Peter Paige

Peter Paige is an openly gay actor, writer, and director who has been out his entire career. He played Emmett Honeycutt on the US version of Queer as Folk (Showtime, 2000–2005), a groundbreaking and sexually explicit drama about the lives of gay men in Pittsburgh that pushed further than any prior US series in its frank depiction of gay sex, relationships, grief, and joy. Emmett was one of the show's most beloved characters — flamboyant, warm, and increasingly politically conscious. Paige went on to co-create, co-write, and direct episodes of The Fosters (ABC Family/Freeform, 2013–2018), a widely praised drama centered on a lesbian couple raising a multiracial blended family, and its spin-off Good Trouble (Freeform, 2019–2023). He remains one of the most significant architects of LGBTQ+ family narratives in mainstream American television.