Jonathan Van Ness is best known for fabulous hairstyles, for killer styling tips, and for treading a path that keeps them firmly on life’s glam side. Their new TV show may change that. “Being pooped on by a millipede is a lot,” they exclaim. “It stained my hands for days – there’s tar or resin in their poop!”
The 34-year-old is talking via Zoom from their home in Texas about their new Netflix series, Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness. Based on their long-running podcast of the same name, each episode sees Van Ness – along with a coterie of experts and friends – tackle a topic, from skyscrapers to snack foods. As well, obviously, as assessing the kind of insects that go to the toilet on your hand if you pick them up in a laboratory. Or as Van Ness puts it: “Are bugs gorgeous or gross?”
As one might expect, it’s very camp and extremely fun. But it’s also instructive, at times emotional, and underpinned by Van Ness’s infectious enthusiasm and appetite for information. As well as scenes where they battle their fear of heights to take in the Manhattan skyline from the Edge observation deck at Hudson Yards, they delve into an inspirational exploration of binary gender that sees them visit the historic Stonewall Inn. So profoundly did it touch Van Ness that even recalling it gets them choked up.
“I think it was one of the most healing conversations of my life,” they say, taking a deep breath to calm themselves. The episode sees them hold a group discussion about identity, with guests including Geo Soctomah Neptune, the first person to run for public office in Maine while identifying as two-spirit – an indigenous North American term for fulfilling another gender role outside the binary of man and woman. It’s a rare moment in media: non-binary and gender-non-conforming people talking about their identity and experiences without the antagonism of transphobia.
“I obviously went through a lot of bullying growing up, and survived a lot of stuff,” Van Ness says of a high-school career that saw them face physical violence for their gender expression. “And one thing that I’ve always thought about, even when I was young, is that if some day I can ensure no other kid has to feel what I did then it would be worth it. I really wanted to speak to my experience of the gender binary, because it has affected my whole life, and I see the violence that the gender binary causes every single day.”
Another of Van Ness’s passions is politics, especially when it pertains to minority groups. They see the 110 anti-trans bills that were proposed in the US in 2021 as evidence of conservative lawmakers trying to distract from “the systemic racism, toxic masculinity and the capitalist greed that is driving our society”. They’re unable to talk about it without getting heated.
“There’s record-breaking inequality between classes. The top 1% has gotten richer and richer, while people are struggling to put their kids in school, pay their medical bills, get access to clean water in so many parts of the United States,” they say. “But what Fox News is talking about is the 0.0003% of trans children who may or may not want to join a local sports team. It’s ridiculous.”
Do they think that the liberation of people of colour, people experiencing poverty and queer people are possible within the structures that exist right now? “There is liberation for some people. It’s kind of like what [American politician] Ayanna Pressley says in Getting Curious: if hurt and harm can be legislated and codified, so can healing.”
After sharing their HIV+ status in a memoir, Over the Top, Van Ness has talked publicly about the difficulties around accessing HIV treatment in the US. After an incident in which they misplaced their HIV medication and were charged $3,500 (£2,600) for a replacement, it led them to endorse Senator Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 election due to her support for universal healthcare. While they are delighted by the advances that have been made in preventive treatments like PrEP and the recent HIV vaccine trial by Moderna, they are still disappointed by how, even after the pandemic, people haven’t woken up to health inequalities.
“When people say, ‘We’re all in this together,’ it’s like we’re all in the same ocean but we’re on very different boats,” they say. “Some people are on mega yachts and some people are on, like, Jack and Rose’s tipped-over headboard, trying to balance in the middle of a hurricane.”
Van Ness got married during the pandemic, and is concerned as to whether their marriage will still be legal in the coming years. They bring up how the US supreme court recently refused to accelerate an appeal against the Texas law that prohibits abortions after six weeks. “They’re empowering civilians to turn in other civilians and doctors if people seek reproductive healthcare,” they add. “So who knows if marriage equality is going to remain settled law? It seems like this supreme court doesn’t give a fuck. I just hope we don’t lose our ability to be married.”
Still, Van Ness says married life is “really great” and their British husband has even introduced them to gardening: “I love Gardeners’ World. Monty Don is where it’s at.” Indeed, there’s a video of Van Ness gleefully prancing around their garden on YouTube. Should Getting Curious get a second season, it feels as if they may already be sowing the seeds for what might work.
“That’s the fun thing about curiosity,” they say. “It’s very fluid and, at least for me, it’s quick moving.” After speaking to Van Ness, you don’t doubt it for a second.
Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness is on Netflix now. They are on tour later this month.
