Queer Television Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pose

Developed as a fictional take on New York City's LGBTQ+ ball culture as it rose in prominence through the 1980s and 1990s, "Pose" followed a number of unique Houses in the scene, their founders, and their members, as they navigated their own lives, identities, and struggles. While characters formed complex families of chosen individuals, they made indelible marks on culture against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis in what many would consider to be an epicentre for it.

In addition to featuring trans actresses in award-winning roles, the show also starred Billy Porter, Dominique Jackson, Sandra Bernhard, Ryan Jamaal Swain, and others, building out a primarily LGBTQ+ cast that gave FX a critical gem. Across three seasons, airing from 2018 to 2021, it would not only receive acclaim, but net Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for its cast.

Answer: RuPaul's Drag Race

Although it would become an institution, "RuPaul's Drag Race" commenced in 2009 with a small cast and a noticeable lack of budget. Intentionally riffing on the formula created by "America's Next Top Model", but bringing in elements of drag and ball culture through RuPaul's satirical lens, "Drag Race" would slowly but surely become must-watch reality TV, showcasing talents of up-and-coming drag queens who would become America's Next Drag Superstar, taking a crown and a cash prize for their efforts.

And it would become massive, with RuPaul becoming one of the highest-earning TV hosts and effectively mass-marketing drag. The show would hop from Logo TV to VH1 after eight years, and then to MTV in 2023, while featuring world-famous celebrities and becoming a launchpad for some of the most eclectic and talented names in the business.

Answer: Sense8

"Sense8" wasn't only a unique show to watch because of The Wachowskis' involvement (amidst their ongoing transitions) but because it was an ambitious and evocative work that was shot almost entirely on-location in destinations as far-flung as London, Chicago, Nairobi, and Seoul (amongst others). In it, a group of eight people, called a 'cluster', found that they shared a tether that linked their emotional and mental consciousnesses and allowed them to combine and utilize each others' talents. Naturally, this made them prime candidates to be nabbed by a shadowy organization, the Biologic Preservation Organization (BPO), for further research.

But where the show excelled was in its sense of empathy. The eight main characters, and those around them, were extremely diverse not only in their locations and heritages, but in their identities. The show featured a cis white male in Chicago, a closeted gay male in Mexico, a trans woman in San Francisco, an Icelandic woman living in London, and on and on, while getting to the root of 'difference', as a theme. What it showed was that identity was aside from connectedness and the influence of togetherness.

"Sense8" aired two seasons and a film finale between 2015 and 2018.

Answer: Schitt's Creek

Airing from 2015 to 2020, "Schitt's Creek" followed the down-on-their-luck Rose family as they found themselves forced to live in a motel in the backwater town of Schitt's Creek. Though obvious fishes out of water, the family came to value their lives in the country over the course of six seasons, establishing new lives in spite of their tastes and eccentricities.

"Schitt's Creek" found immense popularity on an international scale during its airing, becoming a comfort show for many due to its humble comedy, stellar cast, and witty writing. Dan Levy, one of the creators, also played David Rose. Levy, himself gay, portrayed David as pansexual, ultimately placing him with Patrick over the show's later seasons and ending the series finale with their eventual wedding.

The show's final season swept awards season in 2020 with the entire cast receiving Emmy Awards for Lead and Supporting roles in a Comedy Series. Levy himself took three Emmy Awards home, one for his writing of the finale.

Answer: Heartstopper

Debuting on the on-demand platform in 2022, "Heartstopper" hit the top slot on the most-watched lists out the gate, bringing an extremely well-received coming-of-age story to screens with soon-to-be-stars Kit Connor and Joe Locke to the forefront. In the show, the two played students at Truham Grammar School as they started to lean into a burgeoning romance with Locke's Carlie Spring already outed as a gay teen and Connor's Nick Nelson coming into his own self-understanding of being bisexual.

The series also touches on a handful of other gender topics but folds in storylines about teen health (mental and physical), friendships, and anxieties. And it's done deftly, with critics and viewers finding a rich and complex story that never beats down on its subjects for the sake of dramatic gratuity. During its release, Oseman's book series became one of he best-selling book collections from the UK as a result.

