#TOMMY IS QUEER

[fantasticgothicpeachsludge]

I’m so fucking scared of the young avengers joining the mcu I can feel it coming and I’m so fucking mad and scared

[whatsourmotto-whocares]

It's not only sexy af but REAL bi/queer representation, which isn't half-assed or noncommittal, that Buck explicitly is hot for Tommy over masculine things. Tommy, in general, is very trad masc; he's super muscular, tall, with a strong jaw, deep voice, short hair. During their kisses (so far), neither is clean shaven. Buck likes Tommy's cleft. Tommy shows up to the wedding specifcally as a filthy, manly firefighter, and Buck calls him *a beast* in a flirty tone before eagerly kissing him.

Buck is attracted to Tommy *because of* his manliness, not in spite of it.

They really put two masc men together romantically/sexually on main channel cable TV and made no apologies, excuses, or compromises. 🏳️‍🌈 What a time to be alive. 🥲

[watchyourbuck]

As of April 4th, 2024, Evan “Buck” Buckley is officially a queer man.

[batcavescolony]

This is kinda revolutionary? Just a few years ago destiel was queerbaiting fans to superhell but now? NOW? A show saw the fans HC a character as queer with valid evidence and instead went "you know what? You're right. We didn't originally plan this for them but we see you". Then four episodes into the season, canonized his queerness. Not the last second, Not the last Episode. the BEGINNING of the season, with time to expand AND we know we're getting another season after this. Just look how far we've come.

[mygaythoughtsblog]

Tommy Jimenez (@tommy_jimenexz)

[jdorian]

✨BUCK'S BI GLOW UP✨ ↳ for anonymous

[autisticjoshrusso]

one quick thing i need to put out there uh as funny as it is to be like "omg the Glee namedrop bc he produced both shows" or whatever i DO need to inform you that pre-Glee/post-Glee era IS an actual academic discussion point. that is a genuine unit of cultural measurement and had been long before this. that piece of dialogue was not pulled out of nowhere it was pulled directly out of existing queer discourse.

[hainethehero]

It is almost heartbreaking the way the toxic buddie stans are completely disregarding how 911 is trying to engage with discourse surrounding homophobia & LGBTQIA+ hate in workplaces in the show, and are crucifying one of the queer characters who is explicitly gay, just because their faves aren't a couple.

Like, this 👆 scene was devastating as much as it was badass because of Chimney. Tommy didn't fight back, and instead shifted his stance a little. He looks visibly uncomfortable and hurt but doesn't respond, alluding to the fact that he doesn't want to cause a scene, and/or doesn't feel empowered enough to stand up for himself and his boyfriend.

The scene could've been such a catalyst for deeper discussions about queer representation in service jobs like firefighting. It could've even led to discourse about intersectionality and how Hen faced her own struggles in the LAFD because in addition to being queer, she is black and a woman.

But no.

Instead, y'all are raving on and on about how Tommy is ugly, Lou is d*sgusting, how the cast and Oliver hate him and his character & how Buck and Eddie should be together and anything other than buddie = queerbaiting.

If you only want Buck to be bisexual with Eddie, then you NEVER cared about bisexual/queer representation in the first place.

[usercelestial]

i feel really bad for the people who deprived themselves of buck falling in love with a man for the first time. i think about it and i get giddy. imagine thinking about buck experiencing queer love for the first time and getting genuinely angry or disappointed.

[cinematicnomad]

was lou supposed to say that????? (x)

[karenandhenwilson]

Let's talk about the 21st century and queer rights

Sometimes I see a post and wonder what kind of world people live in, how ignorant and hateful they are of the community they claim to be part of, and even the most recent history of that community.

I saw this post with this line in it: "Its the 21th century, are we still suppose to justify people who lie at their partners in order to protect their reputation?" And I'm not reblogging because I don't want to have it on my blog.

So, let's talk about the 21st century and queer rights in the US, shall we, @queershits?

Did you know that same-sex marriage in the US as a whole has only been legal since the Supreme Court decision on Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015? Prior to that, the first state to grant same-sex marriage was Massachusetts in 2004, while the first civil unions for gay and lesbian couples became legal in 2000. But at the same time, 28 states had banned same-sex marriage and the recognition of those marriages from other jurisdictions until 2015. In fact, the federal government had been banned from recognizing same-sex marriages by the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which had been voided by the Supreme Court decision in 2015 but has only been fully repealed by the Respect of Marriage Act in 2022. That's all the 21st century. And very recent 21st century!

When Hen and Karen adopted Denny in 2011, they weren't married. Because at that point in time, they weren't allowed to in California.

Did you know that until the Supreme Court ruling on Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, same-sex sexual activity was illegal in 14 US states? And that even with that ruling 12 of these states have not changed their state's constitution, so that these laws aren't executable but still on the book and regularly used to harass queer people? (And didn't the current Supreme Court just say after overthrowing Roe v. Wade they'd like to take a good long look at Lawrence v. Texas, too? People might lose their rights again in those 12 states if the worst comes to pass here.) That's all the 21st century.

Did you know that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" came into effect in 1994, allowing gay and bi people to serve in the US military as long as no one found out about their sexual orientation? If they were found out, they could face dishonorable discharges or even prison time. Either would be a permanent burden on their records for the rest of their lives. DADT was repelled in 2011 after a long and hard debate. That's well into the 21st century.

Karen explicitely states that DADT is part of the reason she didn't become an astronaut. (Though, NASA was never truly subjected to the rule as it is not a military organisation. But on the other hand, many of the astronatus are active or former military.)

Tommy was at the 118 in 2005. We know he was in the Army prior to joining the LAFD. That means Tommy served under the rule of DADT, which would have been an immense burden on him.

