Viceland launches with LGBTQ-themed travel serial
By Rebecca Peterson, Staff Writer
Two years ago, Ellen Page gave a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s “Time to Thrive” conference in Las Vegas, where she publicly came out as gay. The Canadian actress has always been politically vocal, supporting many charities and activist organizations. On March 2 she will be combining her performance career and her social activism to produce the new travel serial, “Gaycation.”
Vice.com released the trailer for Gaycation January 26 with the following description: “…Ellen and her best friend Ian set off to explore LGBTQ cultures around the world. From Japan to Brazil to Jamaica to the USA, the two meet some amazing people along the way and hear their stories.”
This series has been a long time in the making, with a few articles coming out over the past year hinting at its production. Most notably, Gaycation was being filmed as Ellen Page debated US Senator Ted Cruz last August at the Iowa State Fair. Page asked Cruz his opinion on LGBTQ people being fired from workplaces in the States, and he responded: “What we’re seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith.”
“You’re discriminating against LGBT people,” Page replied. “Would you use that argument in segregation?”
Vice stated that Page also encountered “an evangelical Christian band called the Bontrager Family Singers—a family of 12 that had come to Des Moines to perform, that night, at Cruz’s Rally for Religious Liberty.” According to an article from The Wrap, however, some of Page’s interactions were less than entertaining.
Page and Daniel apparently came face-to-face with a police officer who bragged about killing LGBTQ people, an incident during which she said she feared for her own safety. At a panel for Viceland during the 2016 Television Critics’ Association’s winter press tour, she discussed the incident, with her costar Ian Daniel adding: “A person who is standing in front of you is saying I’ve killed people like you, I’m going to do it again, and there are other people like me who are killing people like you… It’s scary, in that it’s just hard to hear.”
The series isn’t entirely about Page taking on anti-gay activists, however. According to EllenPageDaily.Org, Page met with teens Trey and Nae, both aspiring performers who lived on the streets of Los Angeles for a month before moving to Italy. There they discovered the Teen Project’s PAD in Venice, where Page spent the day last September while shooting the series. Thanks to this organization, they’ve since been placed in transitional housing.
As Page states in the trailer: “I’m on a journey to explore what it means to be lesbian, gay, bi, or trans, all around the world.” Scenes depict Page and Daniel engaging in pride events, discussing LGBTQ lives in different cultural settings, and showing the struggles and triumphs of members of the gay community. It’s both a celebration and a deep examination of the good and the bad of life in a fringe section of society. “It’s about people being able to live,” one person states in the trailer. “Not just exist.”
Viceland will launch this February 29, with the premiere episode of Gaycation airing March 2 at 10 p.m.
