It may feel like we’re reliving the ’90s — Beauty and the Beast, Pennywise, Republicans tearing each other out of the frame about gay marriage — but it is actually two entire decades later and a person no longer has to come out on the cover of Time magazine talking about I’M GAY if they’re not straight. Perhaps you’re, say, a beloved young actress and are thinking that you’re maybe one of the 20 percent of Millennials who identify as LGBTQ. If you find yourself in that situation, you might approach the subject of queerness by nudging up against it on social media. No labels. No declarations. Leaning gently. Just enough.
It looks like that’s what Stranger Things‘ Shannon Purser did yesterday.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/851934358516748289
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/851934909086224384
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/851936049567760387
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/851936287506432000
She’s not saying she’s queer, but she’s saying her sexuality doesn’t exactly fit in with the teachings of her faith, which seems queer, and is something so many of us (myself included!) have spent a long time working through in our gay ol’ lives. I wrote about 650,000 words of fan fiction where I made every character into a Christian with very religious parents when I was coming out, for example. Shannon Purser seems to be just going about her cool chill life hanging out in the original TV Batmobile (!!!) and occasionally thinking it through out loud on Twitter.
It looks like she’s doing the same thing we all did when we were figuring out what the heck with our own queerness: she’s studying the classics. Earlier this year she watched “San Junipero” and had a feeling about Yorkie, the shy burgeoning queer gal with a pal whose hyper-religious parents ruled her thought processes about life and love, and that feeling was: I feel ya, Yorkie.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/800897004410904576
Also, obviously: Rent.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/850209747609329666
Also also, obviously: Female Villains.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/851493709376081922
Also also also, obviously: Shipping Harry and Draco.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/820037284095524865
Every mainstream magazine and entertainment website and gossip blog ran with this story today, but if we’re being very honest with ourselves we know it’s Autostraddle where Shannon Purser is probably going to end up. (Hi, Mara Wilson!) So, Shannon, listen: Are you queer? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s not the ’90s, like I said. Take your time figuring it out. We’ll be here when you do.
P.S. Watch Carol.
https://twitter.com/shannonpurser/status/820399371116314624
I love this.
Was it just me, or was Barb super queer?
It wasn’t just you! She was SUPER queer and there were people talking about it online somewhere, might even have been here.
she was! i was like, why are all the gay children being targeted by this demogorgon? is the demogorgon mike pence?
This would explain so much.
COMMENT AWARD
“Needs More Gay” on YouTube did a video about queerness in Stranger Things which I strongly recommend! I really like his reading of The Upsidedown as a metaphor for the closet.
#Justice for Barb …
that Demogorgon, man
Heather! Yes! Quality reporting.
… I read these and originally thought she was coming out as HAVING a sexuality, as in “I expereince sexual desire”. Especially since she wrote “Especially trying to come to terms with it and my faith”, since IMHO that’s code for coming from a deeply conservative background.
But maybe her being gay/bi makes more sense?
‘P.S. Watch Carol.’
So you want to bore her to death and make her think all lesbians wear stupid hats, great advice Heather.
And fur coats. And forget gloves. Don’t forget to forget the glove
Yes! How could I forget the clandestine glove lunches?
We might be of wildly different opinion regarding that movie, but I just wanted to mention that lesbians do, actually, have an uncanny tendency for weird hats.
When I finally figured out I was gay, one of my first thoughts was “Well, I guess that explains all the hats.”
^ comment award plz
That’s how you can tell immediately I’m bi rather than a lesbian. I’ve never figured out the hats.
That must be my giveaway. Thanks for shedding light on that for me, Ten. :D
Heather I love you.
Shannon: Buffy.
HI SHANNON
Even tho Heather is my idol forever and ever always, maybe don’t watch Carol. If you’re like me, the fact that her daughter Rindy basically gets taken from her will make you sadder than any happy ending love story ever could.