Jesse James Keitel is the perfect star to portray Ruthie in the latest “Queer as Folk” series because she’s not only incredibly talented but also part of the queer community herself. It’s this representation that she thinks the show does so well, particularly in comparison to the two prior series, which were centered on white, gay male characters.
“There’s no one way to embody the entirety of the LGBTQIA+ experience,” Keitel explained to The List. “I think our show does a really masterful job of letting watchers know that there is much more to the queer community than … I think the word queer often gets reduced to cis gay men, and really, that acronym embodies so much more than that — people of different races, people of different abilities, people of different trans statuses.”
“It’s really fun and it’s storytelling we haven’t necessarily seen before,” she added, noting that viewers can expect to see far more diversity than they saw in the prior series. Ultimately, though, her reaction to the show has her feeling just one thing: “I’m such a fan of the show. I’m so excited that I can say I’m part of it.”
All episodes of “Queer as Folk” are now streaming on Peacock.
