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Pride Month 2020: From 'Gay Jesus' to marrying his man, Ian Gallagher has been a beacon for the LGBTQ community

He built a shelter for homeless, exploded a car for trying to kidnap a gay teen, and quoted the Bible to counter a priest
PUBLISHED JUN 13, 2020
'Shameless' (Showtime)
'Shameless' (Showtime)

Back in 2010, when the US adapted the originally British dramedy 'Shameless', we were introduced to a shy, young teenager called Ian Gallagher, with a secret stache of gay porn. When his brother Lip (Jeremy Allen White)  found this out, he arranged for some gratifying oral sex to be convinced of his brother's sexuality. Then came a storm called Mickey Milkovich (Noel Fischer), and their romance was the ultimate hurricane as Ian battled his slowly manifesting bipolar disorder.

Mickey's very conservative Russian father married his boy off to the local prostitute Svetlana; he sat the newly married couple down and forced Ian to watch them have sex next to him as a lesson to the two young men in love. Countless fights, bloody breakups, and prison stints later, Ian and Mickey were finally able to arrive at their wedding day. And that isn't close to half of all the absolutely bizarre shit Ian has pulled on screen which rightfully earned him the title of 'Gay Jesus' both on screen and in the fandom.

Ian's struggle with exploring his sexuality is a journey portrayed effortlessly by Cameron Monaghan — whom most might know as the infamous Joker fro the television series 'Gotham'. If Monaghan is menacing there, he is far more intimidating as a member of the LGBTQ community when it comes to injustices against them. Ian went from hooking up with Mickey in secret to having sex with his Muslim manager in the storage unit of the shop he ran.

When Mickey's runs with the law landed him in jail, and in between their on-and-off relationship, Ian indulged in other members of the community. And his arc so far has been quite the vivid portrayal of coming of age, as we saw him shed inhibitions by moonlighting as a stripper at one point, and also dating a trans-man. 

It was during his relationship with Trevor when Ian's rapid interest in learning and doing more for the community evolved. Through Trevor, he found out about at-risk youth in the community, and also learned the usage of correct pronouns and why it matters. Initially fumbling at first, Ian's love for Trevor and giving back to the community as a whole soon engaged him more than his day job as a paramedic. Going off his bipolar medication for the second time in life only added to his ever-soaring rush by fighting for the community, and thus was birthed Gay Jesus — an avatar of Ian that fans have clung on to since we met him in Season 8, back in 2018.

One of the episodes sees Ian and Trevor sneak into a church performing conversion therapy on teens from the LGBTQ community. This spurs Ian to do his own research on what the Bible says about the community and how much of what the church's pastor believes in, is based on it. When he finally has enough quotes from the Bible to contradict the pastor, Ian confronts him during a sermon and demands the release of the teens he was holding hostage. And this isn't the only iconic thing Ian had done that season as 'Gay Jesus'.



 

After someone at Church records Ian's confrontation and the video goes viral, he is given the 'Gay Jesus' moniker and begins attending protests more frequently. At one such protest, Ian wins people over once again by using CRT to save the life of a homophobic pastor who gets a heart attack at the venue. He and Trevor take up the task of running a shelter for the homeless and runaway youths from the community and the lodging facility overflows with young people gathering in masses to catch one look at the 'Gay Jesus'.

The most iconic of it all? Ian trying to protect a young boy from being kidnapped by his relatives for being a part of the community. "My God’s a f*ggot. My God’s a d*ke. My God is trans, a junkie, a whore," says Ian in a speech that soon makes the news. And before he can announce "We will not be victims," the car the boy was about to be kidnapped in, explodes behind him. The crowd swarming to hear Ian keeps growing, and so does his drive; "God hates haters" Ian declares, before the final spectacle where police show up with an arrest warrant because they finally got him in for blowing up a car.

Despite intense support from his followers, Ian goes to prison, only to be reunited with Mickey as his cell-mate, and soon his arc becomes about their life as an almost-married couple as we see in 2020's Season 10. Constant bickering and angry rants at each other later, Ian and Mickey are finally out on parole, but months living inches from each other has caused a breach. When the prospect of marrying just for the sake of spousal privilege comes up, Ian gets cold feet — a rejection Mickey handles by dating the next man he can find. So Ian pulls his socks up and proposes the hell out of Mickey to give us the gay wedding of the year — by simultaneously staging a fake bride to make it all look like a straight wedding because the venue owner is a raging homophobe, and Mickey's father has blown up the original setting.

After all they have been through — across borders and within prison cells — Ian and Mickey's wedding doesn't get as emotional as one would expect, but that's because we are too busy being happy to even consider tears — of joy, or otherwise. Here is a character we saw growing up and through almost every terrifying thought and shred of inhibition that young people of the LGBT community feel. HE comes, he sees, and he conquers the love he is fighting for and that's reason enough to label him an icon for the community.

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