Now don't judge me (and by now you're already narrowing your eyes in suspicion), but yesterday I began to watch this show called Queer as Folk.

I saw someone on Tumblr who had requested a gif set of 'Brian and Justin hugs', and they mentioned the show name QAF, and I was curious, because I'd finished all the shows I was interested in, and had started to watch Pretty Little Liars.

(now before your jaws drop in shock and you gasp in horror, when I was younger I'd read all the Pretty Little Liars books, and in school some of my friends were addicted to it, saying it was really creepy and exciting (but apparently I was the only one in class to have previously already read the books) so I decided to try it out since I'd caught up with Doctor Who already)

So I went on Google and search 'QAF Brian and Justin', found the show, and voila, I fell down the fandom pit.

Queer as Folk is actually a British series created in 1999 by Russel T Davies (I found that out by accident while on ep 4!) about the lives of 3 gay men. In 2000, the North Americans did a remake of the show, with the same title, and this 5 season remake is the one I'm watching now. The remake has since ended its 5-year run, and I found it 7 years later (what the shit).

The remake follows the lives of 5 gay men, and covers relationships, health issues, gay politics, gay rights, straight people's struggles to accept them (especially the parents), gay people's struggles to come to terms with their sexuality, and it also covers lesbianism, which I think is only fair.

(Yes I know I prefer British series as compareed to N. American, especially those written by the god of writing that is RTD, but whenever there's a remake, the remake is always better, so I watch the latter instead. It also has more seasons, so all's well.)

The five gay men are:

- Brian, the 29-year-old (not 30, he always emphasizes) assumed leader of the gang, who lives to have sex, and thinks sex is all about the moment of pleasure and nothing to do with emotion. He doesn't understand why anyone would have sex with a friend, thinking it's better to do it with someone you don't know. He goes out on the pull every night with a different guy, that is until he meets...

- Justin, a high school student who lost his virginity to Brian when he was 17. He subsequently falls in love with Brian and starts following him around to try and make Brian like him back. He struggles with his parents finding out about his sexuality and his father threatening to send him away to military school to 'get better'. His best friend Daphne is fully supportive of everything he does, and works to help him with his struggles.

- Michael, a twenty-something-year-old man who's Brian's best friend. He works as an assistant manager at a hypermarket, and is still in the closet about his sexuality there, which causes problems for interested female coworkers. His mother, Debbie, is fiercely proud of her gay son. As far as I've watched, he has a boyfriend called David who's a chiropractor (type of doctor), and he's struggling between having a steady (which he's not used to), and getting over his crush on Brian.

- Emmett, who I assume works in a department store men's clothing section. He's flamboyant and proud of his sexuality - kind of like a stereotypical gay boy. He is very supportive of everything his friend's do, and tries his best to help in any way he can. Out of luck in relationships, he mistakenly falls in love with a Japanese prostitute who can't speak English, and was subsequently heart-broken when he found his 'lover' making out with someone else.

- Ted, a thirty-something with a serious inferiority complex. After a near-death experience with a failed one night stand who gave him drugs, he became too scared to even approach anyone at the gay club (Babylon) that the gang frequents. He then had a failed relationship with someone his age and so far, he's still a lonely man.

The show is completely brilliant, and I'd recommend it for even the fiercest of homophobic people. In fact, I heard some people lamenting that the show has made them heterophobic. Haha. Either way, it's an amazing show that allows one to fully comprehend the life of any type of gay man in existence. I think.