Azriel Dalman: Young Percy Jackson, Mr. Martin, and Garrett Graham celebrates Pride, tells gay kids "It gets better." With n*de costars

Link to the n*de costars

In August 2024, 10 year old actor/model Azriel Dalman posted a photo wearing a Pride shirt on his social media.  A fan wrote that he shouldn't post anything "political" or "controversial," or people wouldn't want him in their projects.  He responded with a photo standing beneath a giant Pride flag, and wrote that if you think supporting LGBTQ people is political or controversial, he doesn't want to be in your project. 

 He (or his Mom) continued, thanking Disney and Hallmark for producing inclusive shows, and telling queer kids "You matter!" and "Things will get better!"

Being pro-gay hasn't hurt the career of the Vancouver boy.  Born in December 2013, he already has 57 on-screen acting credits, plus modeling and theater.  I'm not going to go through all of them looking for gay content, just the ones that stand out.

2021:

Foragers, the pilot for a post-Apocalyptic tv series.  Azi plays the child version of Malakai (gay actor Kaden Connors, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).  No information on whether his character is gay.

2022:

Moonfall: Aliens knock the moon out of orbit!  Azi plays the child version of Sonny (Charlie Plummer), the gay-coded teenage son of the focus astronaut. 

2023:

In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, on the Disney Channel (2023-24), demigod Percy (Walker Scobell, left), modern-day son of the God Poseidon, fights monsters and tries to prevent a war among the gods, with the help of his Camp Halfblood buddies.  He's straight, but there are LGBT characters throughout, including Nico, son of Hades, who has a crush on Percy, and the god Ganymede.

I have an idea that Walker Scobell is gay, but a brief internet search doesn't reveal anything.  

Azi plays Young Percy. Fun fact: he has brown eyes, but when he auditioned, he wore blue contact lenses to look more like Scobell.  His resume now states that he can put the lenses in and take them out "all by himself."  

2024:

Azi stars in Miracle on 34th Street at the Arts Club.

And appears in an episode of Shogun, starring Cosmo Jarvis  (n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) as a British sailor shipwrecked in Tokugawa Japan. He plays the grandson in a fantasy sequence.  

He models an androgynous outfit at the International Kids Runway.  A fan writes: "things got better."  Did he lose a job because of his commitment to LGBTQ rights?.

He appears in three episodes of Holidazed, about families interacting on a cul-de-sac at Christmastime. In one family, Ted (Osric Chau, left) just got engaged to his boyfriend Marcus (Shawn Ahmad).  Then his old-fashioned, traditional Grandma comes for a visit, and he isn't out to her!

2025:

Azi has a recurring role in Good American Family, about the life of Natalie Grace, a woman with dwarfism who was adopted by "a good American" family but abandoned three years later, when they suspected that she was really an adult. He and Saul Thomson play her adopted brother Ethan, whom she tries to kill. No indication of gay content.

In the short Our Monsters, two boys (Azi, Xander Wilson) team up to fight the monster in the closet.  I couldn't find a clip to see if there is gay content, but Azi tells us that Xander is "so cute we could just die."  

Is that "we" Azi using they/them pronouns, or Mom and Azi together?  Either way, the boy is definitely demonstrating an interest in boys 

More after the break

Not Suitable for Work: A 2020s "Friends" with two breakups, two meet-cutes, three d*cks (two visible), fashion, finance, and a gay guy turned straight.

Link to the n*de dudes

The first three episodes of Not Suitable for Work (2026) just dropped on Hulu.  It's advertised as "five twenty-something professionals" in Manhattan struggling with careers and relationships.  

Sounds familiar.  I've already seen New Girl (with Max Greenfield, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) Happy Endings (with Zachary Knighton),  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (with Victor Rodriguez III), and the grandad of them all, Friends:

The first episode synopsis of the new series gets all creepy: "Whoa -- two girls live across the hall from three guys. Yeah, I'd watch that, leer leer."  But according to Decider and Meecham Meriweather's blog, there's a gay character, Kel, played by Nicholas Durvenay.  So I'll watch for gay representation.

There are five interlocking plotlines.  I'll separate them for clarity.

Dudebro Davis

Behind a giant stock ticker, Dudebro Davis (Will Angus) is getting yelled at by HR for having an office romance: "relationships with coworkers are forbidden." 

