Making the Yuletide Gay- An Ode to "Dashing in December"

 'Tis the season for a thousand and one holiday films bursting with evergreen farms, surprise snowstorms, last-minute flights, and of course, snow-capped romantic happily ever afters. But for many years, the movies all seemed to share the same glaring omission- a lack of representation.

In the past decade or so, Hallmark and Lifetime and the like have made an effort to increase racial diversity of their holiday romances. (NOTE: They have not always been successful at this and they have not done nearly enough.) Still, pairings other than a man and a woman were nowhere to be found in the holiday lineups.

Hallmark specifically has struggled with LGBTQ+ equality, making headlines in 2019 when they aired an ad that showed a lesbian couple, promptly pulled the ad after public backlash, and then apologized for pulling the ads. But in 2021, the company appointed a new CEO, Wonya Lucas, who said that Hallmark was committed to a “seismic” shift in their expansion of diversity.

Now, queer couples are appearing with limited but non-zero frequency in holiday films across networks. One notable example is Hallmark’s “The Christmas House” (2020), which focuses on three couples (a married husband and wife and their two sons.) One son, played by publicly out actor Jonathan Bennett, has a storyline focused on how he and his husband are awaiting updates on their plans to adopt a child. Of note, Bennett and Hallmark partnered again last year for “The Holiday Sitter”, leading to him crowning himself “The gay king of Christmas”.  2020 also brought us Hulu’s highly publicized “Happiest Season” starring Kristen Stewart.

We love seeing more diverse relationships in media and we can’t wait to see what next year’s holiday season will bring. But here at VQ Library, there is one Christmas romance that will always hold the top spot in our eyes.

“Dashing in December” (2020) is, in many ways, like so many other holiday romance flicks. A high-powered businessman returns home to their family’s failing farm and learns the true meaning of love, family, and Christmas cheer while simultaneously falling in love with the attractive farmhand and saving the farm. What makes it different is that both the romantic leads are men.

C and I (Remy), watched it together but separately from our own homes in December 2020. We agreed that it was cute and fun and delivered that lovely cozy holiday feeling that all of these movies are meant to evoke. We thought we might watch it again on some distant Christmas yet to come.

And then I went to my job in an Emergency Room on an ordinary December day the next year.

Apparently “Dashing in December” played on some cable TV station and one of my coworkers had had the great misfortune of clicking past it as she channel surfed. She sat at the nurses’ station and complained loudly about how weird and uncomfortable the whole thing was. Genuinely not understanding, I asked her what was uncomfortable. The movie contains nothing that could even be called PG-13 and features only two kisses.

My coworker said that her distress lay with the actor that they chose to play “the guy”. (I genuinely do not know which of the two guys she meant.) He was apparently very handsome and didn’t look “like that”.

I suppose I wasn’t busy enough at work on that fine morning because I decided to ask her “like what?”

The answer was unsurprising but still somehow managed to surprise me. “Gay”.

Again, I took the bait. “What does gay look like?”

We went back and forth like this at least four times, with my coworker repeatedly insisting that the actor and the character he played didn’t look gay but also refusing to answer what gay looks like. Eventually, she got bored or annoyed or possibly deep down realized she looked incredibly foolish, and she snapped “I’m not going to get into it if you’re going to make it political” and turned back to her computer.

What???

In isolation, this incident ranges somewhere between funny and annoying. But nothing in our society happens in a vacuum. Also sitting near us was a physician who also happens to be the head of the Emergency Room. He did not back me up. He did not tell her to stop being narrow-minded. He actually nodded along to what my coworker was saying, clearly agreeing with her.

I work in healthcare, as do my coworkers. Our job is to provide compassionate care to all of our patients. Even if a person believes that they treat all patients equally, unconscious biases are very real and many studies have shown how healthcare workers’ biases negatively impact patient outcomes. If seeing two men on television hold hands while talking about how to save the family Christmas farm is so upsetting to a person that they come in to work the following day and expostulate on how gross and inappropriate it was, that person clearly has a problem with LGBTQ+ people existing in their general vicinity. Would they treat the reported symptoms of a lesbian patient as seriously as they would a woman who came in with her husband? Would they be as willing to include a same-sex spouse in discussions regarding a patient’s care? Would they make a transgender patient feel welcome and safe?

Since that day, C and I have made it a point to watch “Dashing in December” every Christmas season. It’s still adorable and wholesome and bursting with holiday cheer. But it’s also an important reminder as to why representation is so vital. Two gay cowboys saving Christmas means so much more than a great film to pair with cocoa and gingerbread men. They represent a world where everyone feels safe going home for the holidays, regardless of who they are and who they love.

You can watch “Dashing in December” on Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Apple TV, or Roku TV.

And if you want to watch more LGBTQ+ holiday movies, check out:

7 Queer Holiday Movies You Can Watch With Your Grandma

Keep The Yuletide Gay With These 20 Holiday Films