#QOTD: why do we need more queer youth and queer love stories in big name pop culture and media?

[littlebitliz]

wow! it’s the first blog post and i don’t quite know what to talk about. i asked my instagram stories and the overwhelming response was about the works by Becky Albertalli. specifically, the topic that struck me was, “Why do we need more movies like Love, Simon?” to expand on that, “Why do we need more queer youth and queer love stories in big name pop culture and media?”

and why do we? why is Love, Simon so important to millions of queer youth across the united states and outside? there’s no clear answer other than: gay people deserve better. for as long as humans have been around, gay people have been ostracized and oppressed. not only has homophobia been prevalent, but homosexuality has always been a significant part of human existence. homosexual people have made some of the most amazing and historical changes in our history. so often was the sexuality of these inspiration people erased, not only then, but also now.

for example, you might not have known that Alan Turing, the man who decoded Enigma (the most infamous Nazi code during WW2) and created the first general modern computer was notoriously gay. he was convicted of gross indecency in the spring of 1952 after admitting to a sexual relationship with a man twenty years his junior. both men were convicted and charged, but Turing was exempt from prison due to opting into hormonal treatment to reduce libido via injections of synthetic oestrogen. two years later, after being banned from the cryptanalysis of Enigma and after participating in consistent hormonal therapy, Turing committed suicide by cyanide poisoning. in 2014, The Imitation Game (starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing) was released, and the truth about Turing’s sexuality became far more recognized all over the united states.

furthermore, Alexander the Great, who is considered one of the greatest military minds of Persian and Green history, Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most famous artists of all time, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr’s partner in politics and activism, Emily Dickinson, an extraordinarily famous poet, and Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and advocate for the poor, were (reportedly) queer. i ask you, did YOU know they were queer? some of them were openly gay (most notably Rustin, but Dickinson and Da Vinci also did not hide their sexuality), some of them came out posthumously (first lady Roosevelt, especially, who was discovered to be queer via letters after her death) and some of them never really came out at all (Alexander the Great was just...gay!)

but what does it matter anyway? all of these historical figures are far gone, and there is no point in avenging their personal life when it was erased so long ago. the answer to that might be best as another question - did YOU know they were queer? generally, their sexualities are erased by history books and the were unspoken of during their lives. and, a follow up to my previous question, why is that? why did so many gay and queer and even transgender people have their identities hidden rom the spotlight? is it because the normalization of queerness was (and in many places, still is) outlawed? is it because the general society was far more comfortable with violent hate crimes then than they are now? or is it just because people were not supposed to be gay, it was not the standard, just as people were not supposed to be women or black or whatever. not to compare the plights of gay people, black people and women, but it certainly has the same standing - hate what is different, and what cannot be changed.

so what does queer historical people have to do with movies like Love, Simon? well, did YOU know any of them were queer? most people did not. most people dehumanize queerness and queer people; most people hate and oppress and fear queerness and queer people.

even today, in 2018, countless people in modern media are so quick to hate and oppress queerness and queer people. look at the white house right now; mike pence, donald trump, etc are all considered to be homophobic. LGB hate crimes have been steadily rising in recent years, and transgender youth are in some of the highest risks they’ve been in. but it’s the little stuff too - like how my wifi blocks inappropriate content by using keywords such as NSFW and gay, or how tumblr marks posts as ‘explicit’ when tagged with lesbian or gay, or how in some developing countries, queer movies are rated higher (from PG-13 to R, R to X, etc) because gay people are ‘inappropriate’. Love, Simon, in a nutshell, was and is important because it’s not about this guy who had this horrible homophobic experience and his whole character growth is about being gay and being bullied, but instead his horrible homophobic experiences + being gay and being bullied = a minor part of his story. instead, his story is the same ugly cliches we see in every teen romance movie ever. Love, Simon was as cheesy and goofy and wholesome as The Kissing Booth or F The Prom or Candy Jar or DUFF. Love, Simon followed the same rules as these teen romances, and began to break down the barriers around gay people and sexuality as a whole.

but why are those barriers so suffocating anyway? it’s not like any law in the western world prevents people from being gay or transgender. perhaps it’s because gay youth are take their own lives four times the amount straight youth does. or maybe it’s because that number skyrockets nine times when their family has a poor reaction to their coming out. or maybe because queer young adults with rejecting families (as opposed to mildly rejecting, neutral or accepting families) are six times more likely to have major depression, four times more likely to have unprotected sex and four times more likely to do and use illegal drugs. and with the federal legalization of same sex marriage in 2015, nothing is legally stopping queerness and queer people from existing. in this, though, comes one realization: nothing is legally stopping people from hating, oppressing, fearing and dehumanizing queerness and queer people.

this is a very long, drawn out way of saying Love, Simon (and, more broadly, queer love stories in big name pop culture) is important because it’s not about this kid’s horrible experiences of being gay and how he had to fight tooth and nail and work from the ground up to become a person who’s more than just gay. instead, it’s a story about a kid who’s homophobic backstory is a minuscule detail in his character because he is so much more than the kid who suffered; his character growth isn’t going from hating himself to tolerance, it went from tolerance to LOVE and ACCEPTANCE. his story is so important because it normalizes the way gay kids feel, just like other cliche teen romances normalize the way straight kids feel. it’s just like any other romance movie except that he’s GAY and that one little detail changes so much about him as a person. his story isn’t just about being gay, it’s about finding love, and he happens to be gay; his character growth is about accepting his sexuality and being proud of his differences; he teaches others to also be proud of who they are and to never shy away from using their voice because if you don’t, who will? Love, Simon, and other stories like it (Alex Strangelove, Leah on the Offbeat, Will Grayson Will Grayson, etc) are important because they’re not just about being gay, they’re about being gay and FALLING IN LOVE! and isn’t that just so beautiful?

this was a very drawn out blog post for such a short ending but i am very excited to write better things as time goes on. i just hope you all see how important this story was for ME. his coming out was such a strong scene but such a small part of who he is; he isn’t just the gay kid. he’s the gay kid who lives for theatre and likes oreos and cute boys who make him tongue tied at football games and he thinks ferris wheels and emails are the epitome of teen romance and he drinks iced coffee and he’s a hufflepuff and he’s more important than his coming out story. but with all of that, all of those beautiful wonderful details about him (his iced coffee, his harry potter fanaticism, etc) not once is his identity as gay erased, and that’s much much rarer than so many people realize. after centuries of not only fear but also hiding...i don’t know, i just think everyone should watch Love, Simon and then try to tell me it wasn’t the sweetest gosh darn movie ever.

and that’s me, signing off for the FIRST TIME in this blog. who knows, maybe i’ll actually keep up with this?