List of Queer as Folk characters
This is a list of characters in the Showtime series Queer as Folk. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits.
Drew Boyd
Drew Boyd is the quarterback of the fictional Pittsburgh Ironmen. He was introduced in season four when he hired Emmett Honeycutt to cater the party for his engagement to his girlfriend, Sierra. At the party Drew and his teammates make disparaging homophobic remarks about Emmett and a waiter, and Emmett confronts him about it. The next day, when Emmett visits Drew's house to pick up his check, Drew becomes aggressively flirtatious and the two have sex on the living room floor.Although Drew and Emmett continue the affair, Drew does not identify as gay, instead thinking of himself as just a man who occasionally enjoys sex with other men. Over time, however, his feelings for Emmett become less purely sexual and more romantic. Drew even allows Emmett to persuade him to model in a Brown Athletics underwear campaign for Brian's agency Kinnetik. Despite an agreement that Emmett must never show up at Drew's games, Emmett accompanies [|Ted] to the Ironmen stadium. Unfortunately, they run into Drew's fiancée who is delighted to see Emmett and brings them to the locker room. Drew breaks off the affair, but later seeks to resume it, admitting to missing Emmett. However, Emmett turns him down when Drew reveals he still intends to marry Sierra and keep the affair up.
In season five, Emmett receives anonymous phone calls and believes he is being stalked. It turns out to be a panicking Drew, who was being threatened with being outed by a tabloid. Drew appears on the news station that employs Emmett for an interview and comes out, kissing Emmett on live television and losing each of them their jobs. Drew and Emmett resume their relationship and Drew is eventually picked back up by the Ironmen after they lose several games in a row.
The relationship finally ends on a bittersweet note when Emmett spots Drew flirting with another man. Rather than being angry or jealous, Emmett recognizes that Drew, being so newly out, needs time to explore his new-found gay world.
Ben Bruckner
Benjamin "Ben" Novotny-Bruckner became a main character during season two, when he is the first customer in [|Michael] Novotny's comic book store. He is a gay studies professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and the author of the non-fiction book RU12 and the unpublished novel Gentlemen in Paris. Upon first meeting Michael, he states that he is a Pisces.The two begin to date, but Michael decides to stop after finding out that Ben is HIV positive. After several failed attempts at dating other men, Michael realizes he is in love with Ben, and that he will have to accept his HIV status. Debbie also initially disapproves of the relationship because of Ben's HIV status. However, when Ben is hospitalized due to complications from his HIV medication, Debbie sees how devoted Michael is to Ben and realizes that Michael's happiness is more important than her worries.
In the third season, Ben learns that the man who gave him HIV has died which greatly upsets him and drives him to begin using steroids and exercise obsessively. Ben's increasingly erratic behavior begins taking a toll on his relationship with Michael. In a desperate attempt to get through to Ben, Michael threatens to infect himself with Ben's used needle in order to get him to stop taking steroids. Ben and Michael later begin providing shelter to a teenage prostitute, Hunter Montgomery, after encountering him soliciting outside their apartment. Ben feels a special bond with the troubled youth, especially after learning Hunter is HIV positive as well. Michael is initially less patient with Hunter's presence in their home, but the couple grow to accept Hunter as a member of the family. Ben and Michael become Hunter's legal guardians by the beginning of the fourth season after winning custody from his abusive mother.
When Michael and Justin get a deal for a movie adaptation of their comic book, Ben becomes extremely envious, mainly because his own book, Gentlemen in Paris, can't get published. Ben begins secretly meeting with Anthony, a former student who flirtatiously offers praise for his work. However, Ben is horrified when Anthony reveals that Ben's novel inspired him to intentionally infect himself with HIV. Later, Ben and Michael travel to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the start of the Liberty Ride. On the bus ride up to Canada, Ben asks Michael to be his husband. The two get married in Canada, but they experience trouble in returning to the United States as their marriage will not be recognized once they return.
In the fifth season, Ben and Michael move into a house on a traditional street, to which Brian accuses them of being 'conformist homosexuals'. This does not matter to the couple who are proud of their new home and two children. However, this does not last long as after Hunter's HIV status is revealed at school and his ex-girlfriend starts dating someone new, he decides to leave home. Ben takes Hunter's departure particularly hard and becomes extremely distraught and angry with both Michael and himself, until they receive an e-mail from Hunter a few weeks later. Ben later tirelessly parades to stop "Proposition 14" which would take away gay civil rights and is present during the bombing of Babylon which severely injures Michael. During the vigil for the Babylon victims, Ben displays uncharacteristic rage when he brutally beats up a counter-protester who began mocking Michael's near death. Hunter reunites with Ben and Michael after the bombing and the couple legally adopts him in the series finale.
