2021 was an extraordinary year of making the nonbinary ordinary

In response to criticism about his casting of Javier Bardem, who is Spanish, as Cuban-American Desi Arnaz in the new film "Being the Ricardos," director Alan Sorkin told the Times: "Nouns aren't actable. Gay and straight aren't actable . . . So, this notion that only gay actors should play gay characters? That only a Cuban actor should play Desi? Honestly, I think it's the mother of all empty gestures and a bad idea."

Queer actors have historically not been given the same opportunities as straight actors for roles, even roles that dramatize queer lives, which is why actor Billy Eichner and others criticized Sorkin's comments, with Eichner writing on Twitter that Sorkin was "Completely ignorant of how Hollywood has treated its openly LGBTQ+ actors for a century."

Sorkin aside, some queer performers came out okay, on some level, in the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad year that was 2021. So did our stories: specifically, nonbinary characters and performers.

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