Do you know that there is a defense called "LGBTQ+ panic" often used in combination with a defense of insanity, provocation, or self-defense? This defense tactic is only banned in 21 US states, and most of those bans are very recent. In 2018, only three states had banned this defense. In 29 US states people are allowed to say "this person is gay/trans/queer/etc and I felt threated by that fact alone so I saw myself with no other choice but to hurt them" in a court of a law and the jury has to consider that argument. That's the 21st century.

Let's take a look at the kind of world Josh, Michael, and Tommy would have been children and teenagers in. That's not quite the 21st century, but it's near enough.

Tha aids epemedic started in the 1980s, and is — for the record! — still ongoing. But in the 1980s it was very much deemed a problem of the gay community only. And many, many people claimed outrageous things like "they're getting what they deserve". Josh and Tommy are both 80s children, Michael was a teenager in the 80s. We know Tommy grew up with a bigoted and hateful man like Gerrard as a father. He probably heard the above quote and worse regularly.

Have you ever heard the name Mathew Shepard, @queershits? (If not, go and educate yourself!) Mathew Shepard was a young gay man tortured and murdered in October 1998. Josh and Tommy would have been teenagers or maybe young adults (as we don't know the exact age of either of them) when that happened. It was all over the news and there were, again, people not shying away from saying he got what he deserved. I've no doubt Tommy's father (and Gerrard) was one of those people.

That's the world Josh, Michael, and Tommy grew up in as gay men that Josh talked about. They didn't hide to protect their reputation, as it was put in the quote above. They hid to protect their life and well-being. Finding the confidence and security to let go of that kind of learned behavior to protect yourself is so hard. But all three did it!

There are still people today who have to hide like this in the US. Because they're born into the wrong family or the wrong neighborhood or the wrong religious community where being queer is still seen as a ground to hate them, to exclude them, to hurt them, to kill them.

The number of hate crimes is rising again. The hard-won rights and freedom of queer people are threatened again. It's the 21st century, but that doesn't mean we are always safe or that we don't sometimes have to do shady things to protect ourselves or that we can lean back and enjoy the rights we have. Because many of us all over the world either don't have any rights or are facing the very real danger of losing the rights again that those who came before us fought so hard for.

[whatohitsonfirewelp]

You know what? I don’t WANT an awkward double date. I don’t WANT buck coming out and people having the ‘I know’ reaction or the ‘is it Eddie’ reaction.

You know what I do want?

I want Buck panicking over what to wear for the date. I want Buck flopping on his bed like very teenager after their first kiss all giggly and happy and touching his lips because he kissed a boy

I want Buck smiling every time he says Tommy’s name because maybe it isn’t forever and maybe he’s not even looking for forever anymore but he’s so happy and he’s so light and being with Tommy feels good

I want Tommy to keep calling him Evan, because before Buck was Buck he was Evan and Evan deserves to be happy to be treated so softly and lovingly and Evan deserves to be free.

I want Buck to be happy. To be happy and free and queer in the way we all deserve.

[sarahwritesfics]

I don’t think some of you understand the risk Tommy took here.

Buck was a man who had always identified as straight, had girlfriend’s, talked about women. He had given no genuine, external reason for anyone to think he was anything other than straight. I mean yes we can all say he was queer coded or whatever but to the rest of the characters (excluding maybe Hen and TK lmao) he was a straight dude-bro.

Tommy obviously felt that he had a good enough read on him to try this but it was a risk. Buck could have had a really negative reaction, could have punched him, could have hurled insults at him. But to Tommy, it was worth the risk to just KISS HIM.

The more I think about Tommy Kinard, the more I love him.

[tevanbuckley]

My attention? Yeah, I guess so. ↳ forever obsessed with the implication of "I could teach you," buck being unsure of himself and his experience and tommy immediately and earnestly telling him it's fine and he can just teach him.

[zainclaw]

[tommykinard6]

You know what’s so great about Tommy?

He represents hope. He is living proof that people can not only change, but also turn their lives around.

When he was in the begins episodes, he was scared and spineless and sometimes an asshole, all for the purpose of fitting in with Good Ole Boys club. He was deep in the closet and had been in an unhealthy environment probably all of his life. Lou said that Tommy had a rough life, an unstable home and childhood. Add an undetermined amount of years in the army to however long he was trapped at the old 118, I’m starting to think he never realized another option was for him. Not that there wasn’t another option, but that it wasn’t an option he could have.

But then Chimney comes in. Someone on another post of mine pointed out that it was because Chim was an “other” and Tommy didn’t want to be pinned as an “other” too and I agree. Same with Hen, but sadly worse. She got awful treatment from the 118 and Tommy went along with it. But even back then, we got treated to things like Tommy hugging himself during Hen’s speech to the house, to his face falling when the captain uses the “diversity hire” line.

But then Bobby comes in and he’s not standing for people’s shit. Slowly, the 118 starts to move forward and while Tommy isn’t stuck fitting into a toxic boys club anymore, he’s left behind because he can’t move himself forward anymore without confronting who he is. So he leaves the 118 and moves to Harbor.

Somehow, somewhere along the way to where we are now, Tommy came out to himself and with the way he talks, probably started therapy. When we meet him again, he is so gentle to himself and those around him. This is a Tommy we could see glimpses of before, but now he’s finally safe to be himself in all aspects.

And I think this is so important for all people who find themselves with any parallels to Tommy’s storyline. For so many people that have to live in secret. For people trapped in a horrible environment, one they have to mimic to survive. For people who can’t face themselves until later on in life. For people who look successful on the outside, but are crumbling on the inside. And to the person who fits their gender roles to a T, the macho man or feminine woman, who doesn’t “look queer” or “act queer”. There’s a place for everyone.

You just have to find your place. Look what that did for Tommy.