“I am the ‘token gay friend'”

Similar to Ruechel, sophomore Jordan Watt came out as a young teenager. He first told his parents at 13. Coming out can seem terrifying no matter what the circumstances are.

“I was anxious because I grew up in a Christian conservative family. When I told them, they were surprised, and it took them a while to get used to, but they told me it doesn’t matter and that they love me. The day after I told them, it was very weird to talk to them, but I felt a lot less stressed. From then on it has been a lot easier to tell people,” Watt said.

Homosexuality stereotypes remain common in television and movies. Many gay characters appear extremely flamboyant, fashionable, or just serve as a girl’s best friend.  This often impacts the way people treat a gay person.

“I am the ‘token gay friend’ for some people, and they won’t shut up about how I’m gay. Like yeah, I get it if it’s relevant to the conversation, but I talk to some people who won’t stop mentioning it. I hate it because I am disregarded as a human being. Also, if anybody is extremely flamboyant, fashionable, or a girl’s best friend, they are devalued even more by the straight community for fitting the stereotype and the LGBTQIA+ community for enforcing the stereotypes,” said Watt.

The media plays a bigger role in how people react to someone coming out than most people realize: “It is the norm in the media to be straight. The only queer kids portrayed occasionally are usually skinny white gay guys, which is good for me, but not for anybody else who is [transgender], [bisexual], [pansexual], [polysexual], etc,” Watt said.

When viewers constantly see something on television, it becomes hard to believe that it might not encompass the whole truth. Many more sexual orientations beyond just gay and straight exist, but they often get overlooked.

“I know people who are bisexual and asexual, and people often ignore their sexuality because they think it is made up to seek attention. Then, they are labeled as gay or straight because ‘those are the only two sexual orientations’,” Watt said.

Luckily for Watt, he received mainly a positive reaction when he came out. People started to become more open with him.

“They seemed to trust me a lot more because I was honest with them,” said Watt. Of course, not everything will be positive. “Lots of people have been very accepting. At the same time I still have to tell some people and I have had to detach myself from toxic people,” said Watt.