Answer: Glee

"Glee" featured a massive ensemble cast across its six season run on FOX and, at one time, it was one of the biggest shows on American TV. Created by Ryan Murphy, the show was built around the gongs-on of a Glee Club in Lima, Ohio wherein a group of misfit high school students banded together (or dealt with unexpected drama) while singing and dancing for Regionals (or Sectionals or Nationals) and planning their lives and futures.

As is typical for Ryan Murphy productions, "Glee" built a number of its larger storylines around the arcs of queer characters. Kurt (played by Chris Colfer), introduced in the pilot episode, spent much of his six seasons growing in confidence as a gay outcast but met Blaine (Darren Criss) in season 2. Santana (Naya Rivera) was outed as lesbian in a later season while her relationship with Brittany (Heather Morris), a bisexual character, took a turn. Unique (Alex Newell), introduced in the end of season three, was the first trans character on the show. Across all of these plots, "Glee" opened the door to the discussion of social issues, especially for teens, in spite of its cutting satire and sing-song moments.

Answer: Queer Eye

Originally airing in 2003, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" introduced the Fab Five, a group of gay lifestyle coaches, each specialists in different fields, who were sent to help a straight man find style and confidence in some way or another (food and wine, grooming, fashion, design, and culture). A touchstone program for the Bravo network, it was one of the first reality shows to bring gay men to the forefront in a non-competitive way.

Netflix rebooted the show in 2018, bringing forth a new group of five and recapturing the charm and earnestness of the original. During years of particular duress for the LGBTQ+ community in America, "Queer Eye" acted as a comfort show for people beyond just the queer community, becoming one of Netflix's most-watched reality shows through the COVID-19 pandemic due in part to its depiction of acceptance, general kindness, and queer joy.

Answer: Heated Rivalry

When "Heated Rivalry" debuted in late 2025, no one knew it would spark such interest. Created in Canada but airing simultaneously on HBO Max, the first season of the show featured Hudson Williams and Connor Storie as two rival hockey players-- one Canadian and one Russian-- as they developed a deep emotional and sexual relationship over the course of nearly a decade.

"Heated Rivalry" was based on the book of the same name, the second in a series of gay sports romance novels by Rachel Reid. The show ended up causing a surge of sales in the subgenre, well beyond Reid's series. Notably, the show was massively well-received, topping lists of all-time great dramatic performances upon release of its first six episodes. In Canada, it would easily become the Crave platform's highest-watched series of all-time.

Answer: Doctor Who

Although some past Doctors have been outwardly flamboyant both in eccentric style and demeanour, the Fifteenth Doctor, portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa, was perhaps the first to be more fluid in terms of his relationships. Notably, in the two series in which Gatwa played the character, the Doctor embarked on a romantic affair with Rogue, a bounty hunter played by Jonathan Groff.

Gatwa was given a fair bit of freedom to determine the characterization of his version of the Doctor while, at the same time, production allowed his character a great deal of visual variance; the Fifteenth Doctor had more costumes than any other. He ultimately moved out of the role at the end of the fifteenth series.

Answer: Loki

Airing in two seasons between 2021 and 2023, "Loki" followed the character first seen in the "Thor" and "Avengers" films as played by Tom Hiddleston, only this time he became a version of himself working as part of the TVA, or the Time Variance Authority, tasked with avoiding issues in the timelines of the Multiverse. Loki would go on to meet numerous Variants of himself in the process, feeding into the show's exploration of the character's shapeshifting identity.

Both Loki himself and his female Variant, Sylvie (played by Sophia Di Martino), were noted as bisexual during the course of the show, highlighting their multifaceted natures not necessarily as 'tricksters', but as fluid beings. Showrunner Kate Herron, who made the show's first season, would be tapped to write for Ncuti Gatwa's "Doctor Who" era and the second season of HBO's "The Last of Us", which also contained a significant queer character arc.