Hallmark Channel Says LGBTQ+ 'Projects' Are on the Way

The Hallmark Channel has long been a frustrating bastion of heteronormativity, which is always of particular disappointment during the holiday season. The queers love cheesy, formulaic romcoms as much as the next hetero, and to be constantly deprived of ones that reflect us in any way is always a complete Christmas bummer.

But now, Hallmark says times are finally changing. Are they? 

The network announced a whopping 40 new movies headed to our TVs this holiday season, and folks quickly pointed out that, yet again, it looked as if they all revolve around one man and one woman. This felt like a contradiction to last December’s claim that they were “open to” finally becoming inclusive after all these years — something that was clearly an attempt to staunch the bleeding wound created by the company’s haphazard handling of the controversy surrounding the same-sex wedding ads they pulled and eventually reinstated.

In response to the criticism over the new slate of films just announced, Hallmark issued a statement that “Diversity and inclusion is a top priority for us and we look forward to making more programming announcements in the coming months, with projects featuring LGBTQ+ storylines, characters, and actors.”

Folks quickly started celebrating the comment, taking it as an indicator that LGBTQ+ characters might be taking the lead in a Christmas movie or two this year.

And while it’s absolutely heartening that Hallmark seems to finally be willing to get a little more progressive (or is it just “with the times” at this point?), it’s worth noting that the statement doesn’t explicitly indicate the projects will be holiday-based, or that the LGBTQ+ characters will be leading the story — just that they’ll have storylines at all.

While production is complicated right now with the whole worldwide pandemic thing going on, if Hallmark has time to make 40 new straight Christmas movies, hopefully they have the time and commitment to make a couple for the queers as well. And if so, maybe next year they can even, um, announce them at the same time as the rest of the holiday films.