GAY TIMES Magazine

13 May 2022

For this special edition of GAY TIMES Magazine – which we’re calling the Queer Vision issue – we are shining a light on some of the most exciting shows, films, actors, writers and directors who are producing full-bodied and dynamic LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. Case in point is our new cover star, Joel Kim Booster. Writer and lead actor of new gay romcom Fire Island, the major studio picture is breaking ground with its cast of openly LGBTQ+ Asian American performers. With director Andrew Ahn, they set out to create a movie that puts a positive queer experience as the focus, touching upon the value of chosen family and the magic of queer spaces. Joel was adamant to diverge away from queer tragedy and in doing so has created one of the most upbeat LGBTQ+ movies in recent memory. “I’ve had the privilege of living in Chicago, New York and now LA, where life has been fairly happy - especially the more gay people I populated with,” he told us. “I really wanted to show people that there is joy in the experience of being gay.” The cast boasts Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, Torian Miller, Nick Adams and Zane Phillips – all of whom we spoke to for our cover story this month. “It really lets everybody in on the secret that being gay is better!” Cho told us of Fire Island. “That's why [straight] people are just scared of it, because it's better!” Elsewhere in this issue we have Brandon Kyle Goodman, the voice behind Big Mouth and Human Resources’ resident lovebug/hateworm, who brushes off criticism that a show can be too explicitly queer. “I’ve definitely seen the critiques where people are like, ‘It’s so gay, everyone’s gay, everyone’s queer.’ It’s like... yeah?” they told us. “That’s real life too, baby.”