Meta: Who Gets to Be Gay? (HTGAWM s3)--DFvQ

[xandromedovna]

CW: suicide, deportation

Nominated for two GLAAD awards for Outstanding Drama Series and winning one, HTGAWM has since the beginning had a fairly significant proportion of LGBT characters. Connor and Oliver are the first we meet, being established as a pairing from the beginning. Several side characters are revealed to be LGBT, often clients or suspects but sometimes family members such as Aiden (Michaela’s bi ex-fiancé) or Connor’s dads. Several major characters in later seasons are also LGBT, such as Simon and Tegan. Furthermore, there’s a great deal of queerbaiting regarding Asher, Michaela and Laurel, and Bonnie. Most interestingly, in s2 it is revealed that Annalise has an ex-girlfriend, and throughout the rest of the series we watch Annalise come to terms with her bisexuality, which for a Black female main character was ground-breaking in 2015 (and still today, tbh). But one of the questions her arc raises is an important one for this project: who gets to be gay/queer, and who doesn’t?

 

The very first episode features Connor hooking up with Oliver to obtain vital information about their case, which sets up Connor’s characterization in most of s1 as a sexually promiscuous gay man who has no qualms using his sexuality to get what he wants. This changes as he gets Oliver more and more roped into the plot and subsequently becomes more emotionally attached to him, especially after Oliver learns he’s HIV+. Also, the consequences of his disregard for the feelings of those he hooks up with (or their significant others) cause him to rethink his approach. Probably the most impactful episode spurring this change is “Let’s Get to Scooping” (1x4), where he reveals that Pax, the client’s assistant, is involved in an insider trading scheme, leading to his suicide in front of Connor (and Oliver kicking Connor out). Connor and Oliver get to be three-dimensional gay guys, still a rarity in TV. However, gay side characters are still susceptible to the bury your gays treatment.

The most egregious example of this—despite him not actually dying—is Simon, their douchey classmate who is responsible for bullying Annalise. The same episode Simon reveals his feelings for Oliver, he accidentally blows his own brains out when a gun misfires. Because he’s a witness to one of the K5’s many crimes, the fact that he unexpectedly survives makes their lives even more difficult, which is why Michaela has him deported. The characters are very clear that this was an evil thing for her to do: “we are not deporting a gay man back to Pakistan,” Annalise admonishes, “that’s not who we are” (4x15). Oliver is still mad at her at the top of the next season, saying her salad “got deported” (5x1), but by the end of the season we get this exchange:

Annalise: “I want you to use your mind, Michaela, just like you did with Simon.”
Michaela: “You hated what I did to Simon.”
Annalise: “And we haven’t heard from him since, clearly I was wrong.” (5x14)

While of course Michaela should be able to redeem herself and does, the fact that the show ultimately portrays this decision in a positive light either tells us a lot about the story world or about the creators. To read this charitably, having Simon deported preserves fan-favourite pairing Connor/Oliver and highlights how unjust their world is, and Annalise coming around shows how far gone these characters are. It’s also important to note that this storyline aired at the beginning of Trump’s presidency, when his Muslim ban and other anti-immigrant atrocities were at the forefront of the public consciousness, so the fact that the show continues to bring up why what Michaela did is so fucked up makes sense and demonstrates the creators’ feelings on the matter. Then again, it’s equally important to note that other grievously cruel things the group has done receive less disdain, which comes off as somewhat hypercritical of a Black woman’s misdeeds in comparison to the rest of the group.