Throughout the series, Ben is characterized as a compassionate person who seldom becomes outwardly angry, upset, or emotional. He adheres to the Buddhist ideals and advocates for "living in the now". In adjusting to his HIV status, Ben does his best to take care of himself physically and to maintain a peaceful and serene perspective in facing life's challenges, which earns him the nickname "Zen Ben" from Brian.
Despite his academic background and somewhat esoteric philosophies, Ben integrates well with Michael's circle of friends. Ben and Brian are generally cordial to one another, although they occasionally clash over their conflicting values and mutual interest in Michael. It is revealed in season 2 that Ben and Brian shared a brief prior sexual encounter, which initially disturbs Michael. However, unlike Michael's ex-boyfriend, David Cameron, Ben does not openly resent Michael's and Brian's close and somewhat co-dependent friendship and he calmly acknowledges that when two people enter a relationship, they each bring his own history. When Brian and Michael end their friendship in season 5 Ben encourages Brian to make amends and pushes Michael to attend Brian's wedding by reminding Michael that Brian loves him immensely.
Dr. David Cameron
Dr. David Cameron is Michael's main love interest for all of season one. He has no relation to his namesake, David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.He was previously married but was later divorced, and he also has a son, Hank. David meets Michael after he injures his back working at the Q Mart. David is the chiropractor Michael is referred to, and later, when he sees Michael back at the Q Mart, asks him out, and the two begin to date, and eventually Michael moves in with David.
Nevertheless, they are almost constantly at odds with each other. For example, at one point, Dr. David is jealous of the relationship Michael has with Brian, and at one point forbids him from seeing Brian again. Michael, on the other hand, is put off by David's willingness to do everything, such as pay for dinner at restaurants, and at one point, Michael found out that David was not cashing the checks he was giving him to cover his share of their household expenses.
Michael often finds himself intimidated by the lavish lifestyle that Dr. David leads.
At the end of the first season, Dr. David decides to move back to Portland, Oregon to be with his son, and invites Michael to come with him. Michael was originally going to leave with him, but briefly stays behind after learning of the assault on Justin. In the second season it is revealed that Michael did follow Dr. David to Portland. During the first episode of season 2, Michael returns to Pittsburgh for a visit, and after Emmett catches him having sex with another man, he confesses that he and Dr. David are no longer together. Dr. David is neither seen nor heard from again for the rest of the series, although in season 2, Ted told a character with back pains that he "knows a good chiropractor," and, later, at one point in season 3, Emmett, after sleeping on Michael's couch all night, stated that he needed a chiropractor. He then looked at Michael and apologized.
Daphne Chanders
Daphne Chanders appears in all five seasons, but is most prominently featured during the first two. She is Justin Taylor's best friend, and the first person who he comes out to. She is Justin's confidante for most of the first season, especially during the time his parents are in the middle of a messy divorce. Toward the end of the first season, she asks Justin to "be her first," and the two have sex with the help of a gay porn magazine to get Justin in the "mood." Later, Daphne becomes romantically interested in Justin, causing some tension between them. Justin tells her that even though they had sex together, he is not in love with her. However, Daphne reminds Justin that he once experienced the same feelings toward Brian Kinney as she is now feeling. The two reconcile and go as dates to their high school prom.Daphne and Justin attend different colleges, and Justin sleeps at her apartment when he is fighting with Brian. He also lives with her briefly after he breaks up with Ethan while trying to get back with Brian. She is seen briefly in the fifth season talking to Justin while they are babysitting Michael's daughter, Jenny Rebecca, and in the final episode is mentioned as helping him find a place to stay in New York.
Despite being supportive of Justin's homosexuality, she occasionally shows frustration at the exclusive homosexual community. When a woman at an art gallery mistakes her for a lesbian, she does not correct her despite Justin's disapproval, claiming she wants to be "one of the cool kids." She grows angry with Justin after he fails to return her feelings after they sleep together and is disappointed when Cody and Justin will not let her help with the Pink Posse because she is straight.