun, but you threw the door wide open on this one so I am pushing it. (I also did Crazy BL Actor Pairing I'd Love to See ) 

I hold by those picks but I’ll reboot the game a little. 

Now, you gotta cast your actors, the mains and maybe a sidedish. Who would you chose and why?

(SamYu - We Best Love) in a Taiwanese production of Hospital Playlist. 

So Hospital Playlist is a true ensemble piece with 5 leads, but the anchor relationship would be these two. In case you were in any possible doubt as to my ultimate bias.

(L-R: prudish pediatrician, arrogant heart surgeon, comedic general surgeon, neurotic OBGYN, warm & brilliant neurosurgeon) 

Hospital Playlist is not just one of my favorite Kdramas, it’s one of my favorite dramas of all time. I love a medical drama, it has multiple solid romances all ending happily, it’s about older characters, there are complex stories and GREAT side characters, food is vitally important, and it’s ultimately extremely comforting. It’s sadly het, tho. 

So I want Taiwan to do the queer version. And I want it to get the proper treatment the way Taiwan sometimes does with their het stuff, like full on 20-30 episodes. 

Hospital Playlist only it’s 5 queer surgeons, paired as follows: 

Sam plays the funny single dad general surgeon (his husband left him alone with their adopted son, yadda yadda) 

Yu is the kind hearted brilliant neuroscientist. I’d like to see him play a warm nerdy character for a change. 

(Spoiler, these two characters are already besties who once moot-pined and eventually end up together.) 

Lin Yu (OuWen from Love is Science) plays is the arrogant heart surgeon. Of COURSE HE DOES. Slayed by the military boy in the end, of course. Honestly we can pair him with Anderson Cheng again as Sam’s younger brother, but I’m not married to that pairing. 

The OBGYN has to be our neurotic chaos bi character (that comedy writes itself) and I would cast Bruce He in the role. Because, he has dimples and I love him in everything and I am shallow af. He can have all the crazy exes up the wazoo. That’d be fun. I don not care who he ends up with. 

I’d turn the rich prude pediatrician character into a lesbian who I want played by Aviis Zhong, because she hasn’t played enough lesbians yet. Never enough lesbians. 

I want her slow pining desperate younger love interest (AGE GAP!) to be played by Tannie Huang (DNA Says Love You bestie). I think they would kill it. 

I want the older administrator of the hospital adopted lesbian mom of the group to be Tammy Darshana Lai (Encore Martha). And I want her to be having her own life, quandaries and relationships. 

Which criteria would you apply for example age:

I’d like it to be older characters in general. I love a high school drama but I’d like something more relatable to me, and more meaty for the actors to sink into, where being queer is there, and important, but there’s other life shit going on (ex spouses, children, career hiccoughs, side interests and hobbies). 

Clearly I’m picking all over the place on actual actor ages, but the main characters would all be in their late 30s at least. The support cast of residents and students and patients so forth would be many other ages. 

I’d like the Love is Science? team to direct (Tsai Mi Chieh & Chang Chin Jung). 

Appearance, acting style, experience, ability to create chemistry, on-screen charisma, name recognizability? 

I want mostly pretty because, as already mentioned, I shallow af. But I also want broad queer rep and diversity. So trans characters, butch, femme, various creeds and colors, all of them - in complex, capable professional doctor roles and positions of power. I want it to look like the Philippines vomited queer rep on this hospital. 

It’s my fantasy medical drama, I’ll queer it up if I wanna. 

I think Taiwan in general has a realistic, highly physical, slightly comedic acting style that would suit Hospital Playlist very well. (Probubly better than Korea’s style did, quite frankly.)

All the actors I chose (but Yu) are experienced and established. I think Avis and Bruce are big enough names for major draw. And SamYu as a pair are a big enough deal to pull the BL audience in spades. A show like this could take off international well and easily. Authentic queer rep is one of Taiwan’s strengths and this kind of show could showcase that for truly broad appeal, like Asia’s version of Queer as Folk, only a million times BETTER. 

Did I sell you on it?

