A brief history of Andrew Garfield’s LGBTQ allyship…including a few stumbles
The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Garfield said that he had talked with the film’s producer about exploring the character’s sexuality on film.“I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about MJ (Spider-Man’s love interest),” he told Entertainment Weekly. “What if MJ is a dude?
Why can’t we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality? It’s hardly even groundbreaking! So why can’t he be gay? Why can’t he be into boys.”But while Garfield’s subsequent comment that Spider-Man should represent everybody got him a standing ovation at a Comic-Con panel, he also said that “it wouldn’t make sense” to suddenly make the superhero gay.
Some were disappointed at the latter comment, especially since internal memos from Sony Studios said that Spider-Man is definitely “not a homosexual.”In 2014, Garfield played a trans woman in the music video for Arcade Fire’s song “We Exist,” a song about a child coming out to their father.In the video, Garfield’s character uncertainly dons a bra, makeup and cowgirl duds before walking to a rural dive bar.
When transphobic patrons assault her, she breaks into an emotional spotlight dance that ends with her blissfully rocking out with the band at Coachella.The video’s director said he chose Garfield because of his passion for the project, and thought that it would be “pretty damn powerful” for queer kids to see the Spider-Man actor in a queer role.
