On the latest episode of FX’s What We Do in the Shadows our favorite queer vampire slayer Guillermo de la Cruz came out to his parents. It was a hilarious and beautiful episode, and a great step forward in what’s become one of the best character developments in all of television.
His coming out has us thinking about other TV comings out we love, so here’s a trip down memory lane of some of the coming out scenes that will always stick with us.
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On the latest episode of What We Do in the Shadows, the human familiar/bodyguard Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) invited his family over to the vampire house where he lives thinking that all the vampires were gone. When Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), the female vampire of the house, comes downstairs, Guillermo pretends that she’s his girlfriend. After a comedy of errors, Guillermo reveals to his family that he both wants to be a vampire and is gay.
“I work for the vampires who live here because I hope to become a vampire myself one day. And Nadja isn’t my girlfriend… because I’m gay,” he tells his family.
“We don’t give a sh*t about you being gay, we’ve known that forever,” his family tells him. “Familia es familia, homey.”
The most classic of classic TV coming outs. Back in 1997, Ellen DeGeneres publicly came out on her self-titled sitcom, making her the first gay or lesbian lead character on a US network TV show. When the woman she loves, Susan (Laura Dern), is about to leave town, Ellen runs to the airport.
“Why can’t I say the word? I mean, why can’t I just say… I mean what is wrong? Why do I have to be so ashamed? I mean, why can’t I just say the truth, be who I am? I’m 35 years old, I’m so afraid to tell people… I mean, I just… Susan, I’m gay,” Ellen says, accidentally alerting the entire airport of her sexuality.
In this dramatic scene, Jack (Kerr Smith) comes out to his dad during a fight.
“I will not calm down and I will not be quiet,” Jack tells his dad. “You want to resolve this? Then you ask me again. Ask me the question again. Ask me if I’m gay. Ask me.”
“You are not gay,” his father sternly replies.
“Yes I am! And you know it. I see how you look at me and I know you know… And as hard as you’ve tried to stamp it out and ignore it, I have tried harder. I’ve tried harder than you to be quiet and to forget it and to not bother my family with my problems. But I can’t try anymore, because it hurts. I’m sorry, Dad.”
After trying to impress his dad early on by joining the football team and dating Brittany, Kurt (Chris Colfer) finally came out to his dad after he kicked the game-winning field goal in a football game.
“Dad, I have something that I want to say,” Kurt tells his father. “I’m glad that you’re proud of me, but I don’t want to lie anymore. Being a part of the Glee club and football has really shown me that I can be anything. And what I am is… I’m gay.”
“I know. I’ve known since you were three. All you wanted for your birthday was a pair of sensible heels,” Burt replies. “I guess I’m not totally in love with the idea, but if that's who you are, there’s nothing I can do about it, and I love you just as much, okay?”
In this special “Thanksgiving” episode of Master of None focusing on Lena Waithe’s character, Denise, she comes out as a lesbian to her mother. The two are sharing a meal together when Denise’s mom says that she’s happy her daughter isn’t pregnant or on drugs.
“Ma… I’m gay,” Denise says. “I’m gay. I’ve always been gay. But, I’m still the same person. I’m still your daughter. Nothing’s changed.”
When Patrick’s (Noah Reid) parents come to Schitt’s Creek for his birthday, he decides it's time to come out to them. After his mom says that David seems like a really great business partner, Patrick tells her and his dad that he’s gay.
“He’s also a great partner outside of business. We're together. David is my boyfriend, and I’ve never been happier in my life, and so I just, I hope you guys can accept that.” They tell him he’s the only thing in the world that matters to them, and that they like David a lot. Sure, they already knew thanks to David accidentally revealing it, but they let their son come out on his own terms, and responded the best way possible.
Our Flag Means Death followed the love story between pirates Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), but for Stede, it was also a discovery of his sexuality. In the last episode of the first season, Stede has returned home to the wife that he left, only to find that she’s found love with another man. He asks her what it feels like to be in love.
“It feels… easy. It’s just like breathing. He understands my idiosyncrasies, finds them charming even. We expose each other to new things, new ideas. And we laugh a lot. We just pass the time so well. I’d call those things love. I hope you find that.”
“I think I have,” Stede replies. “Ed, his name is Ed.”
In season two of Supergirl, Alex (Chyler Leigh) wants to talk to her sister Kara (Supergirl, played by Melissa Benoist). She tells her sister that she has something to tell her and that it’s about Maggie, a cop that the two of them know.
“She and I started working on a couple of cases together and we started hanging out after work, and I started… thinking about her,” a nervous Alex says. “I mean, I started to develop feelings… for her.”
“So, she’s gay?” Kara asks, “And are you saying you're gay too?”
“I don’t know, I’m just trying to make sense of it all. It’s complicated.”
“You know, I’m up all night thinking about it, and if I'm being honest, you know, I realize that maybe I’ve had thoughts like this before. You remember my best friend in high school? Vicki Donahue? I used to love sleeping over at her house. In her room, in her bed. And I think I felt something then, and it scared me.”
In this modern, Latina reboot of the classic sitcom One Day at a Time, Elena (Isabella Gomez) is talking to her mother (Justina Machado) about how she had her first kiss with a boy, but it didn’t feel special.
“What I’m trying to say is that when I think about love, I see myself someday loving a woman,” she tells her mother. “I realized that if I was going to be into a boy, it would be Josh. I mean, he’s cute, and he’s sweet, and he’s such a gentleman, but I feel more when I look at a picture of Kristen Stewart than when I kiss him.”