(source) 

[shotofstress]

They are literally the canon ship and the team want to be part of the family and pledge to care for Lou with Deadman by placing their hands on Lou's pod. Deadman is the one who realises Sam's aphenphosmphobia and takes care not to touch Sam, he is the one who supports Sam from the beginning and he is the one who finally defies the government and the state to help Sam and Lou. Deadman has multiple instances of parallel between Cliff and his wife Lisa as well as between Die-Hardman with Bridget and Cliff. Die-Hardman did everything wrong and was a coward, unable to operate outside of the institutions and betrays those he loved by failing to help Lou and Cliff, Deadman on the other hand realises that the institutions are bullshit and manages to consistently help Sam and Lou to the end, even if it means not keeping them by his side. But people will insist that they are not family, that they are nothing and even deny the other characters in the game who show interest in Sam (Fragile and Heartman). Fans actually prefer to ship Sam with Higgs and even Cliff (??!?!!!?) instead of accepting that Deadman and Sam in text and subtext are family and couple. Fans can deny all they want, but Kojima decided to write them as a couple.

The game explicitly says that it is already accepted to be queer in the world of the game and mentions the rise of asexuality, pansexuality, and bisexuality, and all the main characters are queer (Heartman is pansexual for example). But it seems that people are not able to evolve and leave fascist ideas behind, which is the whole point of the game, the point is to stop being a fascist and educate yourself, learn to see the truth and change how you see the world.

Deadman can literally say that he, Sam and Lou are all connected, with their bond being stronger than life and death, and call Lou "OUR little one" when Sam gives her to him when he goes to Amelie's Beach and people will still insist that they are not a family

[awriterpretendingtowrite]

Furious over the way Destiel was supposed to be ours. Was supposed to be a queer romance in a show that wasn’t built to be “for the gays.” Was supposed to show the millions of people that watched Supernatural that being queer isn’t a joke, or something to fear, or something to kill. Was supposed to show that queer people can get happy endings.

As a queer person, all I can see when I look at what the writers did to Cas and to Dean and to their story is a big, red sign with the words “YOU DON’T BELONG. YOUR PATH ENDS IN A LONELY DEATH” and I can see the millions of people who watched the show soaking up that message and taking it with them.

Imagine if Destiel had gone canon, fully and irrefutably, with a confession from Dean and a kiss and a full life together either hunting or retiring and finally being safe and happy. Imagine the message that would have sent to every single person watching that finale. Imagine having straight men across the world watch two grown men kiss on screen and it not be a joke or tragedy.

Are you imagining? Good. Now imagine how you would have felt lying on your bed, or sitting on your couch, or watching across the room as Dean Winchester, the red-blooded American, fought Heaven and Hell and the Empty one last time to save his love, Castiel, an angel "with a weakness." Dean would have fought every demon or angel or anything other thing in the universe that would have gotten in the way just to save Cas.

Then he would have gripped him tight, raised him from the Empty, and told him that good things do happen, Cas.

Then he would have pulled Cas into a kiss that would have surpassed any on the show. We would have the first Destiel kiss in the Empty, then they would have fought their way out.

Or, Dean could have gripped him tight, raised him from the Empty, and told him that good things do happen, Cas, and then not have said anything until they were back in the bunker. After all, he'd been a drunk mess on the floor for days, mumbling about how "I should have said it back" when Sam walked in and whispering to the empty air around him on the lonely night, "I love you, too."

Then Sam and Jack would have given Cas two of the best hugs he'd ever gotten in his eons of living, then Sam would have steered Jack out of the room.

We would have watched, as one across the world with bated breath, as Dean sipped slowly from a bottle of beer and finally said, "Cas--"

And Cas would have said, "I heard your prayers, Dean." Still beautiful, still Dean Winchester.

And Dean would have cut off the angel and said, "I need to say it this time. Out loud. Before anything else happens." Still breath-taking, still Castiel.

We would have watched Dean Winchester falter, and swallow hard, then look into Castiel's eyes and say, "I love you too, Cas."

He would have hesitated to lean forward, but Cas has been on Earth long enough to know what to do, to lean forward and kiss his "weakness" as tenderly as he can.

And Team Free Will would have been happy.

Can you imagine the message that would have sent to the queer people, especially the queer youth watching? It would have told them that they are deserving of happiness and of love and of every good thing in the world.

Instead the writers killed Castiel for being gay. The writers cut every single mention of him save two. The writers impaled Dean on a rusty nail, after all his years of fighting, and they let him let himself die because they knew he would have moved all the forces of Heaven and Hell and the Empty to save Castiel.

Destiel was supposed to be ours. The writers took that from us.

We will take Supernatural from them. Dean Winchester, and Sam Winchester, and Jack Kline, and Castiel, angel of the Lord, no longer belong to the writers.

