So 3 years ago some well-known ancient Xenites created a panel called “Queering the fandom: Xena and beyond.” It’s a really great discussion about the legacy of Xena within queer fandom denoting how LGBTQ+ (specifically lesbian/sapphic and WLW) first started in TV art/entertainment through Xena and how it’s held a candle for so many other TV shows/movies to follow after it in providing authentic queer representation.
When we think about queer fandom or even just queer material in general in TV art/entertainment, we tend to note Buffy, Glee, The L Word, Will & Grace… but without what Xena had between its lead same-sex characters, Xena and Gabrielle, none of those TV shows would have been greenlit for production on all of its queer material.
The people that were there at the time of Xena first airing will remember how much Xena played a part in breaking down the walls by first taking a chisel hammer to solid brick queer censorship and actually succeed in making it much easier for those walls to be broken by those creators and showrunners that truly legitimately wanted fully canon queer couples to grace the screen.
If you have the time - please check it out. I know it’s long but this is information that is so important to be educated on when it comes to queer representation.
We must never forget where our roots actually lied.
If you’re a veteran Xenite like me, you should definitely know who the people speaking in this panel are. You should at least be able to recognize 2 of the names.
