Clap Back: Glee was a cultural phenomenon, not an epidemic
On January 4, 2022 conservative e-zine Human Events released an opinion piece written by Bill Hurrell that blamed Ryan Murphy’s Glee, and its fans, for what society is now experiencing as what he calls the “woke epidemic” and “cancel culture”. Hurrell goes on to describe fandom disputes that occurred in the early 2010s that played out on the social media platform of Tumblr.
Hurrell quotes a Tumblr user’s posts from that period about the fighting and discourse that occurred within the show’s fandom around that time. The Tumblr posts are bitter, angry, and definitely defensive.
Hurrell writes, “The above are descriptions of so-called “fan wars” among fans of Glee in the early 2010s, written with the benefit of hindsight from a survivor. And, ironically, the things that survivor writes about the Glee wars read like dress rehearsals for eventual postmortems on the wokeness of our current era.”
Hurrell’s choice of words here does not go unnoticed, and this is not the only point throughout the article where he uses inflammatory dramatic language that poses life-and-death situations. Words like “Survivor” and “postmortems” serve a very specific purpose: to demonize Glee and the impacts it had on the cultural landscape.
The situation that Hurrell is describing that played out on Tumblr is not unique to Glee. For anyone that has ever even dipped a toe into the world of fandom culture, what Hurrell is describing is an everyday occurrence in the land of most large and influential fandoms. Ask anyone that participates in ‘stan Twitter’ and they’ll agree: Glee wasn’t any different. That’s just what online fandom spaces are like, and have always been like.
Kevin McHale, who played Artie Abrams on the show, took to Twitter today to address the issue himself.
“Baby, let me tell you, you’re really overthinking this. It wasn’t that deep, Not everything is a conspiracy, damn. But if you wanna be shaken to your core by a small group of teens from 2010, by all means, Losers.”
Despite the fact that Hurrell thinks a television show about a bunch of singing and dancing teenagers could ever be responsible for an entire political movement (a movement which Hurrell clearly does not support), Glee was mostly just a safe space for many of our young LGBTQ kids at the time, begging to see themselves represented on screen.
There is no television show in the world that is going to get everything right, and Glee is no expectation of that. However, they did get a lot right, especially for its time and they did provide a loud and proud space for LGBTQ folks to find inclusion. Here at Q+ Magazine, we decided that it was time to celebrate what the show did right. Clear the searches folks and grab some slushies, here are some of the best LGBTQ moments in Glee history.
Kurt comes out to his dad
Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) is as gay as the day is long. His friends know it, and the glee club knows it, but Kurt doesn’t think his dad knows it. Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley) is a simple guy and Kurt just doesn’t think that his dad is ever going to be able to accept the flame that burns brightly from within.
The world watched in cautious anticipation as Kurt decided enough was enough: he needed to start living his truth fully, and tell his dad exactly who he was. Coming-out scenes have been handled with varying degrees of success over the years on Hollywood screens. Fans everywhere were hoping that Glee wouldn’t join the ranks of coming-out stories marked by violence and hatred. Naturally, Glee did not disappoint. Kurt boldly tells his dad, “I’m gay” and his dad takes a bated breath and says “I know, I’ve known since you were three”. *cue a global exhale of relief here please* It was an emotional day for LGBTQ Glee fans everywhere.
Single Ladies baby!
One of the things we loved about Glee the most was it challenged the status quo. In this show, football players joined the glee club and Kurt, very openly gay at school and a proud member of the glee club, eventually joined the football team too. And we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
In glee club, Finn (Cory Monteith) and Puck (Mark Salling) – both meathead jocks on the football team – are able to explore their masculinity and really understand who they are as people, something which football absolutely does not allow them to do. Juxtaposingly, as the glee club is already Kurt’s natural habitat when he joins the football team, a similar experience occurs.
However, the lesson that Kurt teaches everyone (and us) is that there is space in stereotypical, hyper-masculine spaces for men like him too. Kurt uses his best strength, his dancing booty, and incorporates dance into the football team’s playbook. At the last minute, when it looks like the team is about to lose, they bust out dancing to Beyonce’s Single Ladies as a diversion tactic in the field and lead the team to victory. It was a proud day for the gays far and near, and one that we’re unlikely to forget in this lifetime.
Klaine and Brittana’s wedding
In season 6 when Brittany (Heather Morris) married Santana (Naya Rivera) at a joint wedding with Kurt and Blaine (Darren Criss), there weren’t a lot of gay wedding ceremonies making the rounds on television. Glee decided one wedding just wasn’t enough, why not let all the gays get married together!?
Brittany and Santana had a cult following in the Glee fandom and folks were overwhelmingly emotional when the ladies got hitched. Similar sentiments were expressed for Kurt and Blaine, but if we’re honest we saw that coming a mile off, right from the beginning.
Their wedding was beautiful and everything their characters deserved – everything their fans deserved. We dare you to watch this episode and get through it without crying.
Coach Beast transitions to a man
Coach Beast (Dot-Marie Jones) joined the staff at McKinley High School as the controversial butch female football coach. With gender expressions that sat outside the gender norms, folks at McKinley didn’t know what to make of her. She had a hard time settling in and gaining the respect of her peers. It did take time, but eventually, she won them over.
As Coach’s storyline unfolds in the show, we learn that she is struggling with her identity as she tries to reconcile her place in the world. In season 6 Coach returns to McKinley High School as a man. He took some time off to “let his outsides catch up to his insides” but storms the school with all the confidence of someone who has finally, finally found a home in their body.
Transgender narratives such as this one were sorely lacking on television at that time, especially on a prime-time show like Glee. The LGBTQ community sat and watched with proud tears in their eyes as the scene unfolded before them. Yes, folks Glee did that.
Santana comes out to her Abuelita
This was a big moment for the Hispanic LGBTQ fans out there. Culturally the fundamentals of the Hispanic culture do not vibe well with the premise of homosexuality. The fear of familial rejection keeps many members of the Hispanic LGBTQ community deep inside the closet.
When Santana bravely came out to her Abuelita, she did so knowing full well that it came with risks. During this scene, however, it is clear that Santana feels somewhere inside of herself that her revelation is going to go well for her. It doesn’t.
Abuelita tells Santana to leave, and get out of her house. “Everyone has secrets,” she says and tells Santana to keep this buried. “It’s selfish of you to make me uncomfortable,” says Abuelita. It was a hard scene for many to watch, but it was one that is so incredibly representative of real life. Glee didn’t only give us the boundary-breaking uplifting queer moments, it also gave us these: the ones that advanced the conversation and allowed for space to explore the struggles that members of the LGBTQ community go through on a daily basis.
Whether you loved Glee or not, there is no mistaking that it was responsible for some of the greatest gay moments of the 2010s. Fandom culture is what it is. Social media has just made it easier for folks not in those fandoms to access the discourse and subcultures that grow within those spaces. We challenge you to step into any fandom space on Twitter or Tumblr today and you’ll see exactly the same discourse occurring across the spectrum. Glee is responsible for cancel culture and the “woke” epidemic? Get out of here!
These were just some of our many favorite queer moments in Glee, let us know what yours are!
