I Never Got To See Love Simon Till Much Later But As A Queer Person Who's Been Reading Heartstopper Comics

I never got to see love Simon till much later but as a queer person who's been reading heartstopper comics for long time even before the show came out.

God it resonated so hard. It made me cry. It me laugh. More importantly it gave me hope.

The point of it is to give hope. Hope that things will get better. That someone's personal mess and pain can get better. That you can find a community of people who love you always. That's the point.

Y'know, there's this gripe I've had for years that really frustrates me, and it has to do with Love, Simon and people joking about it and calling it too-pg and designed-for-straight-people and all the like. (A similar thing has happened to Heartstopper, but that's another conversation.)

I saw Love, Simon in theaters when it came out my senior year in high school. I saw it three times, once with my friends/parents on opening night, once with my brother over spring break, and once with my grandparents.

On opening night, the air in the room was electric. It was palpable. Half the heads in there were dyed various colors. Queer kids were holding hands. We were all crying and laughing and cheering as a group. My friends grabbed my hands at the part where Simon was outed and didn't let go until his parents were saying that they accepted him. My friend came out to me as non-binary. Another person in our group admitted that she had feelings for girls. It was incredible. I left shaking. This was the first mainstream queer romance movie that had ever been produced by one of the main five studios, and I know that sounds like another "first queer character from Disney" bit but you have to understand that even in 2018 this was groundbreaking. Getting to have a sweet queer rom-com where the main character was told that he got "to breathe now" after coming out meant so much to me and my friends.

But also, from a designed-for-straight-people POV (which, to be frank, it was written by a bisexual author and directed by a gay man, this was not designed for straight audiences), why is it a bad thing that it appealed to the widest possible audience? That it could make my parents and grandparents see things in a new light? My stepdad wasn't at all interested in rom-coms but he saw it with me because it was something I cared about and he hugged me when we came out of the theater. My very Catholic grandparents watched it with me and though my grandpa said he still didn't quite understand the whole 'gay thing,' all he wanted was for me to be happy and to have a happy ending like Simon did. My Nana actually cried when Simon came out and squeeze my hand when his mother told him he could breathe.

And when Martin blackmailed Simon, my mom, badass ally that she is, literally hissed "Dropkick him. Dropkick him in the balls" leading to multiple queer kids in the audience to laugh or smile. Having my parents there- the only parents, by the way, out of my group of queer and questioning friends- made multiple people realize that supportive adults were out there. That parents like those in Love, Simon do exist in real life.

When people complain about Heartstopper not being realistic or Love, Simon being too cutesy, I remember seeing Love, Simon on opening night. I remember my friend coming out and my stepdad hugging me and my mom defending us through this character. I remember the cheers that went through the audience when Bram and Simon kissed and the chatter in the foyer after the movie was over and the way that this movie made me understand that happy endings do exist.

Queer kids need happy endings. Straight people need entry points to becoming allies. Both of these things can come together in beautiful ways. They can find out about more queer culture later, but for now, let them have this. Let them all have a glimpse at a better, happier world. Let them have queer joy.

The Case in which we save dbd 🗣❗️

A while back my pharmacist saw my deadname on my profile and accidentially called it out, he corrected and deleted my deadname from the system so only my preferred name shows up now. There was a crowd of people behind me, so as he hands over the pills he apologized, in equal tone and volume as when he called my deadname and lied saying it's been a long day and he didn't mean to call out -his own- name. I quietly told him it was fine and he didn't need to do that for my sake.

His response: "No, it's my name now."

I went to the pharmacist yesterday, his nametag is my deadname. He informed me he's immigrating and in the process he's changed his first name to my deadname to have an English sounding name. That's why he's now able to get a reprint of his nametag to be my deadname. And repeated, with the intense seriousness of someone who is going to die on this hill: "It's mine now. Not yours. I'm taking." His tone indicated that decision is final.

Bro literally deadnamed me once, and has committed to flat out stealing my deadname. It's his now. Legally. Officially. I over heard his co-workers call him by the name.

Charles and Edwin demand their show back! @netflix we need S2 of DBDA!!

can we talk about octavia's line in the S2b trailer?

because what i find so interesting here is that blitzø has expressed he knows stolas loves him even if he can't fully believe it

and self-sabotages to end the conversation bc it got too real

but stolas himself hasn't used those words at all - in full moon he dance around them, he implies those feelings (albeit heavily)

and i find this interesting bc the way octavia says her line (which is hurt and accusing) sorta makes me think stolas has never actually named his feelings towards blitzø even to himself

blitzø names them and octavia names them, but stolas himself doesn't and even when blitzø expressed his confusion over why stolas would even feel this way:

stolas doesn't...give a concrete answer?

like that is a nice answer bc it's calling out blitzø's self-sabotage in a way but it's still missing the root of the question:

why?

how?

what about me makes you love me?

and bc these two don't really know each other outside the bedroom or stolas being in danger, it makes me think stolas' sober answer to this would point out things blitzø has done for him:

played bodyguard i.e. "protected him"

helped him figure out he's fucking gay "awakened him"

gave him a friendly afternoon "my first ever friend"

or he'd repeat his implied sentiment that he "likes blitzø for blitzø" which also does. not. answer that question

bc none of the above speaks directly about blitzø the person and i just find it so interesting that arguably the most tragically romantic character in the show...hasn't told the man he loves that he loves him and why

concretely

in actual descriptive words

naming shit about blitzo himself (e.g. "you're protective", not "you protected me")

and this is something i strongly believe blitzø will need to hear before he can fully trust that stolas' feelings toward him are real and not a by product of what he can do

that his bird isn't going to abandon him bc of who he is bc who he is is what's making him stay and here's the proof bitch