One of TV’s greatest gay creators reflects on where it all went wrong

Over almost four decades, Russell T Davies has established himself as one of the most influential TV showrunners in the UK — and in the global queer community. In shows like “Queer as Folk,” “ Years and Years ,” “ It’s a Sin ” and “ A Very English Scandal ,” Davies has explored the LGBTQ community’s evolving place in society.

He never imagined he’d be creating a show set in 2026 where things seemed to be devolving for his queer characters.

“I’m kind of sad that having done ‘Queer as Folk’ in 1999, that then you would have imagined 2026 would be a lot happier with equal gay rights everywhere, instead of seeing it going wrong,” Davies said. “There is such hatred. There is such fear. There is such venom being whipped up by very powerful voices and very knowing voices.”

In his new series “Tip Toe,” Davies finds creative inspiration in hateful rhetoric about queer people trying to recruit children — a trope long used to undermine LGBTQ rights that has recently seen a resurgence.

“The impossibility of this is advancing on us rapidly, tumultuously,” Davies said. “My God, I had to write about it.”

Ben Blackall/Channel 4

“Tip Toe” began streaming in the US on the Starz network on Friday, having first premiered in the UK in May.

It kicks off in Manchester, where a character named Leo (played by Alan Cumming, the Emmy-winning host of “The Traitors”) runs a queer bar, while also contending with the increasingly aggressive behavior of his straight neighbor Clive (David Morrissey). Stuck in a marriage from which he can’t afford to divorce, and in a society that’s changed rapidly from what he’s comfortable with, Clive’s rage is slowly stoked by what he consumes on social media, until he becomes convinced Leo is making moves on his teenage son George (Jackson Connor).

Over five episodes, “Tip Toe” explores how generational and gender divides, misinformation, online radicalization and political rhetoric can prove deadly for the queer community. It’s an environment that Davies, and his characters, were hoping to have progressed from. “Do you ever think it’s coming back? All that stuff from the ‘90s? We were despised , but you read the stuff online now and it sounds just the same,” bar regular Melba (Paul Rhys) tells Leo in the premiere. “I used to walk into a room and go, ‘Tah-dah!’ Now, I tiptoe — just in case.”

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The increasing frequency of derogatory language and tropes about queer people that were once considered horrifically outdated have had impacts for the LGBTQ community that extend well beyond the cancellation of drag queen story hours . Support for same-sex marriage among Americans, for example, has started to decline slightly since 2022, according to pollster Gallup, after climbing for decades. Donald Trump’s administration has also seized on the moment to actively target transgender people in matters of identification, medical care and sports, with the ACLU accusing the White House of trying to “push transgender people out of public life.”

For Davies, some of this vitriol has occasionally been felt first-hand. After he cast transgender actor Yasmin Finney in his revival of “Doctor Who” in 2023, Russell said online bigots began targeting him with abuse by calling him a pedophile and groomer. “It reaches the point where you think, ‘How much am I in danger from this?’” he said. “For 10 years, I’ve sat there not caring about it, but now I think we are seeing a world in which online anger is stepping out into the real world.”

Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

Davies pointed to the recent killing of two men outside a gay bar in Tucson, Arizona, by a gunman said to be carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses as more evidence that the environment for queer people has become more threatening. “It’s the shape of the world now. It’s terrifying,” he said.

In “Tip Toe,” Melba seems to give voice to Davies’ view about where much of this invective can be traced: President Trump. Davies said he believed leaders like Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had modeled bullying behavior for their supporters. “When your leaders are doing that, then you think it’s natural and it’s allowed,” he said.

But parts of “Tip Toe” also flirt with the idea that the successes of queer representation in popular culture — thanks, in no small part, to groundbreaking works like those of Davies — has been a double-edged sword. In one episode, Clive rages that he can’t seem to turn on the television without seeing characters he believes are normalizing identities that seem foreign to him and which only make him madder. “We fought to be seen, but what if we got it wrong?” Leo wonders at one point. “What if they see us, and they still don’t like us?”

James Stack/Channel 4

Davies said he believes part of his job as a TV creator is to make a matter of historical record for what it’s like to be a queer person at different points in history. It just so happens that, right now, he has a fairly dark view of the world.

He recalled a transgender couple at one event telling him how terrified they were. “And that’s Britain in 2026,” he said. “What the f*ck is going on?”