They belong to us.

Long live Destiel.

[thomas-the-goat-of-satan]

what I find fascinating about Finn's, "overcoming homophobia," arc is that at no point in the story does he actually show that he's changed in any real way. in season one, when he's in the basement angrily shouting homophobic slurs at Kurt, we're meant to see this as a moment of growth for him. we're meant to see Burt's, "don't say slurs," speech to him immediately after this as a lesson well paid. we're meant to see him standing up to Kurt's bully the next day as our ultimate proof that Finn Hudson, while incredibly flawed, is an ultimately good person who wants to put in the work to be better. except... that's not what we're actually shown. we're shown Finn beginning that journey, sure, but he never does more than that.

in season two, Sam Evans joins the Glee Club. when Kurt asks Sam to be his duet partner, Finn takes great issue with this. Sam, notably, does not. he's a bit taken aback by Kurt's forwardness, but he's willing and ready to sing with him, because Kurt is talented, and Sam likes him. Finn, however, takes this unconventional duet pairing to mean that Kurt must've forced Sam into a situation that he didn't really want to be in. Kurt doesn't know how to take no for an answer, and yes, Finn was wrong to call him that slur back in season one, but Kurt had a crush on him and he went about it inappropriately at times, so can you really say that Finn was in the wrong? he goes behind Kurt's back to Sam and says, "you can't sing with him; you're both guys." Sam says, "I didn't realize you had a problem with gay dudes." Finn flounders. ultimately, this attempt to break up the duo works. Kurt, worried that maybe he is taking advantage of a sweet, unsuspecting straight boy, backs out of the duet, and Finn leaves the situation not only being proven right, but having further pushed an already bullied and othered kid deeper into ostracization. talk Valentina, I guess.

in season three, Finn stops whipping out his sexy little bag of slurs (for a moment, at least) and trades it in for a savior complex, because guess who comes to the rescue when our favorite lesbian, Santana Lopez, is cruelly outed by one of her supposed friends!

oh, wait? what was that? you said- you said that Finn was the one to out her in the first place? oh, okay, hold on-

Finn was the one to out her in first place! after screaming that she was a coward that needed to come out of the closet in the middle of a crowded hallway during passing period, she's outed to the state of Ohio in a conservative campaign commercial (with a lovely little picture of her attached, in case we accidentally mistook her for a different head cheerleader on Sue Sylvester's cheer squad). this incident is of course treated with the incredible care that it deserves, and Finn immediately apologizes and takes accountability for what he did-

sorry, what was that? oh, he- he didn't do that? okay, give me a second-

actually, no he doesn't! he doesn't do any of that! our favorite queer ally just blackmails Santana into temporarily joining the Glee Club because he thinks that she might kill herself, and he doesn't want her to do that because he lost his virginity to her, and then him and the rest of the Glee Club sing at her about being queer (kind of, they couldn't even do that part right) for a week.

anyway. not to, "the narrative," my way through the rest of this post, but the narrative always tried to frame the events leading up to Finn's actions in a way that allowed him to seem justified when he inevitably did something bigoted. yes, he shouted slurs at a gay kid, but come on, he wasn't solely in the wrong; Kurt was being creepy, and he was coming on to Finn too strongly! yes, he manipulated Kurt into dissolving his partnership with Sam, but he only did it because he wanted to protect Sam from the school's ridicule; and really, Kurt is quite forward. yes, he outed a lesbian in small town, conservative Ohio before she was ready to come out, but she was constantly insulting him and making horrible comments about his appearance and his weight. Finn was consistently allowed to get away with the horrible things that he did to others, specifically queer people, because it could all reasonably be held under the umbrella of, "well, he's still a good person; he's just flawed!" that's the funny thing about being a good person, though; you have to actually be good. Finn was never too great at that part.

[henrykathman]

Yooo as someone lucky enough to work with her, I second the recommendation for Sarah, who you can follow at @hms-no-fun/

I would also want to throw a couple of other queer YouTubers onto the pile. (In Alphabetical Order)

Adequate Emily

Emily produces a lot of great videos reviewing and analyzing different films. Some are from a queer theory perspective, others tap into more historical examples. My current favorite video from her is about the 1970 antifascist masterpiece The Conformist.

