Pop Culture things that helped you come out?

"Frozen" holds a special place in my heart as it's one of the things that started me down the path of questioning and self acceptance. Elsa's journey is definitely one I can relate to, on a few different levels. I first saw it as a metaphor for mental illness, and became quite intrigued for that reason. The more I dug the more I came across LGBT interpretations, as well. I feel like Elsa can sort of stand for anyone who has ever had to hide a part of themselves, or who felt different or "less than" others. And watching a character like that come into her own and develop into a self-assured, beautiful woman is something powerful for all of us misfits and oddballs.

 

This.

 

I haven't used this to come out yet, but as a stance to say I accept same sex relationships, I share and post a lot G rated edits of Destiel (Dean and Cas) spn..Even though they aren't cannon on the show.. I can see it there, that what they feel for each other goes beyond a sibling or friendship kind of love.. So I even have a photo edit someone did of Misha on either side and Jensen walking with his back towards the camera and it has part of seals lyrics to kiss from a Rose as my cover. My parents and sister also know I write same sex fan fiction as well.. Sharing that stuff makes me feel more free and might make others unconsciously think why I post and share that stuff.. So when I come out.. They might remember and say Ohh that's why she shared those things..

I hope that all makes sense, it does to me.. But I apologize if it doesn't to others.

 

In The Flesh- it has actual queer (Kieren is pansexual/bisexual and Simon is gay) characters in a same sex relationship that is completely normal to everyone(who matters,there are some homophobes but its handled in a good way),its not made a fuss of at all.

At one point the main character ,Kieren ,was leaving trying to go somewhere he wouldn't be judged for being PDS and his friend,Amy, said,

"How many layers of cover-up mousse did you put on this morning? Do you think if you go to a different country you’ll be able to take off one of those layers? How many miles will you have to travel to be able to take it all off, Kieren walker?"

By the end of the season he's realised that running did nothing and he needed to embrace his "flaws" .Sometimes if people don't accept you at first, and don't approve you just have to prove to them that you're still you.It taught me to do the same with my sexuality, instead of it eating away at me, I wear it proudly on my sleeve and it doesn't hurt anymore.

The show doesn't just deal with this though , there are other story lines that deal with things such as: PTSD , depression, suicide, terrorism, war, discrimination, drug addiction /abuse, self hate/acceptance, loss(death) and many others. The characters are well written and develop as the story does. Its only 9 episodes long and I would honestly suggest it to anyone.

 

2 things have really helped me come out:

The Who: Yes, The Who. Every time I see a documentary on these guys, I hear "It's a man's band, clearly" The funny thing is, that band is more confused than anybody else I've ever heard. Listen to some of their really early stuff. They write a song about being a boy, but Mom not admitting such a statement (or what I like to call, the Transman theme). They have a song about masturbating to a now 89-year-old woman. A song about complete confusion, and how things on the outside don't match up to the reality of things. The band itself doesn't follow any of the "Man's rules" book.

Keith Moon, who was notorious for destroying and blowing things up, had a VERY intimate relationship with Oliver Reed, especially during the filming of "Tommy". Pete, the frontman of the group, quickly found out he was bisexual, especially after being in the two gay capitals of the UK so often (and making several references to them in his songs): Soho, and Brighton. The only member of The Who who did anything remotely manly was Roger, and he looks like everybody's grandmother. And their manager was very out as a gay man. They're a bunch of dorks who never knew what they were doing, and had such conflicting personalities that they were constantly at the brink of ripping each other's throats out while loving each other dearly, but they kept going forward, anyway. They never let each other tear down the one thing they loved to do most, and they kept getting better because of it. People ask me why The Who is my favorite band, and that is exactly why. The fact that a "Man's band" broke every single "Man's rule" speaks volumes (and very loud ones).

KaiserNeko, Editor of TeamFourStar This man has done more than I can say. When my sister showed me TeamFourStar, I was very much risking not graduating High School, let alone going to any sort of college. I didn't even know what I wanted to do. The more I saw their work, the more I became a fan of them. And the more I became a fan of them, the more I saw what Kaiser was doing. I'd started wanting to become a voice actor. And then the more amazing things I saw Kaiser do, the more I said "I want to do that!" And so I tried my hand at it, and I ended up wanting to do it as a career (which I've now embarked on).

