Eugene Levy reflects on fatherhood with a gay son, Schitt’s Creek, and strategic allyship

As anti-LGBTQ+ laws and rhetoric surge across the United States, actor, writer, and producer Eugene Levy—known for his distinct comedic voice and one of television’s most beloved queer-affirming series—was honored Wednesday night with the 2025 Nancy Pelosi Equality Ally Award at Equality PAC’s National Pride Gala.

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But Levy, 78, wasn’t there to make a speech about politics. He told The Advocate, “I’m actually not leaning into the politics of it.” The Emmy winner, who is Canadian, said he hadn’t been familiar with Equality PAC before the honor but said the gesture and its timing moved him.

“Live and let live,” Levy said. “Equal rights mean the rights are equal for everybody.”

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Equality PAC, which works to elect LGBTQ+ candidates and allies to Congress, credited Levy with helping “amplify LGBTQ voices and narratives” through his work—especially Schitt’s Creek, the hit series he co-created with his gay son, Dan Levy, 41. That show, which aired its final season in 2020, centered queer love, pansexual identity, and family without turning difference into a spectacle. The world of Schitt’s Creek, Levy said, was always meant to show what acceptance looks like without explaining it.

“It wasn’t about making a statement,” Levy said. “It was just writing a love story… and nobody in the town batted an eye. That’s the world we would all like to live in.”

TK CAPTIONjon fleming photography for Equality PAC

During his speech at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., Levy described the show’s evolution and how his family’s story helped shape it — starting with his son's quiet coming out, which was prompted by his mother, Eugene’s wife of nearly 48 years, Deborah Divine.

“When he turned 18, Deb instinctively knew the right thing to do was to lift the burden,” Levy told the audience. “She took him out to lunch and popped the question: ‘Are you gay?’ He responded, ‘Yes.’ And nothing changed.”

“That,” Levy said, “is how it should be.”

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He said that the same spirit of simple, non-performative acceptance shaped Schitt’s Creek from the start. “It was always our intention to make Schitt’s Creek a town that was blind to color, religion, or sexual identity,” he said. “And because that’s what it was, the show became a beacon for the LGBTQ+ community.”

The moment that resonated most deeply, Levy said, came during the show’s first season. David, played by Dan, uses wine as a metaphor to explain his pansexuality. “I like the wine, not the label,” he says. The line, Levy said, became a touchstone for many queer viewers, especially young people coming out to their families.

“We received so many letters from gay teens who said they used the scene verbatim in coming out to their parents,” Levy said. “If the human race could embrace the ‘wine, not the label’ philosophy when it comes to each other, I don’t think we would ever need an evening like this.”

Eugene Levy (center) accepting the Nancy Pelosi Equality Ally Award, Equality PAC Gala, Washington, D.C., June 2025Christopher Wiggins for The Advocate

However, while Schitt’s Creek portrayed an idyllic, queer-affirming world, Levy acknowledged that quieter forms of fear and silence also shaped his son’s journey growing up.

“As parents, we had to adapt to a different mindset,” he said. “Just how difficult a life is our gay son going to have? The thought of your child growing up with any undue hardship is enough to put any parent under.”

Levy recalled his own teenage experience with anti-Semitism, running for high school student president when the word “Jew” was scrawled across every campaign poster. That moment, he said, gave him some understanding of the fear his son might have carried—even if, at the time, it wasn’t openly discussed.

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Though Schitt’s Creek ended five years ago, its impact hasn’t faded. The show continues to reach new viewers and inspire queer fans, especially those in regions where LGBTQ+ visibility remains limited. Levy told said he was moved to learn how far the show’s reach extended, especially in places he didn’t expect.

Levy said the show’s impact has often surprised him, recalling a visit to Louisiana while the cast was traveling around to do live shows. Expecting resistance in what he assumed was “Trump country,” he was taken aback when women at a local general store enthusiastically welcomed him and expressed their love for Schitt’s Creek.

“My heart just started palpitating,” he said, adding that the moment underscored how the show was “making inroads in the best of ways”—by reaching people in a way they could understand and digest.

Asked how to push back against rising anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation, Levy said the solution isn’t always loud — but it is persistent. “Ignorance is a big part of the problem,” he said. “So the information has to come in bite-size pieces people can actually ingest.”

TK CAPTIONjon fleming photography for Equality PAC

To parents, particularly fathers during Pride Month, Levy offered a clear message: “Support your kids. [They are] your own flesh and blood. There’s no other way.”

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And to the queer youth still discovering Schitt’s Creek — many of whom are navigating political hostility, bathroom bans, and book removals — Levy offered quiet optimism.

He recognized the weight of the question and said the world portrayed in Schitt’s Creek was the one he and his son wished truly existed. He expressed hope that such a world, where everyone is accepted, might one day become a reality but emphasized that it will take ongoing effort from many people in various ways to achieve it. “You can’t give up on that,” he said.

“This is the world we created that we wish was the real world,” he said.

As for the possibility of a Schitt’s Creek film, Levy left the door open but tempered expectations.

“There’s nothing in the works,” he said. “But as Daniel [and I both say], if an idea comes up that’s better than where we left the show… If that’s the starting point for any other project, we’ll be in there.”