Anansi's Library

R. Anansi discusses several topics relating to history, literature, and political theory. In addition to their essays, they also sometimes do spoken word poetry, which is pretty cool. I would recommend their video discussing the rhetoric behind the idea of "Protect Women"

Aranock

@aranock is someone else I've been lucky to work with. Lots of their videos offer an interesting perspective on the queer experience, including a video called Queer Relativity that is pretty cool, though my favorite is still their video discussing Midnight Mass.

La Femme Fictionale

Sam's videos explore different subjects from an Acesexual perspective, which is something you don't see as much in the video essay space. Her most recent video discussing the Boleyn girls will be interesting for anyone who enjoys Six or any other historical media relating to Henry VIII.

Laura Crone

You may have seen her videos about Riley Sager or REPO! but Laura's vids offer an interesting mixture of film and music theory, theology and literature. There are too many of her vids to choose from, but her most recent video about Ghost is an absolute banger that needs way more views.

LauraKBuzz

Laura is an extremely talented writer, editor, and accessibility activist who was the first out trans person I followed online thanks to my favorite podcast podquisition, Her videos on the games industry and accessibility come recommended to anyone who is interested in making gaming more inclusive. She also edited a book called Gender Euphoria, which is a collection of stories by trans, non-binary, and intersex writers sharing positive experiences of the Non-Cis experience. If you are interested in hearing about the queer experience in a way that doesn't fixate on queer suffering, this is a pretty good read.

Offbeat Kiki

@offbeatkiki is one of the best people discussing animation on YouTube right now. As someone who is also known for discussing cartoons online, it is nice whenever you can find other creators who tries to take a more constructive perspective on the medium. Case in point, they made a video about the 1992 Tom and Jerry Movie that presented a poignant perspective on a film that I absolutely despised and dismissed growing up.

Rantasmo

When it comes to Queer video essayists, it is shocking that people don't mention Rantasmo as one of the earliest voices in this space, as they were doing Queer analysis all the way back in the days of Channel Awesome. His videos were some of my first exposure to queer culture growing up and were vital in helping to develop my perspective today.

Transparency

I've recommended @transparencyboo's videos a number of times before, and have even received help from Kiki of @marsmombestmom in my remaster of my Moomin video, but I want to once again remind you to go watch Transparency, you cowards. They produce multi hour retrospectives on different video games and likewise make some of the most underrated gaming videos online right now with great art, stellar writing, and insightful analysis. My current favorite is their video is their two and a half hour retrospective on the Star Fox series that you should check out.

Videokind

Primarily hosted by @mattjcrowley, Videokind produce some of the best essays discussing film online. Not only is Matt an extremely talented writer, he's also such a genuinely nice guy. I absolutely recommend you watch their most recent video, which is a total evisceration of The Whale and the ways Brendan Fraser's great performance masks the vile implications of that garbage movie.

Wensleydale Cheddar

I'm a little biased on this one cause I co-host the podcast Podcastmon Adventures with them, but Wensleydale produces amazing podcasts discussing World Trigger and other manga. We are currently working our way through the Pokémon Adventures manga, and I especially love the expertise and care they put into everything they do. Well worth a follow!

My shout-out to queer youtubers

Hbombs list was great but obviously not comprehensive. I watch a lot of video essayists and wanted to give a little love to the smaller channels that fall under the radar. Please feel free to add to this list!

let's talk about stuff/Sarah Zedig

If you've seen Jesse Gender's videos on the Matrix movies you may already be familiar with Sarah. She does excellent film and culture analysis with a lot of great conversations on paratext and outside influence in engaging with text. Her video on Tunic is one of my favorites.

Pamphleteer

No one makes videos like hers, which has the side effect making them a bit hard to describe. I will link one of my favorites which describes the disconnected temporality of being older when you discover you're queer.

Turbo Queer

Really really under watched channel. Skylar covers a lot of topics from video games, to anarchist history and modern events, to autistic life, to current politics. For a fun one check out her video on the SpongeBob strike episode.

Kaz Rowe

Kaz does a fantastic job examining modern myths and manufactured history primarily pertaining to western Europe, Victorian & Edwardian England, and 1800-1900s US. And of course, talking about historical queerness in all its ambiguities and evolutions. I highly recommend their video on Weimar Germany.

drapetomania

drapetomania interrogates the politics of low class and high class art and entertainment from a queer and Black perspective. Their art history videos alone cover many angles of white supremacist history I haven't seen anyone else discuss and I'm very excited to see more from them. They are also a very under viewed channel that more people should see!

