Confession: I cried at the end of the second season of the Netflix Original series, “Heartstopper”.
I sobbed like a baby when I saw Nick and Charlie holding hands in Paris.
It was gut wrenching to see Darcy’s family at home being blatantly homophobic to her. And it was soul crushing to see Charlie admit to self harm after years of being bullied for being gay.
However I also loved seeing Elle, a transgender woman, in a healthy relationship. I ruminate over Issac’s character development in discovering his asexual identity.
I love seeing queer joy, young queer people dating in high school, going on to prom with dates and creating a queer-found family.
However, I was also envious because that wasn’t my high school experience.
Many people, especially older queers, can relate to the harsh reality that they will never get to have the youthful queer experience, but we can still watch young queer people thrive.
It’s incredible to see queer youth nowadays celebrating their identity with flying colors in safe public spaces. To have this normalized and put on television is heartwarming to see.
As people start to celebrate Silicon Valley Pride this year, there’s a new wave of queer media that showcases queer people merely existing.
Representation is essential to empowering a minority community in media.
We have “Red, White, and Royal Blue” which was recently released on Amazon Prime. It is a quirky romantic drama of the prince of England getting together with the first son of the United States.
Another example is “Good Omens,” a TV series where an immortal angel and devil live alongside one another watching humanity grow since the beginning of time and instead of residing on the side of good or evil, they pick their own side.
There is also “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” coming out later this year, an adaptation of the book by Benjamin Alire Sáenz that details a story of Mexican American boys in the 90s falling in love while learning to navigate a new country as first generation sons of immigrants.
With this new wave of queer intersectionality being represented in media, we are showing how the queer community represents an eclectic array of every group, from neurodivergent to ethnic minority communities, we are a part of every culture.
Our community is beautiful and thriving, and it's brilliant to see that finally on screen.
One thing I do want to point out, while I do love that we’re getting queer representation through Achillean stories, which is specifically a man or man-aligned relationships with other men,
there should be more Sapphic, transgender, genderqueer asexual and representation of all the colors of the rainbow.
The LGBT library website describes sapphic storytelling depicting female and female relationships.
“Heartstopper” is one of the few shows that displays an authentic, healthy representation of characters with different sexualities and identities with a lovely and enticing storyline and there should be more shows like it.
It’s incredibly reassuring to watch shows like these as a queer person who grew up in a town that was conservative and closeted.
Even though I grew up in a Southern California city, indirect homophobia was extremely common.
For example, teachers at my high school were given safe space stickers to post in their classrooms which indicate that teachers would not tolerate any discriminating behavior against LGBTQ+ groups in their spaces. I saw multiple teachers tuck these stickers away in their desks, or simply allow prejudice to happen in their classrooms while the stickers loomed ironically on the wall.
I grew up with so many queer friends in the closet or disowned from their families.
A friend of mine who identifies as a transgender man was kicked out of his house at 17-years-old and had to spend time couch-surfing, fully supporting himself, paying his own rent by 18.
I had to watch my genderfluid friend struggle with trying on different clothes in the male and female sections of the department store as staff members kept coming up to redirect us to the section they believed would fit their gender.
I had to text a girl I knew as platonically as I could, because her mom would check her messages.
I grew up watching RuPaul with my friends at their houses, but ultimately keeping quiet about our love for anything queer at school.
Again, it’s so enthralling and life-changing to see queer stories like “Heartstopper” on television, where discrimination is in the background, and character’s natural identities being at the forefront of the show.
It’s incredible to see media where queer people simply exist, where queer people are just in love. Normalizing the queer experience warms my little bisexual heart.
While television is finally beginning to warmly convey queer relationships,our reality is much colder.
Right now queer people are being killed in different parts of the world for existing.
Even in the U.S., the right to same-sex marriage will soon be debated in the Supreme Court, and in some states including South Dakota, transgender kids are being forced to detransition, according to a March 20 Vice News article.
The words “gay” and “queer” are being taken out of school curriculums in states across the country.
Entire classes that have mere segments discussing queer identities, specifically AP Psychology, are being banned in the state of Florida, according to an Aug. 3 Politico article.
We need queer stories, healthy, happy queer stories — so they can reach those young trans kids in Florida, so they can reach queer adults in Nigeria where they hide from their government with laws that can imprison them, according to a Jan. 14, 2014 BBC News article.
Queer stories need to move forward and progress so they can continue to reach that young queer girl from Torrance, Calif., who needs to feel a small offer of validation to feel content in her identity.
We need queer stories, so she can finally hold hands with that girl she shares tacos with in her Spanish class everyday.
Please keep watching queer films and television series, whether you're inside or outside the community it’s important to engage and promote these shows to LGBTQ+ community the love it deserves.