Michaela’s queerphobia is actually a theme in the show, as shown by her reaction to the revelation that her fiancé hooked up with Connor before they met (1x3). The episode features several microaggressions from her and while much of her issue is that he lied by omission, she assumes he’s gay and tells him not to ‘embarrass’ her if he’s not sure about marrying a woman (oh right and then threatens to ruin him if he ever sleeps with a man again). That said, she does eventually come around to accepting this, as illustrated by a conversation she has with Tegan:

Tegan: Bisexuality is real, Ms. Pratt.
Michaela: I know that. I have personal experience with the matter.
Tegan: Really?
Michaela: My fiancé—ex-fiancé—he was bisexual. (5x10)

This is one of several times where Michaela herself is queerbaited, usually with Laurel (and personally I headcanon her as a gay trans man but that’s another conversation). For example, in 3x9, she and Laurel kiss in excitement over passing the midterm; the moment is never addressed. Laurel/Michaela is the third most popular ship in the fandom and the most popular femslash ship, beating out Annalise/Bonnie and Annalise/Eve. However, ultimately Michaela isn’t shown with anyone, skipping out on Annalise’s funeral and being sworn in as a Justice with kids but no partner. Michaela doesn’t just not get to be gay, she doesn’t get to be with anyone, a frustratingly common trope for Black women characters.

Asher does not get to be gay, to his disappointment. There are several times where he laments being born straight or wants men to objectify him and is upset when they don’t (e.g. 1x3, 1x7, 4x3, 6x4). Asher performs an important structural role as the token problematic rich straight cis white* dude, and if he were allowed to experience queerness it would upset the balance of the show. That doesn’t stop him from being frequently queerbaited though. His wardrobe is about 75% pink. He hits on Frank at every opportunity and isn’t opposed to the idea of having a sugar daddy. He stays with Connor and Oliver for a time and is very invested in their relationship, even planning their wedding. He is also fluent in gay pop culture, but he nevertheless takes pains to point out that he’s straight. And then of course, in the end he doesn’t get to be anything, because spoilers.

Aside from Simon, the only other character we get to see on a journey of queer self-discovery is Annalise. In s1 she’s cheating on her husband Sam with Nate, and when she frames Nate for Sam’s murder, she tells him to call a lawyer friend of hers. The s2 opener reveals this to be Eve, Annalise’s ex-girlfriend, whom she left for Sam back when he was her therapist, which sounds totally ethical. She has sex with Eve several times throughout the series, but flashbacks reveal that Annalise still struggles with her sexuality. By 2005 she and Eve had been broken up for several years, and when Eve discovers Annalise is pregnant they get in a fight, where Annalise says she’s not gay. Later seasons reveal that part of the reason she was in therapy in the first place was her anxiety about being in love with her. The source of her hang-up is revealing; when Eve tries to encourage Annalise to leave Philly and be happy, Annalise says “you’ve never understood, even now. Your privilege lets you be gay. I’m Black from the damn Bible Belt. So stop trying to figure out what’s gonna make me happy. You don’t know what that is, I don’t know what that is, but it isn’t about finding a person, a man or a woman. I have to figure it out. I have to save me” (5x10).

As a Black woman, Annalise doesn’t have the luxury of experimentation or of having a family and a career simultaneously, because—to paraphrase another Shonda Rhimes show—she has to be twice as good to get half as far (Scandal 3x1). The barriers she faces are already quite daunting, and trying to tackle them while being out would be even more difficult. Granted, the series does argue this was mostly internalized biphobia on her part: “I survived losing my first love, Eve, because I was scared to be gay” (6x15). The shift to confronting her internalized biphobia coincides with her increased contact with Tegan. Tegan is also a queer Black woman, recently separated (later divorced) from her wife. She’s also a partner at Caplan & Gold, a major law firm. To my mind, Tegan is a “possibility model” (Cox) for Annalise showing that openly queer Black women can indeed make it. Eventually, Annalise starts to embrace her sexuality; she selects Men and Women when signing up for a dating app, comes out to her mom, and in her own trial describes herself as “a 53-year-old woman from Memphis, Tennessee named Anna Mae Harkness. I’m ambitious, Black, bisexual, angry, sad, strong, sensitive, scared, fierce, talented, exhausted” (6x15). In the shows final moments, we see Annalise with a variety of lovers, including an implied date with Tegan, who had already come to the conclusion she’s in love with Annalise. She gets to be gay/bi/queer because she finally lets herself be gay.

(Also don’t get me started about Wes’s bi flannel, I have OPINIONS)

 

Work Cited

Cox, Laverne. Interview by Katie Couric. Katie. 6 Jan. 2014.