I am error

Evelynn's channel primarily discusses video games in a presentation style and voice most similar to Action Button reviews. There's something just a bit more personal here though. I hesitate to say cozy since that word has a bit of an infantilizing connotation, maybe comforting is closer. She puts an immense amount of thought and empathy into the experience of playing video games and the personal narratives we build with them.

Swolesome

For more transmasc perspectives there's Swolesome. He has a lot of interesting insights into the more traditionally masculine and "broish" communities like fitness as well as commentary on recent trans issues.

Shonalika

Music, disability, and aggressively non-binary. Their video on gender presentation in heavy metal was really insightful. I would also check out the video "Why I Wear Gloves" for more insight on invisible disabilities.

Vivian Strange

Vivian delights in being a bit of a contrarian- something I really appreciate. She's probably going to challenge you and you're probably going to disagree at times, which is what makes her channel so important. Her video on Marquis De Sade is powerful and a must watch (if you can stomach the subject material, although I would encourage you to try). I haven't seen her most recent video on Saw yet but I am extremely excited to.

[vivacissimx]

Not the original anon but I loved your musings on interpreting queerness in asoiaf! Feels like the obvious follow up but I would really love to hear more about your reading of bi!Jon if you feel like sharing. I lean towards it myself but am afraid (as much as one can be in the free land of headcanons) that it relies a bit too much on overinterpreting descriptive passages in his chapters as attraction. Ie can GRRM even write a completely straight POV?

Oh, thank you! Yes I agree that George does have to describe the circumstances around his characters, and that does result in Ned Jon Jaime etc saying fruity things that aren't intentionally reflective of the POV's sexuality. Yes, very true

I agree with that, but I choose to ignore George's intentions here because I tend to think of beauty (not beauty as in the hierarchy placed on attraction, but beauty as in whatever you are captivated by to the point of willingness to change your own circumstances such that you can witness it again) in really specific ways. Queerness often means accepting what we are captivated by as being beautiful, as being something we have the right to find beautiful, in the place of fighting to be attracted to what we are told is beautiful. And I recognize that in Jon as well! I'll list out some examples that I hope clarify what I mean by this:

Jon's disappointment during the feast when he is sent away from the high table, unimpressed by Robert, ignored by Theon, infantilized by Benjen, and humiliated by his own drunkenness is interrupted by his interest in Jaime and Tyrion. He finds Jaime "hard to look away from" and thinks he is what "a king should look like." (AGOT, Jon I) That second quote isn't just a description - he's having a terrible night and Jaime's beauty is a bright spot in it, to the point that Jon thinks it would make sense for Jaime to be enthroned. Jon admires Jaime, and thinks that admiration should be shared by... everyone. Now, Jon also sees Tyrion later on in the night, after he's stormed out in rage, and Tyrion opens up to him in a way that perhaps few adults do, even gives him advice that Jon takes to heart. Jon then states that Tyrion's shadow makes him as tall as "a king." So is it just a turn of phrase, that he compares both Jaime and Tyrion to kings? The language is so specific: Jaime is already a shining knight of the Kingsguard, and Tyrion could well have been tall as a tower. That's not the case, though. Jon admires Jaime for his physical presence and Tyrion for his insight/empathy but the core is the same: he's attracted to them, interested in them in a similar way

Jon and Sam. This is what solidified it for me, even if the relationship is platonic I don't think there's anywhere else that we see Jon being so intensely protective, so proactive in another person's personal happiness; that is, he finds Sam beautiful and strongly desires to create a world in which Sam can thrive. Now: The Night's Watch is a nationalist organization that defines itself through a standardized and regulated masculinity (these are my brothers - I would die for them & they would for me - betraying this brotherhood is deserving of death) that excludes everyone else. South of the Wall? Sworn not to get involved. North of it? Mortal enemies. It's also true that whatever the standards of heteronormativity are in the asoiaf world, Sam absolutely fails to meet them. So a world where Sam succeeds is a world where the grip of heteronormativity is loosened, where "queerness" is allowed to exist. In ADWD, Jon forces himself to harden and also sends Sam away, in part because Jon (seemingly) doesn't like the person he's become and doesn't want Sam to see it. There's shame, in what he commands of Gilly - there's fear, in his order to Sam not to call himself a coward, because Jon won't be there to protect him in case anyone tries to bully Sam for it. Jon & Sam shared an affinity for queerness that helped bond them together, and even in sending him away to become a maester, Jon shows he thinks of Sam (and those like Sam) as part of the future

