Thank you for explaining that. I keep discovering that what I deemed normal, was wrong and I didn't even realise it. I have learnt a lot from LGBTplus friends and acquaintances, but the most I learnt from my son. Still learning every day, one of our friends told us they are non-binary and it reminded me how little our understanding is about these topics. When I was in my 20s, I read a funny quote of Oscar Wilde in a book about fashion. I had never heard about him before, but because of that funny quote I looked for his books in our libary and became a fan. Reading his biographies and reading about other gay celebrities, I thought now I knew everything about gay people. I imagined I was an open person and had no prejudices at all. It turned out I was still quite misinformed about LGBTplus people!
For example, I wanted to have a gay male friend so he could join me on shopping trips, advise me on decorating my home and we would make fun of nasty people together. I imagined that is what gay men did. Yes, I know, that was at least cringy and quite awful. I didn't even realise it! When my son was 17 he came out, I explained my fantasy gay male friend and then I learnt how ridicilous I was, how wrong and that that was actually a prejudice I had without realising . . . "Mum, what is wrong with you? How can you possibly think all gay men are like that?" etc. He took me to a place called The Hang-Out 010. I met many different LGBTplus people there. I realised then that I barely knew anything about them, that I had believed the cliché characteristics they were given in the media and stories, and that they are just as different and diverse as hetero people. And that biographies aren't always accurate either btw.
Perhaps it's because they know what it's like to be different and not easily accepted, but I have been treated better by most LGBTplus people than by hetero people. Ethnically I have a different background and I never had a day in my life without being called names and told I didn't belong here, when growing up. Even now as an adult there are people who say these kinds of things. Most LGBTplus people however accept me as I am (clothes and all). With all the haters saying that LGBTplus people are a danger and negative influence to children, to society, etc I often found more humanity when I spent time with LGBTplus people than with hetero people. Or perhaps it seems like that because of the people in my life, I'm not sure.
Anyway, all these coming out stories are important because they help create understanding. Isn't it ridicilous that many of us know so little about LGBTplus people even though they have always been part of our world too?
so the gay characters weren't just being selected out for special one dimensional treatment.
