Globosexuals: The Golden Globes Queer Agenda of 2022

Clandestine as they may be, 2022’s Golden Globes are giving lovers of the screen much to celebrate when it comes to Queer performances and content. From musicals to Montana, 2022’s Golden Globes gave us our a few Queer firsts, as well as some great over all visibility.

Here are a few of our favorite wins so far:

Let’s start out with a heavy-hitter. Ariana DeBose. A Black, Queer woman won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for playing Anita in Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture-winning adaptation of West Side Story. She follows in the footsteps of icon Rita Moreno, who won the same award for the same role in 1962. Tackling this role was a major flex for the young star whose Globe-winning performance wowed audiences around the actual globe (sans Saudi Arabia; more below). But I'm going to say what we've all be thinking: it's time the queers stopped stealing straight roles, am I right? Who's with me?!

After serving beautiful performances over multiple seasons on FX’s camp cult fave Pose, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez made history as the first trans actress to win a Golden Globe. She is clearly a force to be reckoned with, and we can’t wait to see what projects she
tackles next.

Continuing with trans characters onscreen, Stephen Spielberg’s Golden Globe-winning adaptation of West Side Story gave us nonbinary performer Iris Menas as Anybodys. Shoutout to Spielberg, but also to 20th Century Studios for not being afraid to exist in the 21st Century. It’s woefully unsurprising that with one (***ONE***) trans character, Saudi Arabia and other Gulph countries banned the film from being shown. Fuck that.

America’s favorite fauxmosexual, Andrew Garfield, wins Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his stunning performance as Jonathan Larson in Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick…Boom! Over the last few years I’ve been hesitant to embrace Garfield after his seemingly queer-bait approach of “I’m open to all emotions… but I identify as heterosexual.” I’m no one to gatekeep (gaykeep?) Queerness, but it seemed to me like he was just finding his way into starring in Angels in America and Through the Eyes of Tammy Faye without the criticism of “more Queer actors need to play Queer roles.” That being said, he absolutely crushed it as Larson, and any celebration of Jonathan Larson and his musical genius is good in my book.

Power Of the Dog leads the pack of winners, picking up Best Motion Picture Drama. This celebrated Queer western period piece gave us two Queer characters and Benedict’s bene dick. I was not personally a huge fan of this movie. I think it was a bit tedious and had a character shifts that made little sense, and an ending that seemed a bit lazy, but I welcome any movie that highlights Queer characters, especially ones that exist in a period where the words and social structures to support who they are weren’t quite there for them.

Jean Smart won for Best Actress in a TV Series (Comedy/Musical) for her roles as an aging comedy diva in Hacks. Listen…Jean Smart may not be Queer, but goddammit she holds an honorary membership as far as I’m concerned. She’s invited to all the meetings, she can yell as loudly as she likes at gay bars (though, she’d never), and she is a true vers who loves to cuddle. Jean Smart is my favorite top, my favorite bottom, and although she didn’t throw the first brick at Stonewall, she absolutely should have been cast AS the brick in that white-washed, yassified 2015 biopic. At least then I may have watched. My pronouns are officially Jean/Smart.

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