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近四十年来，拉塞尔·T·戴维斯已成为英国乃至全球酷儿群体中最具影响力的电视节目制作人之一。在《同志亦凡人》、《岁月》、《罪孽深重》和《英国式丑闻》等剧集中，戴维斯探讨了LGBTQ群体在社会中不断变化的地位。

他从未想过自己会创作一部以 2026 年为背景的剧集，剧中同性恋角色的境遇似乎正在恶化。

“我有点难过，1999年拍完《同志亦凡人》之后，我本以为2026年同性恋群体在世界各地都能享有平等权利，生活会更加美好，但事实却恰恰相反，”戴维斯说。“现在到处都是仇恨，到处都是恐惧，到处都是被一些有权有势、心知肚明的人煽动起来的恶毒言论。”

在他的新系列作品《踮起脚尖》中，戴维斯从关于同性恋者试图招募儿童的仇恨言论中汲取了创作灵感——这种老套的说法长期以来被用来破坏 LGBTQ 群体的权利，而最近又出现了复兴的迹象。

“这件事的不可能性正以迅猛而剧烈的方式向我们袭来，”戴维斯说。“我的天哪，我不得不把它写下来。”

本·布莱克尔/第四频道

《踮起脚尖》于周五在美国 Starz 电视台上线播出，该剧于 5 月在英国首播。

故事始于曼彻斯特，主人公利奥（由艾美奖得主、《叛徒》主持人艾伦·卡明饰演）经营着一家同志酒吧，同时还要应对邻居克莱夫（大卫·莫瑞瑟饰演）日益咄咄逼人的行为。克莱夫深陷一段无力离婚的婚姻，而他所处的社会环境也早已与他熟悉的旧有模式大相径庭。社交媒体上的信息不断刺激着克莱夫，最终他确信利奥正在对他的十几岁儿子乔治（杰克逊·康纳饰演）动手动脚。

在五集篇幅中，《踮起脚尖》探讨了代际和性别隔阂、虚假信息、网络激进化和政治言论如何对酷儿群体造成致命威胁。戴维斯和他的角色们都希望摆脱这种环境。“你有没有想过这一切会卷土重来？90年代的那些事？我们当时被鄙视，但你现在看看网上那些东西，感觉还是一样的，”酒吧常客梅尔巴（保罗·里斯饰）在首集中对里奥说道。“我以前走进房间会大喊一声‘哇！’现在我得踮着脚尖——以防万一。”

2023年提出的反LGBTQ法案数量创历史新高。

针对LGBTQ群体的贬损性语言和陈词滥调日益频繁地出现，而这些语言和陈词滥调曾被认为早已过时，其对LGBTQ群体的影响远不止于变装皇后故事会的取消。例如，据盖洛普民意调查显示，美国人对同性婚姻的支持率在经历了数十年的攀升之后，自2022年以来开始略有下降。唐纳德·特朗普政府也借此机会，在身份识别、医疗保健和体育运动等领域积极针对跨性别者，美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）指责白宫试图“将跨性别者排挤出公共生活”。

对戴维斯来说，他有时也会亲身感受到这种恶意攻击。2023年，他启用跨性别演员亚斯敏·芬尼出演他重启的《神秘博士》后，拉塞尔表示，一些网络偏执者开始对他进行人身攻击，称他为恋童癖和性侵者。“你会开始思考，‘我到底有多危险？’”他说，“过去十年，我一直对此漠不关心，但现在我认为，我们正在目睹网络暴力蔓延到现实世界。”

Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

戴维斯指出，最近在亚利桑那州图森市一家同性恋酒吧外发生的枪击案，两名男子被枪手杀害，据称枪手当时携带了一份LGBTQ商家的名单。这进一步证明，LGBTQ群体所处的环境变得越来越危险。“这就是当今世界的现状。太可怕了，”他说。

在《踮起脚尖》这首歌中，梅尔巴似乎表达了戴维斯关于这些谩骂行为根源的看法：特朗普总统。戴维斯说，他认为像特朗普和巴西前总统博索纳罗这样的领导人为他们的支持者树立了欺凌行为的榜样。“当你的领导人这样做时，你就会认为这是自然而然的，是被允许的，”他说。

但《踮起脚尖》的部分内容也暗示了这样一个观点：流行文化中酷儿形象的成功——这在很大程度上要归功于像戴维斯这样的开创性作品——是一把双刃剑。在其中一集中，克莱夫愤怒地抱怨说，他打开电视就能看到一些角色，他认为这些角色正在将对他而言陌生的身份正常化，而这只会让他更加愤怒。“我们努力争取被看见，但如果我们做错了呢？”利奥在某个时刻疑惑道，“如果他们看到了我们，却仍然不喜欢我们呢？”

詹姆斯·斯塔克/第四频道

戴维斯表示，他认为作为一名电视创作者，他的部分职责是记录历史上不同时期酷儿群体的生活状况。只不过，就目前而言，他对世界的看法相当悲观。

他回忆起在一次活动中，一对跨性别伴侣告诉他他们有多么害怕。“这就是2026年的英国，”他说。“这他妈到底是怎么回事？”

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