Culturess
Fansided

25 reasons Queer as Folk is essential LGBTQIA+ viewing today

By Marco Saveriano

MIAMI - MARCH 26: (L-R) Actors Randy Harrison, Scott Lowell, Michelle Clunie, Hal Sparks, Robert Gant, Sharon Gless and Thea Gill pose for a photo at the "Queer As Folk" fourth season premiere at the Delano Hotel March 26, 2004 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
MIAMI - MARCH 26: (L-R) Actors Randy Harrison, Scott Lowell, Michelle Clunie, Hal Sparks, Robert Gant, Sharon Gless and Thea Gill pose for a photo at the "Queer As Folk" fourth season premiere at the Delano Hotel March 26, 2004 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 26
Next

Queer as Folk (2000-2005). Photo Credit: Showtime

Showing a same-sex couple as alternative parents

Throughout Queer as Folks’ five-season run, Lindsay and Melanie were not the only couple to become parents, though they were definitely more orthodox parents. Michael and his partner Ben also became parents to a teenage son at one point in the series.

Michael and Ben start dating during season 2 and their relationship is complicated enough because Ben admits he is HIV positive (but more on that later). During season 3, Ben and Michael meet Hunter Montgomery, a 15-year-old prostitute who is soliciting men outside their apartment along with other male sex workers. Ben first meets him when he’s trying to shoo the boys away, but when he sees him out there a few more times, he invites him to spend the night in their apartment.

Ben gives Hunter money and his phone number in case of an emergency, which leads to Ben being called to the hospital when Hunter gets into some trouble, which is when Michael and Ben find out some bad news: Hunter is HIV positive, and they have to break the news to him. Ben feels a special bond with the teenager, since he too is HIV positive, so eventually Hunter moves in with the couple.

It’s a tough adjustment, especially for Michael, to have a manner-less street kid living in their apartment, but soon Hunter makes more of an effort to be better for them, enrolls in school, and follows their rules. When his biological mother Rita comes back into the picture and tries to take him away from them, Hunter reveals that his mother forced him into prostitution at a young age and didn’t want to leave with her.

Eventually, the custody case goes to court, and though Rita is awarded custody of her son at first, the judge overhears her making homophobic remarks about her son and his HIV diagnosis, and Michael and Ben get custody of Hunter. Towards the end of the series, Michael and Ben express interest in adopting Hunter, and he says yes.

Though they may have faced some uncommon obstacles to get there, Michael and Ben still had to face the struggles that so many parents, both gay and straight, have to go through in order to foster or adopt a child, especially one in their teens.

Home/LGBTQIA+