The month of June is a time to celebrate the joy and love that queer couples express but also acknowledge all of the hardships that come with it. Gay marriage was legalized in the United States on June 26, 2015. Since then, acceptance within the LGBTQ+ community has slowly become more normalized. However, there has been a large discrepancy between what queer romance seems to be acceptable and what’s not. There is a large difference between the acceptance of gay media and lesbian media, with gay media having a clear bias in society.
A prime example of this is a popular show that was released in November 2025, Heated Rivalry. The premise of the show, which is based on Rachel Reid’s 2019 book, is based on a relationship between two closeted hockey players whose repetitive hookups slowly turn into acceptance. Selome Hailu from Variety writes, “Heated Rivalry has reached 10.6 million views per episode, according to Warner Bros.” The show and book are mainly known for their intimate scenes and moments between the two main characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. In a New York Times article, John Kolbin shared, “The many sex scenes have especially been a hit with viewers.”
The audience of the show is mainly women, with“two thirds of the viewers being women,” according to an HBO spokesperson interviewed by Kolbin. With the author being a woman as well, it allows the normalization of romanticizing gay intimacy. Reid, as seen on her website, has only written books about men loving men (MLM) relationships. All of these books include recurring and highly sexual scenes between the two characters as well.
As a reader, a question begins to form. “Does this author truly care about LGBTQ+ representation, or do they only enjoy the thought of two men having a sexual relationship?” On a podcast called “I’ve Never Said This”hosted by Tommy DiDario, Reid was being interviewed about her sexuality and stated, “I don’t think that the people that I am attracted to at this stage of my life gives me any kind of credibility to write about gay men or bisexual men. I don’t think it matters.”
This argument is really troubling because it matters way more when viewed at a deeper level. Yes, there is nothing wrong about a woman writing about two gay men. On the surface, that is completely okay. However, when a woman is only writing explicit stories of gay men, there is a lack of authenticity within them. With Rachel Reid being a cisgendered woman, she will never truly understand the pressures and feelings of what it feels like to be in a MLM relationship. Just because the two male characters are in love in a story, it doesn’t make it queer representation. What makes a book serve as LGBTQ representation is the authenticity of the story and how queer relationships are shown as a whole. If your significantly female viewers only care about the sexual scenes instead of the lack of actual plot, that’s an issue.
Where the male supremacy comes in is when you compare the success of gay and lesbian media. The Netflix original Bridgerton is soon going to feature a sapphic couple in their newest season in 2027. Along with Heated Rivalry, the show is also an adaptation of its romance novel. This is where the main controversy of the new season of Bridgerton arises.
In an article by Jordyn Craft, he writes, “In the past, there were individuals upset with the change in Michaela’s character, gender swapping the character from a man named Michael in the books to a woman named Michaela in the show. He further explains how now that the show is going to feature a sapphic couple, the audience is even more frustrated. Craft points out how the arguments range from “the inaccuracy of the books to the fact that the romance between Francesca and Michaela could never work out because they are living in a 19th century proper society.”
These arguments truly show people’s true colors because the show has featured LGBTQ couples before. In earlier seasons, a gay couple between two characters Brimsley and Reynolds were a fan favorite storyline in Bridgerton. Unlike the lesbian storyline, the gay representation and scenes within Bridgerton faced barely any backlash. It makes male supremacy and internalized misogyny become much more evident. If someone wants to argue about the lesbian storyline in Bridgerton being historically inaccurate, then how is the relationship between two men in the early 2010s in a major sports league historically accurate?
In an article by Sophia Perrault, she shares, “Hockey culture is known for its homophobia – gay slurs are casually thrown around the locker room, which is morally wrong and harms closeted players.” In the time the show and book takes place, gay marriage had just become legal in 2005 in Canada and wasn’t legal in the U.S. for another 10 years. It is not historical accuracy that people care about; it’s the gender of the couple.
Bridgerton and Heated Rivalry aren’t the only examples of this. Compare the success rates of the book Heartstopper by Alice Oseman and The Girl from the Sea by Lee Knox Ostertag. Both were released around the same time, but Heartstopper, the story about two teenage boys falling in love, has over ten million copies sold, while The Girl from the Sea doesn’t even have an official print number.
People don’t care about the history and struggles of LGBTQ+ relationships; people only care about attractive men doing attractive activities. The praise that men get from these shows isn’t the reality for women. If a man is simply out of the picture, no one wants to watch queer media anymore.
