In an effort to build a space for queer people like myself, every Tuesday I’ll be posting interviews, opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx/WOC community since I am Latinx.) Welcome to Queerly Not Straight! Enjoy and leave a comment below if you have a suggestion for what I should cover next.
There is nothing wrong with asking for more queer content. There is nothing wrong with holding people accountable for the lack of queer content. And there is nothing wrong with being critical about the queer content received. What is wrong, and that you should never do, is shame someone for asking more of the content creator creating queer experiences on TV, movies, or in books.
That’s what’s happened for a couple weeks here at Queerly Not Straight. For some reason, readers think that I’m asking too much of content creators and that not everything “has to be gay.” It’s not about making everything gay, haters. It’s about truly and honestly representing the human experience in a way that reflects the actual world.
Sorry to tell you this. Wait…no, I’m not sorry. But there are queer people in this world. There are gay people, lesbian people, trans people, non-binary people, and all sorts of other queer people who can identify anyway they damn well please. And just because YOU have a problem with it, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world needs to follow your lead and reflect ONLY your experience in life.
What makes you, the hater, think that only your experience is valid and worth being told? What makes you think that my experience as a queer person means less? And what makes you think that just because I’m queer, my experiences should be given less time on the big or small screen? Spoiler alert, queer people aren’t rare unicorns. They do exist and their experiences DO NOT matter less.
If anything, your whining about there being too many queer characters or storylines on TV, in movies, or books, shows your ignorance. It shows your lack of empathy for experiences that are different from your own. And it shows how disconnected you are from the reality that you’re currently in. Queer people are here to stay and there’s no use acting like we’re just not there.
We’re here.
We’re queer.
And our experiences are so worthwhile.
So, think before you speak. Take a moment, take it all in, and realize that queer people have ALWAYS been around. It’s just that this time our stories are being told in the media that we all consume. And it’s wonderful and all sorts of brilliant that young people who have never seen their life experiences portrayed on TV now can have that opportunity because of queer content on TV, in movies, and books.
And that’s on periodt.
Queerly Not Straight posts every Tuesday with opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx community since I am Latinx.)
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