Five things happened in the summer of 2022 that changed everything for J. Birch, the Anishinaabe creator behind #SaveQueerStories.There was the interview that Elliot Page did with Esquire about his transition, right around the same time Nimona creator ND Stevenson posted a comic about his own transition. It was also the summer that Birch began watching Our Flag Means Death and The Owl House, two shows that famously made huge headway for nonbinary representation on screen.Characters like Jim Jimenez and Raine Whispers were allowed to be complicated and badass and funny and loved, recalls Birch. I had never seen trans people portrayed that way before, and they were everything I wanted to be. Then when I read the way that Elliot Page and ND Stevenson described their transitions, it was like my own thoughts had been written down in front of me. All of those things together made me realize that transitioning would finally let me feel like myself.It was also during this summer that Birchs father started in-home hospice.Birch was already out as queer at this point, but they felt transitioning wasnt worth the risk until the hospice care began.I knew that if I didnt make this change for myself pretty immediately, my dad would never know who I had discovered I was, and I would never know how he felt about it. If it hadnt been for queer representation, I wouldnt have had the courage to come out when I did. I wouldnt have gotten the chance to share that experience with my dad. Now Ill always have the knowledge that he loved and supported me for who I am.As most queer people can already attest, LGBTQ+ storytelling is instrumental in shaping our lives. The right film or book or TV show can radically affirm us in ways nothing else can, holding up a mirror to who we truly are and who we want to be. Such stories can also help shape how the world perceives us too. Yet queer TV especially is under fire right now, despite there being more LGBTQ+ shows to watch than ever. The problem is they all end too soon.In the past year alone, a huge number of queer TV shows were canceled across the board, including everything from My Lady Jane and Our Flag Means Death to The Acolyte, Kaos and Dead Boy Detectives. Its almost a running joke at this point, except its not really a joke at all.Inspired (and saddened) by Kaos and Dead Boy Detectives, which were both canceled just one month apart, Birch did research of their own to confirm if most queer shows really were biting the dust early or whether it just seemed that way.The only consistent data I could find was GLAADs Where We Are On TV report, says Birch, and they follow the number of queer CHARACTERS, not series. Their 2023-2024 report said that about a quarter of queer characters would not be returning due to cancellations or endings but was that disproportionate? Autostraddle reported that about one in four of the queer shows they tracked ended in a single season but again, was that unusual? How did those numbers compare to the average non-queer show?Using data pulled from Deadline, Vulture, Rotten Tomatoes and more, Birch conducted their own independent study called #SaveQueerStories that did confirm LGBTQ+ projects were indeed treated unfairly by networks, and streamers especially. In fact, half of all queer TV shows were canceled in 2024, twice as often as their straight counterparts, and usually at a faster rate too.Theres not a lot of information about why queer shows are canceled more often, says Birch. In their 2023-24 Where We Are On TV report, GLAAD suggests these shows may struggle to find viewership because of poor promotion and a cycle of frequent cancellations overall. I think those are definitely contributing factors. But the more I dig, the more Im finding that queer shows are watched just as much as other shows. In fact, most of the studies I can find about viewing numbers suggest that queer representation actually IMPROVES viewership.Thats undoubtedly true for a title like Netflixs Heartstopper, which accrued over 50 million viewing hours in its first four weeks of release. No one who pressed play on that series ever went in expecting a straight love story.Agatha All Along wasnt as obviously queer from the get go, but, still, the fact it now holds the record for the highest continuation rate of any Marvel show suggests fans certainly werent put off by its increasingly queer story. And lets not forget The Wheel of Time, another queer-led fantasy that overtook The Boys and The Terminal List as Prime Videos most popular series back in 2021.Clearly, people are showing up for queer content, whether theyre queer or straight themselves, yet all too often, low ratings are blamed still for the untimely cancellations of queer shows, specifically. Thats what Disney+ suggested after they ended The Acolyte, for example. But how then do you account for the fact that this series was actually their second most streamed show in 2024 (according to findings shared by Deadline)?So what gives?My best guess is that queer shows are held to a different performance standard than non-queer shows, suggests Birch. A non-queer show can achieve good viewing numbers and move on to another season or more, but queer shows must achieve viral success or else theyre dropped.We dont need to