【Busty Lifeguards (2010)】

Thanks to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,Busty Lifeguards (2010) Jonathan Van Ness' round-the-clock Instagram stories, and ice skating demigods like Adam Rippon, queer men are having their moment in the spotlight.

Queer women, meanwhile, are relying on old DVDs of The L Wordand erotic fantasies of the upcoming reboot.

Sure, between The Fostersand Orange Is the New Black, there have been plenty of shows that feature queer characters since The L Word premiered. But what made Broad Cityspecial -- what makes it so hard for some of us to say goodbye after the show aired its final episode on Thursday -- was how it centered queerness, particularly bisexual queer identities, at its heart.

Broad Citywasn't a purely gay show. It technically classifies as a "sorta queer show."

That still matters so much.

From the start of the show, it was clear that Ilana has a strong homoerotic attraction to her best friend, Abbi. Ilana was constantly referencing Abbi's great butt. She consistently stared her down and made reference to a future theoretical homosexual encounter. Ilana had boyfriends throughout the show, including one delightfully passive dentist (Hannibal Buress), but it was clear that Abbi was her true "love" -- even if that love defied easy categorization.

In an earlier era, Ilana would have been drawn as either a purely straight main character or a purely gay "sassy" side character. Sandra Bernhard would have been the only actress cast to play her role. But because this is Broad City (and the year 2019), Ilana was able to stay true to her character roots: she was queer. She wanted to bone passive male dentists (respect) and fall in love with her hot best friend.

The show never resolved what kind of love Ilana expected from her best friend: partially sexual and partially romantic? Purely romantic? Or more of a lifelong partner kind of romance, with sex thrown in?

Ilana's experience mirrors plenty of people in the queer community who aren't strictly gay or straight, whose sexual identities change over time, and who are not-so-secretly in love with their best friends.

Best friend love is one of the key relational formations at the heart of the queer community. As a queer person, I'll say that approximately 100% of my romantic relationships and my friends' queer relationships originated in best friendship.

Ilana wasn't just visibly queer, she was 2019 queer. Broad Citymade it all visible.

Meanwhile, it took until the final season for Abbi to start to explore her queer identity (unless you consider the episode where she pegged her annoying neighbor queer -- which is a more of question for Tumblr than it is for this post). Abbi's date with hot emergency room doctor Clea Duvall (kudos to the show for reminding us that you can be a hot doctor without being a prick) had all of the core emotional ingredients of an early queer experience.

Abbi demonstrates the kind of nauseating awkwardness familiar to many of those who are first exploring a queer relationship in their 20s. It's so familiar it's unwatchable. And unlike most queer films or television shows premised on clear, linear, coming out narratives, Broad Citydoesn't have Abbi follow the traditional coming out trajectory. She just goes on a date with a woman (a hot doctor woman at that). She doesn't immediately incorporate the experience into an identity formation. She doesn't suddenly start shopping at Otherwild or watching Carolaround the clock.

Abbi just develops a little thing for a very good-looking doctor. Who among us -- straight or queer -- has not been in the same position? (I'm very gay, but I'm open to the idea of a flirtation with my male dermatologist who is excellent at talking me through my rashes).

Bisexuality, sexual identity exploration, and sexual ambiguity are at the core of Broad City. Who knows if Abbi and Ilana will one day get married and raise a dog in Northampton? Maybe Ilana will start dating a moderate Republican and move to Utah. Maybe Abbi will date a hot butch bouncer. Who knows? The show never resolves anyone's identity.

That's what make it so queer and so good. RIP, Broad City. We're all a little less gay now that you're gone.