"If I have to choose between love and work, I'll choose love!"

The next morning, Dudebro tries to bring his girl breakfast in bed, but she's dumped him.

He asks his roommates why girls keep breaking up with him, even though he has a great body and a high-paying job.  

"Maybe you come on too strong, falling in love instantly."

He heads to work. Coworker Jocelyn (queer actress May Hong) notes that she hurt her Achilles tendon, but the nurse at Urgent Care was kind of cute.  She doesn't specify a male nurse, and most nurses are ladies.  I'll bet she's queer.

Coworker Dileen renewed his vows with his wife over the weekend.  Dudebro responds with "God, I'm so lonely!"  You had a girlfriend like 30 seconds ago.  You haven't had a chance to become lonely yet.   Dileen advises him to start off as a friend, then move gradually into romance.

But when Dudebro walks into work the next day, he is so stunned by the sight of the Girl of His Dreams that he drops his coffee.  And she turns out to be his new coworker!   He stumbles over himself trying to "welcome" her, introducing her to the coworkers, giving her the company password, and so on.  But when he offers to help with her assignment, she's offended: "I graduated from a top university with a degree in this, and I've done it 38,000 times on two internships with top firms!  I don't need help!"  Uh-oh, you're blowing it.

Gay Dude Kel

At medical school, the teacher announces that today they'll be examining cadavers, including their genitals, "which may be swollen."  Gay Dude Kel doesn't want to do it: "Is there a vegan option?" No.  He removes the sheet and exclaims "That dude's real dead" -- and faints. Haven't you studied anatomy, bro?

 

Cut to Gay Dude discussing a call-back for an acting job with Rich Kid Josh (below). 

"How can you handle acting and med school?"

"It's easy.  I just don't sleep."

On his call-back audition, he is asked to do a monologue where he tells his dad "I'm nothing.  I'm useless."  Next he is asked to do a freestyle rap.  It wasn't mentioned in the audition call. He tries, performs badly, and is ushered out.  

Back in the cadaver lab, Gay Dude decides that he doesn't want to cut open an "uncircumsized cadaver." So it would be ok if he were circumsized?  He doesn't enjoy med school, so he's quitting.  Right now.

When Gay Dude breaks the news to the guys, they are shocked.  "But you don't have a job, and when your mom finds out, she's going to kill you."

"Who cares?  Now I can concentrate on my acting."

The next day, Gay Dude meets his sister  at the coffee shop and explains that he hates medical school, and is droppping out.  "I just need you to help me think of how to tell Mom."  Uh-oh, the sister invited Mom.  Here she is, wanting to take the Christmas card photos with her talented doctor children.  Gay Dude chickens out of telling her.

Rich Kid Josh

Rich Kid Josh (Jack Martin) and his girl are doing stuff. Shirtless, but he moves around too much for a good screen shot  He stops to check his cell phone, which annoys her. It would annoy me, too.  You're literally in the middle of the act.  But he has to check the time of his interview --a PA job on The Wes Dryden Show, a big deal. 

You've seen Jack Martin as the villainous RA in Pizza Movie.

Later, his roommates complain about the girlfriend taking up so much space, so he offers to move with her into the apartment next door.  It's occupied by Fashionista Abby (below), but she's living there illegally, so he'll order her to move out.

In the morning, Rich Kid appears at his interview.  He tells Boss Patricia that even though he's the CEO's son,  he wants to go through the ranks like anyone else.  "Nope, it's not going to happen. You're not qualified.  Next!" 

On the way out, Rich Kid runs into Wes Dryden (Victor Garber), flatters him, and drops CEO Dad's name. "Oh, and I'm applying for a PA job on your show."

Cut to Rich Kid announcing to the guys that he got the job!  

The next day, Wes Dryden introduces Rich Kid as the new PA. Boss Patricia is angry: she wanted to hire a girl who's been interning there for two years.   She calls Josh into her office and asks "Do you know how I got this job?  I married Wes."

Victor Garber's d*ck is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Update: it was very small and blurry, so I got rid of it.

"But you're both gay."

"It was the 1990s.  He needed a lavender marriage for his career, and I needed a promotion."  The point is, she's angry that all Rich Kid had to do was say his name, so she's going to keep him from moving up in the industry.

