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"Its really reassuring," he said of the popularity that Queer Eye and Pose are currently enjoying in mainstream culture. "But look at the amount of popular, award-winning television that is cisgendered and heterosexual and heteronormative. Look at the amount of creators, writers, makeup artists, hairdressers, costume designers, actors, actresses that are LGBTQ-identified and how much content that they get that reflects them."
Van Ness, who appeared alongside his Queer Eye co-stars and a panoply of other LGBTQ+ celebrities in Taylor Swift's 'You Need to Calm Down' music video, is optimistic about the direction that the entertainment industry is headed in, but is mindful that one or two success stories should not lead to gratuitous back-slapping or complacency.
"I do think that in general we are quick to congratulate ourselves for having this sense of representation," he said, "but having two shows that we can name off the top of our head that have a queer POV is not enough no tea, no shade, no pink lemonade to you or anyone else. But we have a huge number of LGBTQ people whose stories do not get told. With all due respect, there should be so many more queer shows."