14 TV Series with real, actual, out, open gay guys, with no queerbaiting or endless unresolved "are they or aren't they" nonsense. I'm looking at you, Gemstone Boys

For many years -- almost all of the 20th century -- all we had were gay subtexts, unintentional hints of same-sex desire or romance located in the interplay of the actor, director, and script.  

Then we started getting queerbaiting, quasi-romances introduced by the actors, directors, or writers to lure gay fans, but spoiled at the last minute by establishing that the characters are actually straight: "Hah, hah!  Fooled you!  You don't exist, freak!"

Now we have subtexts for their own sake, homoerotic desire expressed by two guys throughout the series, an incessant "are they or aren't they?" with no "Yep, they are" resolution or "Fooled you!  They're straight!" betrayal.  What's the point? 

In high school I wrote a poem:

We live in masks

Our faces hard and rigid, our hands cold and numb

And if we dare to search for beauty, a red pill is prescribed

And if we dare to search for truth, they put us in a cell

And if we dare to fall in love, the verdict is insanity

So we continue

Lumbering on through jobs and houses and wives

And the suicide rate continues to climb

Well, I was a depressed teenager.  But queerbaiting feels like forcing me back into the mask.

I'm sick of accumulating clues, debating evidence, arguing on fan boards, analyzing screenshots, scrolling through Reddit, Instagrams, Twitter, Tunbler, Tiktok, and Facebook pages, then going back to the fan boards, and waiting through episode after episode for two guys who are obviously in love with each other to say so!  Especially with the cold awareness that eventually, in a far distant episode, they may get girlfriends.  "Fooled you!  They're straight!"  

Or, even worse, they may never say so: it will be "are they or aren't they?" winks and hints and "did they just have sex?"  episode after episode, season after season, and all of that research and logical analysis will be -- not only worthless, but painful, like being rejected by someone you love. I'm looking at you, Gemstone Boys.   

So I'm checking a list of tv series premiering during the last 3 years on streaming services that I subscribe to, that I haven't seen, and that feature actual, real, open, alive gay male characters, who actually go on dates with men, and call them dates, and kiss afterwards, on-camera, and if they fall in love, call it love.

Netflix:

1. Control Z: several gay high schoolers fall in and out of love (top photo)

2. Grand Army: apparently Indian, with the gay Sid Pakan in love with the bisexual Victor.

3. The Irregulars: a gay Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

4. Alma: The Girl in the Mirror: a couple of gay guys who date.

5. High Heat.  About firefighters, with two gay guys who date (left)

6. Hoops.  There's a gay kid on the high school basketball team, hopefully in more than one episode.

Darn -- every one of these series asks me to "continue watching" Episode 2 or 3.  I've reviewed every one of them!

On to Hulu:

1, 911 Lone Star.   An show about emergencies in Texas?  Sounds dreary, but two guys, TK and Carlos, are dating each other.

2. Helstrom: A gay couple, Chris and Derrick, but not in every episode.

3. Battle Kitty: the kitty has a gay bestie who eventually gets a boyfriend.

 

I couldn't find 911 Lone Star, and Battle Kitty is an interactive series for toddlers, so the only possibility is Helstrom.

HBO Max:

1. I May Destroy You, on HBO Max.  Kwame, the bestie of the female lead, has or gets a boyfriend.

2. Generation: .  Two gay teachers at the high school.

3. The Nevers: a femme gay guy dating a femme pansexual guy.

4. Our Flag Means Death: some gay pirates

I couldn't find Generation or The Nevers, and I May Destroy You is about a trans woman who is brutalized, victimized, and probably murdered, so forget it.  I'll go with the gay pirates.

Disney:

1. The Loud Family: Louder and Prouder, or is it The Proud Family: Prouder and Louder? A couple of gay dads, and a straight boy retrofitted as gay.

Disney has Proud but not Loud, so I'll give it a try.