Courtney Act Praises X-Men As A Queer Safe Space

Aussie drag queen and icon Courtney Act has opened up about her relationship to X-Men, praising the message inherent to the characters as important for young queer kids. 

Ahead of an appearance on the Christmas special of Shaun Micallef’s Eve Of Destruction, a clip from the episode was released where Courtney Act talked about her relationship with the iconic Marvel superhero team growing up. 

“I loved the X-Men. I think there was something about the message of the X-Men that I loved, which was like they were superheroes, they weren’t necessarily accepted and they had to hide their identities,” said Courtney. 

“And I think as a young queer kid, there was parts of who I was that I didn’t really understand, but I felt like there was something about me that I had to keep a secret.” 

When host Shaun Micallef points out that the X-Men are born with their powers, Courtney added on: “I think around puberty it kicked in, which is kind of like being gay or lesbian or bi. There was something about the X-Men that spoke to me.” 

Recalling a scene from X2 where Iceman’s parents asked if he “had tried not being a mutant”, Courtney said that though she didn’t grow up in a household like that, she still carried those fears, and was thankful to see herself in the characters on the show. 

 

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The queer importance of X-Men

First created in 1963, the X-Men have always been at their strongest as an allegory for persecuted groups. Throughout the years, Professor X and his band of misfits have survived brushes with religious zealots, human military action and lots of in-universe discrimination. 

X-Men: The Animated Series is a particular highlight for an entire generation of queer people, widely lauded for its ability to represent the feelings of the 90s LGBTQI+ community through a number of storylines and characters, as David Opie writes for IndieWire.

2024 was a big year for the X-Men, especially thanks to X-Men ‘97, which continues from where the 90s series picked up. Not afraid to mince words on the way intolerance breeds, X-Men ‘97 took the team of heroes back to their roots as heroes fighting to be accepted in a substantial way. A season two is on the way, though without writer Beau DeMayo following a messy split between him and Disney.