That night, the girlfriend brings Rich Kid  "his favorite" (that's so annoying; all anyone ever eats on tv is their favorite). 

In other news, she's dumping him.  She fell in love with a real estate agent, brother to The Property Brothers (stars of a Canadian DIY show). 

More after the break

Why I Walked Out on Spiderman

I finished my Ph.D. in 2001, and, unable to find an academic job in a university near a gay neighborhood, ended up moving to Wilton Manors, Florida, to share a house with my friend Yuri.  I lived on writing and two part-time jobs, fitness trainer and English/composition instructor at the police academy.  

Wilton Manors was like West Hollywood: as you traveled from the gym to the restaurant to the bookstore to the gay clubs, you rarely if ever saw a straight person.  After four years as a stranger in New York, it felt like home. 

But you still had to choose your movies and tv programs carefully.  Homophobic slurs weren't as common as in the 1980s, but offensive stereotypes still appeared, and the heterosexism was rampant: LGBT people did not exist.

Most of the movies I saw in 2002 had strong gay subtexts.

1. Orange County   Arlo and Chad.

2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Sam and Frodo subtext.

3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron subtext.

3. Chicago. Strong lesbian subtext.

4. Spy Kids 2.  Children's movie starring Daryl Sabara (left, later photo), who doesn't express any hetero-horniness.

5. Big Fat Liar. Children's movie starring Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle, who befriends a girl but doesn't fall in love with her.

6. Clockstoppers.  A boy (Jesse Bradford) and a girl stop time, but don't fall in love.

Even though I was very careful, three intensely heteronormative movies still made it through my defenses:

1. 28 Days Later.  Cilian Murphy wakes up in the zombie apocalypse, and hooks up with two survivors, a man and a woman. I'm all set for a nice triangulation, when all of a sudden the man dies.

Why does the man always die?  Why do the last two people left always, always, always have to be a man and a woman? I felt sick.

2. Igby Goes Down.  The title made it seem obviously gay-themed, and I heard the star, Kieran Culkin (left), was gay.

It wasn't gay-themed.  There were no gay characters.  Instead, there was an amazingly homophobic portrayal of a bi drug dealer.  

More after the break

The top 16 gay-positive science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal movies, plus two with egregious queerbaiting

Link to the n*de photos 

Who wants to spend two hours watching people falling in love, saving Christmas, facing injustice, or dying of cancer?  If I'm going to commit to a fictional world, it should have something you don't often see in everyday life: spaceships, aliens, ghosts, time travel, magic swords, werewolves, zombies...anything but endless conversations.  

There aren't a lot of gay characters in these movies, so most don't get reviewed here, or the review consists of  "yet another heteronormative mess."  I managed to find sixteen with gay characters and or strong subtexts from 2016-2026, and two that deserve inclusion as a warning: the queerbaiting was so amazingly blatant.

Boys in the Trees. (2016).  Boy walks his ex-boyfriend home.  It's a long walk, with a downer ending, usually a turn-off for me.  But in this case I'll make an exception

The Little Vampire 3D,  (2017).  The vampire and human boys come within an inch of an open romance. All they left out was the kiss.

Get Out (2017).  A young black man meets the family of his white girlfriend, and uncovers a disturbing secret about white people.  And still manages a gay subtext.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018). The spineless producers came within an inch of having this spider-boy come out, but lost their nerve.  At least he doesn't get a girlfriend.

The Dead Don't Die (2019): Zombies invade a small town, with two guys who seem to be gay, but fail to actually come out due to the director's cowardice or homophobia.

Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020). The most excellent time-traveling duo, who started their career with blatant homophobia, atone for their past mistakes.  Not only are they involved in a four-way romance, they have a nonbinary daughter.

Onward (2020): A 16-year old Elf boy and his older brother, a Troll, never express any hetero interest.  Plus there's no bullying and a lesbian couple.  

 

S*icide Squad (2021). Supervillains are recruited to go on a "s*icide" mission. No one actually says The Word, but there are two gay hints and only minimal hetero romance, and John Cena's Peacemaker would come out as bi on his tv spin-off.

The Eternals (2021).  The first open gay character in a Marvel movie, plus conversations in ancient Babylonian.  But Gilgamesh is portrayed as straight.  Sorry, Enkidu.

More after the break