theclaravoyant:

Things I Love About the Way They’re Handling Alex Coming Out:

• she didn’t “always know”

• she’s an established adult, rather than a teen or young adult in the socially acceptable ~identity searching~ phase

• the story is apparently being managed by lgb+ people (!! apparently a gay man and a lesbian I think? so we’re in good hands)

• the Coming Out story happened alongside/following the introduction of a character who was stable & at peace with her identity, so we got both!

• a white lesbian is following in the footsteps of & taking cues & advice from a lesbian of colour

• the central relationship around which this is built, and currently the only ‘viable’ one, is interracial

• Alex experiences heteronormativity & possibly internalised homophobia, rather than existing in a world where both have miraculously disappeared

• I find the heteronormativity part especially interesting, personally, because as someone who hasn’t faced a great deal of aggressive phobia personally in my life (other than through politics), it’s still a challenge 

• Part of my interest in this was she didn’t express much if any direct concern or fear about what others might think, it was a very introspection-centric coming out story.

• & even though she kinda knows it’ll all be okay and people will love her anyway and she’s relatively confident in herself, she’s still kinda scared and shy about it; it’s not one or the other and I found that really authentic to my experience