A look back at some record-breaking moments in LGBTQ entertainment

It was a history-making year in film, TV, music, sports, even cartoons and toylines, for the LGBTQ community in 2019.

We look back on a few of those amazing moments in our annual LGBTQ Pop Culture ABCs.

Arthur – The PBS children’s show features a same-sex wedding when Arthur’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn, marries an aardvark named Patrick. Interestingly, some conservative groups boycott the show because of the same-sex couple and not because it is an interspecies marriage.

Billy – A pair of openly gay Billys rule the screens — both big and small —as Billy Porter wins an Emmy for his role in “Pose” and Billy Eichner, as the voice of Timon, is the best part in the billion-dollar remake of “The Lion King.”

Chella Man

Chella ManDeaf, genderqueer actor and model Chella Man enters the DC Universe as superhero Jericho in the critically-acclaimed series “Titans.”

Double Dare – Nickelodeon doesn’t shy away from same-sex couples (we’re looking at you Hallmark Channel) on its network as it features a family with two dads on its hit game show “Double Dare” for the first time.

Emojis – The world of emojis got more accepting as couple emojis are introduced featuring a variety of gender identities and skin tones.

Farrow, Ronan – The investigative journalist who helped bring down Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer releases his behind the reporting bestseller “Catch and Kill.” Farrow uses the book to also propose to his longtime boyfriend, aww.

Gotham City – Batman and Robin take a back seat to the Gotham City crime fighter Batwoman (played by Ruby Rose) as she flies on The CW with the premiere of her own show.

Haus Laboratories – Lady Gaga wants all her Little Monsters to beat their face to the gawds as she launches her new makeup line exclusively on Amazon.

Inheritance, The – “The Inheritance,” an epic drama about gay lives in New York, is the big winner at British theater’s Olivier Awards, receiving four trophies including Best Play.

Jill Soloway – As director Brian Singer goes down in flames dealing with allegations of rape and sexual assault, “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway steps in as Singer’s replacement to write and direct the remake to the 1985 film “Red Sonja.”

Kristen Stewart – Stewart stars in the “Charlie Angels” reboot. While the film itself is panned by critics and ignored by audiences, Stewart is called one of the film’s brightest spots. The “Twilight” star also made headlines with a Harper’s Bazaar interview where she claims she was urged to stop being affectionate with her girlfriend in public if she ever hopes to make it into a Marvel film.

Lana Wachowski – The trans filmmaker gets the internet buzzing when she announces a sequel to her original “Matrix” trilogy. She also makes headlines by adding to cast out actors Neil Patrick Harris and Jonathan Groff.

Mattel’s series of gender-neutral dolls called Creatable World.

Mattel – The toy company behind some of the most popular toy lines in the world including Barbie, Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price, launch a new series of gender-neutral dolls called Creatable World. The inclusive toyline is labeled “a doll line designed to keep labels out and invite everyone in.”

Netflix – The No. 1 streaming service was THE place for LGBTQ content in 2019. Along with LGBTQ shows like “Special,” “The Politician” and “Tales of the City,” it also announced huge deals with Ryan Murphy, Janet Mock and Sean Hayes. We also got the trailer to RuPaul’s new Netflix show as well as Oscar-winning film “Moonlight.” Plenty of LGBTQ content for Netflix and Chilling.

Oscars – The Oscars go hostless in 2019 after Kevin Hart steps down due to homophobic and transphobic tweets. The ceremony is the first to go forward without a host in nearly 30 years. The show gets mostly positive reviews and features one of TV’s most talked about moments — Lady Gaga and Brad Cooper performing “Shallow” from their movie “A Star is Born.”

Portrait of a Lady on Fire – The highly-praised French lesbian love story wins the Queer Palm prize at the Cannes Film Festival. To celebrate, the film’s distributor announces that the small, indie period romance would be getting a wide release over Valentine’s Day 2020. Ooh la la!

Quinlivan, Teddy – The American supermodel became the face of Chanel in 2019 making Quinlivan the first openly transgender model to work for the luxury French brand. Again, we say ooh la la!

Megan Rapinoe

Rapinoe, Megan – With her arms stretched out, as if to say “ta da,” Rapinoe, in her signature pose and on the field, is magic to watch. She not only helps to lead the women’s soccer team to victory at the women’s World Cup, but Rapinoe became one of the new faces of Nike, scored a book deal and was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

Sam Smith – Smith spent the whole of 2019 finding themselves and let the whole world come along for the journey. In March, Smith came out as nonbinary and six months later declared they would be using the pronouns of “they/them.” In part, thanks to the spotlight Smith placed on the identifier, Merriam-Webster added the pronoun “they” to the dictionary and declared it the Word of the Year.

Taylor Swift – The global superstar, who had up until now been mostly quiet on the political front, kicks down her own closet door and declares herself a super ally with the music video for her LGBTQ anthem “You Need To Calm Down.” In the video — which features a lot of queer entertainers — Swift calls on the Senate to pass the Equality Act and encourages her fans to sign a petition on Change.org.

Universe, Steven – The popular Cartoon Network show introduces a transgender storyline in its season five finale as the titular character struggles to be accepted by his family as he deals with issues of gender identity. This isn’t the first time “Steven Universe” has taken on LGBTQ storylines. The show was praised by advocacy groups in 2018 when it featured a same-sex marriage between its characters Ruby and Sapphire.

Jonathan Van Ness

Van Ness, Jonathan – The “Queer Eye” grooming expert has an open-book year as he releases his memoir “Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love” where he reveals that he is HIV-positive. Earlier in the year, Van Ness also declares that he identifies as nonbinary. The hair guru takes his book, stories and life lessons on the road for a world tour.

Waithe, Lena – The out and proud, Emmy-winning writer/producer/actor made the entertainment industry stand up and take notice with two high profile projects. First writing the screenplay for the critically-acclaimed film “Queen & Slim,” then following that up with the trailer for her much anticipated project “Twenties,” BET’s first original series to center on an LGBTQ character.

X, Lil Nas – The rapper and his song “Old Town Road” take the radio by storm in 2019. The remix of the part country-part rap song featuring Billy Ray Cyrus tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 19 weeks. In June, X comes out as gay on Twitter and, in doing so, becomes the first artist to do so while having a No. 1 hit song. The year will also see X become the first openly gay performer to win a CMA Award.

Yang, Bowen – The Chinese-American comic joins the cast of SNL in its 45th season and in doing so became the show’s first cast member of Chinese decent, as well as only the third openly LGBTQ and the fourth Asian American member. Yang was a writer for the show the year prior and was responsible for the popular “GP Yass” sketch.

Zendaya – Former Disney Channel starlet shows the world she’s all grown up starring in HBO’s “Euphoria,” a series about a group of high school students experiencing sex, addiction, relationships and trauma. Zendaya earns rave reviews as does the show’s handling of real-life subject matter including LGBTQ relationships.

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