Showing different types of people living with HIV
You may have realized something that has come up a few times already on this list, and it’s something that you would probably expect from a show like Queer as Folk: characters with HIV.
Since Queer as Folk was determined to focus on every struggle that LGBTQIA+ people faced, HIV was a topic that needed to be addressed, and they did it masterfully. First, there’s Uncle Vic. We learn early on that Michael’s uncle, Debbie’s brother, is HIV positive, and his diagnosis had worsened prior to the show’s first episode. He thought this was the end, so him and Debbie cleared his bank account and took a trip to Italy, thinking he would be dead before having to pay the credit card bills they raked up.
Vic was a middle-aged man who grew up pre-Stonewall, and pre-AIDS epidemic. His carefree youth, though, majorly impacted his future, though his health improves over the seasons and he’s able to work again and move out from Debbie’s house to live with his new boyfriend. Unfortunately, his story ended badly: he died shortly after from a heart attack brought on by his HIV medication.
Another character with a different experience living with HIV is Ben. Ben is a fit, handsome, active guy and a college professor. He seems respectable and upstanding, and he also has HIV. This shows that anyone could be HIV positive, and it doesn’t have to be a death sentence either. He dates Michael (which is complicated at first, more on that in the next slide) and the two get serious. They eventually adopt a teenage son together, Hunter.
Hunter, as pointed out earlier, also has HIV, which he contracted during his time as a sex worker. He was only a teenager, but with the help of Michael and Ben, he finds his way back to the right path, going back to high school and even getting a girlfriend (surprise!). He tries to live like a normal teen, but when her parents find out he’s HIV-positive and that he used to be a sex worker, they immediately end things between the two of them.
To make matters worse, it also comes out at a school swim meet that Hunter is HIV-positive after he accidentally bleeds into the pool. Not surprisingly, he’s bullied about it when his classmates find out. Once again, we have a completely different representation of HIV: a sex worker, but also a teenager. How often do you see that on TV, even nowadays?