Jon & Theon have a pretty juvenile relationship in AGOT, Theon is a bit of a jerk in general, Jon is standoffish. It's sooo *has a crush* *pass them a note saying "get out of my school"* that I laugh. Anyways, I think it's interesting that Jon doesn't really think badly of Theon following, he's surprisingly empathetic and even nostalgic, to the extent he can be - he specifically thinks of Theon during his life or death battle against the Thenns, taking some strength from that memory. There's no long paragraphs about Theon being handsome or whatever, purely a matter of the heart. Conclusion being: he wanted to kiss him

Obviously, Jon is attracted to Satin. He's been around conventionally beautiful men before but Satin is the one he can't stop associating with beautiful things, the one he wants to give a chance to by appointing him as steward, the one he keeps an eye on and comes to respect. The wedding between Alys Karstark and the Magnar where Jon is flirting with Alys, keeping track of who Satin dances with, yes it's a formative moment in Jon's sexuality I'd say. Is it all an accident? Eh maybe, but it also falls in line with Jon's general attraction to misfits and outcasts, to gender non-conforming characters. What does not reading attraction into JonSatin do for Jon's arc? What characterizes their relationship otherwise? Pure benevolence? #Allyship? Jon is selfish enough to consistently choose his own ideals above others, and his personal affection for Satin in a moment where his friends are gone & he's in need of human connection shouldn't be discounted so easily

Look, Jon's perception of beauty is something that is so personal for me, but to perceive it as strictly gendered, as not conflicting with the proto-cisheteropatriarchy of Westeros is a position I could never take. If George didn't realize what he was doing with that lil sunrise beyond the Wall then too bad.

[Self-indulgent, but there's a section of Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time where he sees a sunrise through a train window and then is approached by a milkmaid who, in his trance at the beauty of the world in an unfamiliar moment, he compares to a dazzling sun. When he fails to speak to her, the moment is lost. In ACOK Jon III, Jon is amazed when he sees the "magic beyond the Wall," but after meeting Gilly and being unable to help her, he retreats into Craster's hall where it's so dark you couldn't tell the sun had ever risen. Hello??? A beautiful world is a livable one, and ADWD when Lord Snow is forced to be rigid, to perform masculinity, is one where "Ghost is more alive than I am." (ADWD, Jon II) Friends, this is not a straight man!]

[hacash]

I’ve been in the Tolkien fandom for eons now and it still flummoxes me how much hate/dismissal Rosie Cotton gets just for being Sam’s canon love interest. Like, Frodo Baggins did not invite Rosie to Bag End (in what could very easily be read as a queer-platonic/polyamorous arrangement without too much effort) just for y’all to kick up a tantrum because your mlm ship didn’t end up exclusively together, you cowards.

[potrix-the-queerschlaeger]

Okay, but I want post-TFATWS obliviously jealous Sam.

No, listen.

Bucky doesn’t leave Delacroix after e06. And all the Wilsons are pretty damn happy about it. AJ and Cass are thrilled to have someone with a seemingly limitless amount of energy around to play. Sarah really appreciates Bucky helping with the boys and around the house. And Sam just generally likes having Bucky around, because that asshole really has become one of his closest friends.

And Sam had been joking, at first, about Bucky better not flirting with his sister, but the longer Bucky stays, the closer he seems to grow to Sarah. Initially, Sam is glad that Bucky’s opening up to someone else, and that Sarah is getting along so well with someone Sam cares about a lot.

But then they suddenly seem a little... too close?

Like, Sam can’t put his finger on it, but something about how Bucky is with Sarah, and how Sarah treats Bucky, bothers Sam. But he doesn’t say anything, because both Sarah and Bucky are adults who can make their own decisions (concerning relationships/their love lives).

And because he’s ashamed of how much he resents them for getting along so well.

It all comes to a head when Sam’s on a solo mission for a couple of weeks. He’s grateful that both Sarah and Bucky are keeping him updated on the boys and what’s going on back home, but. They’re looking suspiciously close to a happy little family. A family without Sam.

Sarah, of course, realises that something’s wrong as soon as Sam gets home. She lets him stew for a few days, but eventually confronts him because she won’t have him moping around the house.

And Sam’s all apologetic, like, “I’m sorry, I’m really trying, okay? And I’m happy for you guys. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, I swear.”

“You’re an idiot,” is all Sarah says in response. And then, “And you’re jealous.”

