“Yellowstone” the Straightest TV Show On the Planet

When I first started going out to gay bars in the 90s I met a guy who became a very good friend. He was a Philadelphia attorney who lived in both Philadelphia and Montana. He owned a ranch in Montana and he spent a good deal of time there. And one of the things I learned from him is that there are, indeed, plenty of gay people in Montana. 

With that said, I started watching the Paramount TV series, Yellowstone, and it’s kind of interesting to see how totally straight it is. I’ve been binge watching every season, and right now I’m on the last episode of season 3, and the only slight references to gay people are either stereotypes or pejoratives. The mean, disturbed sister in the family…and this woman is mean and disturbed beyond words…has a gay assistant she treats like a pet poodle and she makes nasty references to her brother being gay, because she hates and despises her brother. And he really is an annoying character. I’m not getting into spoilers, but that’s really the end of any gay references at all.

There’s also a bunk house where a lot of hot young cowboys live and play. In a move that’s totally out of character with the story line, they bring women into the bunk house to show everyone that these cowboys are all straight. Of course it’s all done in a subtle way.   

Yet we all know there are gay people in Montana, and they’ve been there since the beginning of time. There just aren’t any on this killer straight ranch called the Yellowstone. 

You can read more about Yellowstone the series, here. I actually like it, in an overdone exaggerated way. It’s heteronormative on steroids. I can’t honestly say I’m not enjoying it. And I would recommend it. Although many of the hetero love scenes are so cringe you’ll be tempted to gag, there’s a certain campy quality to it that no other TV show has done before. These ultra straight people are killers…even the good ones. 

 

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