There are many differences and similarities between the UK version of Queer as Folk, and the US versions, most noteable the development of the characters and the plotlines that are taken in the US version. However, I have only picked out the major points here to talk about.

Character Names

Obviously, in the US versions, the characters have different names. This is just a short rundown of all of the name changes in the show.

Brian Kinney - Stuart Alan Jones
Justin Taylor - Nathan Maloney
Michael Novotny - Vince Tyler
Emmett Honeycutt - Alexander Perry
Ted Schmidt - Phil Delaney
Lindsay Peterson - Romey Sullivan
Melanie Marcus - Lisa Levene
Debbie Novotny - Hazel Tyler
Vic Grassi - Bernard Thomas
Daphne Chanders - Donna Clark
Jennifer Taylor - Janice Maloney
Cynthia - Sandra Docherty
David Cameron - Cameron Roberts

Other than the name changes, there were some more fundamental changes. Emmett was slightly toned down with his flamboyance than his UK counterpart, and Michael is more confident than Vince was.

Death of Ted / Phil

In the UK version of the show, Phil dies from the drug overdose. However, Ted recovers from his in the fourth episode of the show.

The Age of Justin / Nathan

Nathan is revealed to be only 15 in the UK version of the show. The legal age in the UK is 16, so Nathan is a year shy of this. In the US version, Justin was shown to be 17, again one year shy of the legal age. This was changed to avoid a lot of controversy of one of the characters only being 15 and sleeping with a man who was 29.