tell you that these expectations are completely unreasonable. After all, not every new release can instantly become a Stranger Things scale success overnight. In fact, its safe to say that classic network shows like Buffy or Dawsons Creek, the kind that streamers hope to emulate in terms of success, probably wouldnt have lasted for as half as long if they had been released today. And TV would have been a lot worse off for it.Queer stories matter because we know that positive representation supports emotional wellness for queer people.J. BirchWho knows what impact a show like Kaos, Willow or The Acolyte could have had if given the chance to organically evolve and grow an audience beyond just one season? Its hard to fathom what weve lost because well never know what could have come next, but what we can measure is the scale of that loss in immediate terms and how its affected us, as #SaveQueerStories does so well.Its not just data that Birch is concerned with though. The idea behind #SaveQueerStories is to do just that, to convince media companies to commit to diverse storytelling and treat queer shows equally. Thankfully, there is some precedent to suggest that this really can work.The biggest example I can think of is Brooklyn Nine-Nine, says Birch. They were able to generate enough attention online to get their show back in just over a day. They even had celebrities tweeting about it.But its not all good news. A lot of canceled queer shows have big fan bases like this, but they simply arent as lucky. Fandoms like Warrior Nun have been able to get their hashtags trending repeatedly even over the span of years, but havent had proper renewals (yet).The [cancellation] that I worry is coming but would still be a big shock is Heartstopper, adds Birch. Its been five months since season 3 was released.If Heartstopper isnt safe, what queer show is? Bearing that in mind, what can fans do to help in the face of all this? What can we do to save the queer stories that matter to us most?Birch suggests plenty of different ways to help their campaign and get involved: We have resources on how to support queer shows on our Take Action page. Sharing the campaign and hashtag widely is going to be the best thing the more people who speak up about this, the more powerful their voices become. You can contact your streaming services and tell them your concerns. Searching, posting, and sharing about specific queer shows also helps because it drives up their demand as measured by Parrot Analytics.Some of the most recent (and most painful cancellations) inspired show-specific fandoms to speak up too, many of whom can be found working alongside #SaveQueerStories, including My Lady Jane (@SaveMyLadyJane), Our Flag Means Death (@AdoptOurCrew) and The Acolyte (@SaveTheAcolyte.com). Signing their petitions and speaking up using their hashtags can also help.In the meantime, says Birch, were working on finding ways to get active on other social media platforms and connect with other groups who care about queer representation. Well also keep adding to our page with new data and articles.To anyone who might wonder what the point of this is, go back and read the start of this article, first off, and then look at the wider impact that queer storytelling or a lack of queer storytelling can have on us as a community.The political atmosphere around queer people, especially trans people, is so incredibly tough right now, says Birch. I know that caring about TV shows seems like such a small thing to focus on, given everything thats going on, but media does matter, especially in times like this. When everything seems insurmountable, sometimes its encouraging to work on the little things you can do to help.Birch continues: Queer stories matter because we know that positive representation supports emotional wellness for queer people. For those who feel seen and affirmed by queer representation, this cancellation trend actively takes one more support away Were already seeing everything related to LGBTQ people disappear from our federal websites, a vocal push to ban LGBTQ books from school libraries, and the censorship of LGBTQ-related hashtags on sites like Instagram. They know our voices are powerful. Thats why they want to hide us.The answer then is to speak up louder than ever, and thats true whether were trying to save our favourite queer shows or push back on harmful, discriminatory legislation. Its all part of the same fight, after all.Keeping hope is so important, Birch tells us. I like to back up what I say with numbers when I can, and the numbers show that the vast majority of Americans still support LGBTQ people and our equal rights. As many people watch queer shows as other shows, and a lot of the biggest shows on air right now have visible representation in them. There are so many of us and we have so many stories to tell. I have to believe that we can make changes if we work together.Just as 2022 proved to be transformative for Birch, let 2025 be the year that things shift for the better when it comes queer storytelling too. I think theres a real shot of making it happen if enough people decide to speak up.The post #SaveQueerStories explains how to save your favorite queer TV show from cancellation appeared first on News Is Out.