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The Watermelon Woman

For too long, if you were not a gay white man, you would not find too much in the queer history books. This is thoroughly explored in The Watermelon Woman, which shows the difficulties of finding out about a black lesbian actress. It details how many people who specialize in queer culture did not have any information regarding her. Erasing the history of all different types of queer people is a pitfall of current societies thinking in regards to queer culture. “If you’re no in my group, then you’re not worth exploring” is the mindset of many, and really devolves peoples own experiences that are available to them. 

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Acceptance

Acceptance for many is a slow process, but one that relies on pop culture to move along. Pop culture not only shows who we are today, but helps push us to be a better society in the future. Gay representation in media is not always positive. In the past, queer characters were punch lines and expendable. In the movie Philadelphia, Tom Hanks seems to be gay and have AIDS, then dies. A tragedy that unfolded daily in the 80s and 90s. But aren’t gay people more than that. We love and live with vigor more than that movie suggests. In Golden Girls, there was gay representation, yet it seemed to be the butt of the joke. They were stereotypes, not real people. Slowly, more positive representation occurs, which in turn, causes more positive and accepting communities. 

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Representation

More and more characters of every background are ending up on tv. Trans characters have slowly become more prominent in tv shows, many made for younger generations. This representation is important for young people to grow up with. It helps shape who they are as people. Representation not only affects queer people, but people of all types. It helps give perspective to those who would have none otherwise. We are not all gay, trans, queer, straight, male, female, non-binary. This does not mean we should ignore those of groups we are not in. 

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Ownership

Having media out there allows for all different groups to take ownership of who they are. Without it, they are represented by entities that do not have an interest in how it affects them. Lil Nas X has taken ownership of queer culture for people of color, has allowed them to say “it is ok to be gay”. It prevents people from feeling pressured to push down who they are. Lil Nas X being on the scene allows people to scream “I’m out and proud!”. Many people will never understand what he had to go through, to overcome, to come out after such a successful song with Old Town Road. I am sure he felt pressure by people making money off of him to not come out, but he still did!

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Expand

We should start expanding ourselves. Not letting our bubbles get in the way of what learning about new people. Everyone struggles, and struggles with different things. Learning to appreciate the differences we have with other people will open us up, not only to accepting ourselves more, but others as well. Expanding our circle to encompass more people will help us gain insight into many different cultures, races, orientations, and differences among people.  

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Pride

Many people learn to be proud of who they are as people. I think we need to learn to be proud of who other people are as well. We can get stuck being in a bubble, separating ourselves out from people we cannot relate to. I think this is detrimental to us as individuals, and as a society.  

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7.9 Billion People

There are billions of people on this planet. With it, come a billions of points of view, with so many unique perspectives. We need to be open to learning about those we do not understand. Without being open, we will never grow as people, but be stuck in who we were and are in this moment.