Is it gay in here, or is it just me? (Image Source)

In the wise words of Vice President Kamala Harris, “we did it!”, we’ve finally arrived at the last blog post of the year. Isn’t that insane? It seems like just yesterday I made the decision to analyze queer media, now I’ve written 14 posts and only around half of them actually provide meaningful commentary on queer representation. It’s crazy how that works. However, I’ve decided to end this blog the way it began: Gay™. Not just any type of gay, though. This post is specifically for the annoying queer people who should definitely be in therapy but keep refusing to go because they’d rather just listen to sad music and act like they’re fine because we’re talking about boygenius. Who is boygenius? That’s a fantastic question, I’m so glad you asked. Boygenius is a band consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus and they write the most gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, unholy, sob-inducing masterpieces that you will ever listen to. They’re also gay. Hence why they are being discussed in this very gay blog.

A gift bestowed upon us by God herself: The Record (Image Source)

However, the specific exigence for this post comes from the fact that boygenius recently released a new album and it is everything you’ve ever wanted. I have personally been getting my entire life from it, and I heavily recommend that you check it out. Beyond that, though, let this post serve as your reminder to check in on your sad, annoying queer friends. See how they’re doing during these difficult times. I’m sure they could use your support. Plus, if you’re looking for something entertaining to do ask them what they think of the song “Letter to an Old Poet”. You’ll probably regret asking them, but witnessing the collapse of someone’s sanity can be pretty fun. Fortunately for you, though, that isn’t the main point of this post. Instead, I am focusing on the matter at hand and discussing queer representation in boygenius. You might think I’m talking about their music, but we will actually be diving into the band members themselves and the queer experiences they are providing representation for.

Your honor, I’m in love (Image Source)

Let’s kick things off with the only member of boygenius I’m confident everyone has heard of: Phoebe Bridgers. Even if you haven’t listened to her music, I feel like it would be impossible to navigate today’s music scene without knowing who Phoebe Bridgers is. She simply is the moment. Phoebe Bridgers is mainstream enough that it’s reasonable to assume that everyone knows about her, but she happens to reside in an indie grey area where if someone tells me they listen to her music I’m going to assume they’re queer. And I’d probably be right at least 93% of the time. However, what I want to focus on with Phoebe is her bisexuality. If you look back through this blog, I’m pretty sure I only mention bisexuality a handful of times. This is because, in general, bi representation is severely lacking in the media. However, Phoebe Bridgers is changing this a bit by being vocal about her bisexuality. She has talked about the temporary rift between her and her mother that was created by coming out as bi as well as many other struggles that bisexual people often face, and this gives bi people a person to look towards in the media when they feel alone. Bisexual representation is just as important as any other representation, so it’s a super slay thing that Phoebe is open and honest about her sexuality.

She’s just – UGH! (Image Source)

The next member of boygenius would be Lucy Dacus. Dacus has described herself as queer, but it’s not something she really talks about all the time. Not that she is hiding a part of herself or anything, she just leaves it unsaid a lot. In this way, Dacus provides representation for the people who know they’re some sort of queer but don’t need to be vocal about it for it to be part of their identity. A lot of focus within queer representation and the queer experience is centered around coming out. It’s almost as if you need to scream your sexuality from the rooftops in order to receive your gay card in the mail. But really, sexuality is a personal matter and no one else needs to know about it unless you want to tell them. This is something that Dacus has mentioned a few times, once being in an essay she wrote for Oprah’s coming out series. In this essay, Dacus said some really profound things and I think she described the idea of coming out in a digestible way that can help people understand what it’s like even if they’ve never gone through it. She also provided representation for the folks that identify as queer. Not queer as in identifying as a lesbian but that’s under the queer umbrella, actually using queer as the label they identify with. This is important because a lot of people often forget that queer is an actual identity beyond just being a general term for not straight. As Lucy Dacus put it, queer is a nice catch-all because its basically saying “not straight and none of your business”. She’s real for that too because a person’s sexuality is no one else’s business unless they feel comfortable sharing that information.

Arms Arms Arms Arms Arms Arms (Image Source)

Last, but certainly not least, we have Julien Baker. Julien Baker is not only one of the hottest people on the face of the Earth, but she is also a lesbian – and a religious lesbian at that. She grew up in the South as part of a very religious family, and this experience is something she has talked about a lot. One specific thing she has spoken on is not really engaging with queer joy for a long time because of the environment she was raised in. I think this is an important thing to talk about because so many queer people deprive themselves of fully experiencing queer happiness because they don’t feel comfortable being so open about a part of themselves that they were always taught was wrong or needed to stay hidden. Having an open dialogue about this feeling of being almost intimidated while seeing other people expressing their queerness is really important because it can help a lot of people feel better about what they’re going through. Julien Baker is a great example of an “it gets better” story in so many different ways, and that is truly inspiring. As I mentioned earlier, she’s also incredibly attractive. That has nothing to do with queer representation, but I feel like it needs to be said.

Well, that’s all folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about different queer representation in media. Did I often deviate from the theme of the blog? Naturally, but I still truly hope that you’ve thought of queer representation in a new way since reading these posts. Representation matters. It always has, but as a society we’re finally beginning to understand the benefits that come from making media that accurately resembles the world we live in. Gay people are real, believe it or not, and they deserve to see people like them in their favorite pieces of media. As my parting words, I just want to say that I hope you all have felt very gay while reading these posts. After all, what kind of queer person would I be if I didn’t force my sexuality onto others? I’m just kidding, I mean gay as in happy (or both, whatever floats your boat).