Melanie Rachel Marcus is a fictional character from Showtime's Queer as Folk television series. Melanie, or commonly referred to as "Mel", is one of the main characters and the domestic partner of Lindsay Peterson. Melanie is also the natural mother of JR, a daughter by way of artificial insemination from mutual friend Michael Novotny, and the adoptive mother of Gus, Lindsay's natural son by way of artificial insemination from Lindsay's longtime friend Brian Kinney.