What was even more telling was how he ended up being a role model for me, not just as an editor, but as a member of the LGBT community. When he came out, he was in California. No big deal, right? But then he moved. To Louisiana. To live with his then-fiancee (They just moved to Texas). I remember spending hours a day, just going through his formspring, when I was in High School. How he took many LGBT questions so calmly definitely left an impression on me.

I suppose TeamFourStar in general have helped me come out, each in their own way. But Kaiser, who was so out about who he is (with the exception of a 2nd twitter account, where he'd post more NSFW stuff) in such an area, and the comments he got really showed me how accepting people could be, at the time.

 

Frozen definitely helped me as well for obvious reasons, Elsa's struggle can definitely be seen as a metaphor for someone struggling to accept themselves due to them being different.

I felt Degrassi's portrayal of LGBT characters opened me up to the idea. Riley, Marco, Paige, Fiona, Imogen etc. were all well written.

Christina Aguilera's Stripped album also really helped me accept myself. The songs "Beautiful" "Fighter" "The Voice Within" "Soar" and "Keep on Singin My Song" are very personal to me and helped me grow to love myself.

 

The book "Confessions of a Rock Lobster"

The book "Loving Someone Gay"

Sneaking peaks at "The Joy of Gay Sex" at the bookstore! (D'OH!)

The scene in "Superman II" where Clark and Lois are in bed together and I
thought to myself "Damn I wish I was her!!"

WRESTLING!!

Comic books where I developed crushes on characters and saw some of those 'read between the lines' relationships people have mentioned here. (And Captain Comet, returning to earth as an out-of-place dude who also had now lost his family--I found that very relatable to the gay experience!)

Scads more I can't recall off-hand, I'm sure.

 

I saw frozen for the first time days after joining EC. Kinda potent while going through extreme self discovery.

Also, playstation home let me be who I am and feel like in a social environment.

 

Huh, for me, I'd say what helped me come out were more counter-cultural things, than pop-cultural ones. I recall discovering punk/hc when I was maybe 15, bands like the Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Black Flag and goth/new wave stuff, Joy Division, The Smiths, Throbbing Gristle, This Mortal Coil, The The and then starting to dress how I felt like dressing, getting a mohawk, and not caring what people thought, in general.

There really haven't been any mainstream/pop-cultural bands/movements that have helped me accept being gay...I've never liked the TV stereotypes, and despise shows like Queer eye and all that. For me, it's always been things that were more on the fringe.

Maybe that would be different today, but it still seems like I mainly see 99% gay stereotypes in the media/pop-culture.

What has helped me accept myself more fully (and expand sexual horizons, while finding and discarding odd vestiges of guilt over this and that) has been the furry subculture; wish it had been a thing back then I feel more a connection to this group than the so-called gay community.

 

Harry Potter slash fanfic. Outside of that and dabbling in a little Emerson for school, I've had little trouble coming to terms with myself without outside help.

Had I played a female in Mass Effect though, I would have tried to have a girl/girl ship with Jack. She was a broken character who was secretly a sweetheart. <3

 

Frozen. I first watched it right before I started discovering both my sexuality and gender, and I remember one night when I got particularly down, I just laid there and listened to "Let it Go" over and over again.
Persona 4: Golden. I played through it after I knew I was pan and before I knew I was androgyne. I came out to my friends as pansexual through a group chat that we were having as I was fighting Kanji's inner demon. Naoto was the first good portrayal of a trans guy I'd ever seen. Before then, the only other trans character I'd ever heard of was Poison from Final Fight/Street Fighter which is not a very flattering depiction. Before then I'd always thought trans people were just weirdos and cross dressers. I think because I did know about Naoto- that trans people are just normal people -coming out to myself as androgyne- especially one that's identity leans a little more to the female side- wasn't as hard.

 

Here I thought I was the only one who looked at Frozen this way! :eusa_danc

 

This might be weird for some who dont know it but Dark side of the Moon put my mind in gear in an odd way. Listen to the lyrics of "Time".

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned the X-men franchise, while it didn't necessarily helped me to come out personally, I think the Mutants give an obvious representations of the LGBTQ community where we see that some of them repress their special abilities or how the "normal" people treat them as a second class citizen and not to mention that there is an interesting relationship between Magneto and Professor Xavier especially from the movie X-men: First Class.