The lump lodged in your throat. The tears fast and furiously flowing from your eyes. The uncomfortable crack in your voice.
Then you say it.
"I'm gay." "I'm transgender." "I'm nonbinary."
Every out member of the LGBTQ community has said these words, or a variation of them, to the person or people they love, not knowing how they'll react. But what if they lived in a world where they didn't have to disclose anything?
Joshua Bassett – the actor/singer from "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series", and man who apparently broke co-star Olivia Rodrigo's heart – recently called Harry Styles hot during a fan Q&A video, and added "this is also my coming out video, I guess."
He later followed up with a statement on Twitter that did not explicitly confirm nor deny his sexuality. "Love who you love shamelessly," he wrote. "it's ok to still be figuring out who you are. life's too short to let ignorance and hatred win. i choose love." He closed the note with six different-colored heart emojis invoking a rainbow.
This type of statement begs the question: Could the traditional "coming out" narrative someday be a thing of the past?
The answer – much like the coming out experience itself – is more nuanced than waving a rainbow Pride flag and riding off into the sunset on a unicorn parade float. A future in which LGBTQ members don't feel obligated to explain or qualify their sexuality will require sweeping societal change. That day is coming and it's inevitable, says SA Smythe, an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Source Code : https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/life/2021/05/27/coming-out-lgbtq-could-be-over-someday/5204283001/
