Over the past few years we’ve seen efforts to include more LGBTQ+ couples on the Hallmark movie schedule. Jonathan Bennett, for instance, made history alongside George Krissa in 2022 as the first leading gay couple on the network, after 2020’s Wedding Every Weekend showed its first same-sex wedding. Another actor who has been a part of this movement is Alec Santos, and he spoke with CinemaBlend about why queer romance is so important to show on Hallmark.
Alec Santos will star in the upcoming flick Unwrapping Christmas: Tina’s Miracle, which premieres on the 2025 TV schedule July 5. A few years ago, however, Santos played Chris in Hallmark’s Campfire Christmas, who is involved with Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman’s Beckett. Santos opened up about why he loves to see Hallmark telling LGBTQ+ stories, saying:
Hallmark Channel is watched by families, so it may be watched by a kid who is feeling confused and maybe having questions about themselves. Or it may be watched by a grandmother or parent who is going through that who has a queer child, and maybe they're nervous because of so many different reasons, and these stories kind of allow them to experience other stories of queerness through television that is wholesome, that is completely acceptable, and I do think it bridges that gap and it creates sort of a conversation.
Alec Santos has played both straight and queer characters, telling me that regardless of gender, “if the other actor is a pleasant human being, it's easy to fall in love with them.” In Campfire Christmas, Santos and Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman apparently shared Hallmark’s first same-sex interracial kiss, and he said he thinks because of Hallmark’s large audience, there’s an opportunity for moments like these to make a huge impact. He continued:
Hallmark has a huge viewership and so much influence, and you know, hopefully people just see that love is love. And it sounds cliche, but Hallmark is ‘the love channel,’ so I think in a way, it's almost more influential than any other channel. So the simple kiss between two people that are falling in love, regardless of race and sex, is so important, and yeah, hopefully, they keep on trending in that direction, and it's really, really cool to be a part of it.
Hallmark actors Jonathan Bennett, Holly Robinson Peete and more expressed pride in the network for its inclusivity, while Candace Cameron Bure — who left Hallmark to become the chief creative officer at Great American Family — suffered backlash for her comment about “traditional marriage” during a Wall Street Journal interview a few years back.
While queer representation has been at the forefront of the network's programming, Alec Santos acknowledged the issue can be divisive but that movies, music and other media serve as a mirror to society, so if people who identify as LGBTQ+ are accepted there, it can help them feel more accepted overall. In his words:
I really do think representation is important. I know there is sort of a division behind it, but I mean, at the end of the day, when you're a kid and you see somebody that looks like you, it does change your life.
You can see Alec Santos in the first of four Unwrapping Christmas movies — Tina’s Miracle — which premieres on the Hallmark Channel at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, July 5. That and his June movie, A Machu Picchu Proposal, are both available to stream on Hallmark+.
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