Sara Ramirez advocates that queerness isn't just about palatable characters that are a television tonic. We can dislike them but it's still important to have them onscreen because queerness, according to them, "it's for everybody".
Speaking to Variety, Sara Ramirez explores the drastically polarizing character Che which they played in the 'Sex and the City' spin-off, 'And Just Like That...'. They dive deep into some of the most spoiler-y things that happened on the show and life as the onscreen bisexual Callie from 'Grey's Anatomy'.
Firstly, Ramirez knows that Che is marmite — they're not the universally lovable kind of queer character that we're often offered in mainstream media. Che is non-binary, loud, "messy", and "complicated", but most importantly, "human".
And get this, Ramirez doesn't care if you like Che or not, "Other people’s opinions of a character — that’s not something I can allow into my process".
'And Just Like That' gave us an alternative to the usual representation of queerness and Cynthia Nixon who plays Miranda isn't sure that people were expecting that, explaining that it wasn't the media's standard portrayal of "girl-on-girl action that people across the board think is really sexy".
What many 'Sex and the City' traditionalists found hard to grasp was not necessarily the magnetic pull Che had on Miranda in what was her "sexual awakening", but rather the breakdown of Miranda and her beloved husband Steve's relationship. Nixon says "I think you’ve got a lot of marriage-police people out there".
As television's longest consecutively running queer character spanning 10 years, Ramírez's Callie on 'Grey's Anatomy' gave the LGBTQ+ community an onscreen icon. But visibility is just one piece of the puzzle.
It's great to be represented and feel seen, but Ramirez puts it like this: "Visibility isn’t justices. Because visibility without action and consideration for real people that exist means nothing".
In America, there are important LGBTQ+ issues that need people's attention, like the 'Don't Say Gay' Bill. Closer to home, there's still a long way to go in terms of LGBTQ+-phobia.
One thing is certain; we're going to be seeing much more of Che on 'And Just Like That' season two. Showrunner Michael Patrick King states "I want to show the dimension of Che that people didn’t see, for whatever reason — because they were blinded, out of fear or terror. I want to show more of Che rather than less of Che. Like, really".
Watch 'And Just Like That...' today.