Which is... ridiculous. Right?

But Sarah just rolls her eyes at him, and tells him that no, there is absolutely nothing sexual or romantic happening between her and Bucky. Because, “That boy only has eyes for you. Which you’d see if you opened your own damn eyes for once.”

So Sam does. Really starts looking, and oh.

Oh.

“Have you been trying to flirt with me, man?” Sam asks, eventually, when they’re sitting by the water one evening, chilling with a couple of beers.

“For months now,” Bucky says, brows raised, “but thanks for noticing.”

“Well, it’s not my fault you’re terrible at it!”

“I was outta commission for over 70 years, excuse me for being rusty.”

“What about that famous Barnes charm, huh?”

“You tellin’ me you know anything at all about queer-coded, 1930s style flirting between men, Samuel?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Shut me up yourself, coward.”

And then they kiss, obviously.

[noneorother]

Spoiler alert; the Maltese Falcon is literally a (secretly) gay icon.

So here’s the thing. I’m usually not one for talking about head canons. There’s no way we’ll ever really know why Crowley has the Maltese Falcon alongside his other two “winged statues” (wink wink, nudge nudge) in his flat. But in my little art director heart I really feel like some context could help people think about the historical implications of what the Maltese Falcon might represent for Crowley, and how life often imitates art.

So how is this mysterious black bird (ahem) a symbol of coded queerness in film?

The Maltese Falcon, written & directed by John Huston and released in 1941 (ahem), is an adaptation of Hammett's 1930 novel, which features not one, but three openly gay villains in San Francisco. If you want to adapt this novel in 1940's Hollywood, you had to deal with the Hay's Code,

...A set of moral censorship guidelines for the American filmmaking industry, and was effective in place until 1968. There are several reprehensible facets to the Code, but the one most relevant here is Section 2 – titled simply “Sex” – Item 4: “Sex Perversion, or any inference to it, is forbidden.” While this does not explicitly forbid filmmakers from the use of homosexual characters in a narrative, the implication is transparent enough. Any positive gay representation was clearly made impossible.

Screenflipped (How Subtext Saved (and Damned) Homosexuality on Screen)

The Hays code effectively sublimated all the gay representation in the novel into subtle coded references (sound familiar?) that could be defended if taken out of context, but taken as a whole paint a very erotic gay picture:

Cairo’s calling cards and handkerchiefs are scented with gardenias.  He also fusses about his clothes and becomes upset when blood from a scratch ruins his shirt.  And if you look carefully, he makes subtle fellating gestures with his cane during his interview with Sam Spade (Bogart)...Some gay critics have also focused on the falcon as a phallic signifier; the way it is treated and touched by various characters.

Emanuel Levy

What's amazing about this is that, despite how coded the references have to be, and how negative the portrayal might be, this is probably "the first example of an explicitly gay-coded villain in American film." Think about it. Crowley loves movies, and in 1941, when the whole world was burning, and the object of his desire is so close for the first time in decades, and yet still so impossibly far away, he could go to a movie theatre and watch gay characters lust after an equally unobtainable Maltese falcon on the silver screen. Who wanted (like him), and were sexual and dark (like him). Who had to sneak around, and make innuendos and use coded signalling and double speak, just to exist.

And even though the hero of The Maltese Flacon finds a perfect straight-laced, alpha male rogue in Humphrey Bogart, "it's undeniable that Bogie was a gay ally -- or as allied as you could get in that era.  He frequented gay bars and had close friendships with gay men throughout his life, including Charles Farrell, Spencer Tracey, William Haines, Noel Coward, and even a young Truman Capote (who beat him at arm wrestling)." And just one year later, arguably in his most famous film role, Bogart played another hero in the (also subtly queer coded) film Casablanca, alongside noted bisexual actor Conrad Veidt in his last ever film role before his death.

Veidt played the hero int the first positive gay romance ever featured on film, Different from the Others (1919). It was a SILENT FILM, that's how early it was. Why do I mention Casablanca and Veidt? Take a look at the posters on the wall in the backstage room after the bullet catch in season 2...

Queer history is, albeit quietly, woven into the very fabric of Good Omens. You can't hear it over the noise of the traffic, but it's there.

Why does Crowley have the Maltese Falcon?

My head cannon is that the 1941 Church/Magic Show/Zombie evening (date??) ended badly and Crowley did a geographic to Hollywood where he worked on the film (it would have been in production in 1941) and kept a souvenir.