If you watched and loved Season 1 of Gaycation, Season 2 carries on from exactly where it left off, with that same mix of travel series and proper documentary that made the first season feel so real. Elliot Page and Ian Daniel return, this time heading to Ukraine, India, France, and the Deep South in the US. There’s also a special episode exploring what the Trump administration’s policies meant for LGBTQ+ people. The main run consists of four episodes, each around 45 minutes long, before the special brings it all to a close.
Ukraine is their first destination, and they arrive in Kyiv shortly before the country’s second ever Pride march. The tension is palpable; Russian influence and the Orthodox Church seem to weigh on everything. They speak with activists who are truly putting their safety on the line simply to march through their own city, with riot police needed because counter protesters are nearby and prepared to turn violent. One of the most affecting moments comes when they meet a gay soldier who cannot come out to the people he serves beside, and it says a lot about how nationalism and war can make queerness feel like a betrayal. They also get a look at the underground rave scene, where music and dancing have quietly become resistance in their own right. In India, the series takes on a huge contradiction: a colonial-era law criminalising gay sex remains on the books, while the culture itself has a long history of hijra and third gender traditions. In Delhi and Mumbai, they spend time with hijra communities who are considered sacred during certain rituals yet completely rejected everywhere else. They also meet young people challenging Section 377 in court while hiding it all from their own families. Then there’s this incredible moment where a “Gay Prince” is running an entire LGBTQ+ centre from his palace, immediately followed by stories of children being sent to conversion clinics. France arrives with the assumption that it is open and progressive, and the show quickly starts dismantling that idea. Queer Muslim immigrants in Paris are outsiders twice over, while further south, activists are resisting a wave of homophobic attacks that actually intensified after marriage equality passed. The Deep South episode brings things closer to home, focusing less on grand politics and more on daily life. In Alabama and Mississippi, they meet trans women facing bathroom bills, gay men who have created secret church communities, and a lesbian couple who have quietly built a life on a farm despite everything around them being stacked against them. The special episode then pulls back to examine the overall mood in the US after the 2016 election, as activists, lawyers, and ordinary people all try to work out what happens next.
What this season does so well is refuse to offer neat answers. Elliot never goes around acting like an expert, while Ian Daniel remains this wonderfully warm presence who mostly listens and gives people room to speak. They do not pass judgement on any country; they simply allow the contradictions to exist. And what I really value is that it is never just about the difficult stuff. There’s drag, dancing, community, food, fashion, and pride, all sitting alongside the grief, fear, and statistics. Queer culture emerges as this living, creative, stubborn force, even when everything around it seems determined to crush it. The special episode about the trans community is genuinely moving, with personal stories of survival and everyday discrimination that hit hard. This season feels rawer than the first because the politics seem more urgent and more close to the bone. It never looks away, but it never gets swallowed by it either.
Gaycation Season 2 is not really something you put on to unwind; it feels more like bearing witness. Still, it is absolutely worth your time. (6/10)
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