Based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali, Greg Berlanti‘s new film Love, Simon is the first ever major studio film aimed at teens to feature a same-sex romance.
It also features a diverse cast: Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why) and Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash) play the lead roles alongside Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) as Simon Spier, the closeted gay 16-year-old who falls in love via text with another male student at his high school.
The release has prompted some criticism, even from LGBTQ audiences, along the lines of “Do we really need this story in 2018?”
Here to offer a beautifully-worded argument that yes, indeed we do, is the Trevor Project’s Chief Growth Officer, Calvin Stowell, via Twitter:
How about we take this to the next level?
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1/ Bear with me, I’ve got something to say about @lovesimonmovie and some of the pushback I’ve seen on it from some LGBTQ adults. This is not an indictment on anyone, just felt it was important to share as someone who literally works in LGBTQ youth suicide prevention.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
2/ I’ve seen a lot of folks argue that it isn’t ‘queer enough’ or that it’s unnecessary in this day and age. And to be totally transparent, I might have argued the same before I took my current role at The Trevor Project.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
3/ I have been in my own incredibly culturally and socially gay bubble, and have been for over a decade now in NYC. That’s a massive privilege. Hell, I even get paid to be professionally gay. Most people can’t say the same.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
4/ But, then I started working here, and saw the hundreds of phone calls, chats and texts we get every single day from kids who want to come out but are absolutely terrified to do so, who have no one to turn to and just want someone to talk with.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
5/ What I really loved about Love, Simon is that he is conflicted about why he has a hard time coming out. There are other gay kids in his school, his parents are incredibly liberal and supportive of equality, but he still has gnawing anxiety about living his true identity.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
6/ I’ve seen the film 3 times now, and enjoy it more every single time. Every time I walk out of the theater all I can think of is “God damn. I wish this movie existed when I was a teenager.”
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
7/ I can’t imagine seeing this kind of story play out and what it would have meant as an awkward kid who had so many self-doubts about being true to myself. I was so terrified of rejection by the ones I loved, afraid to reveal my true self.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
8/ What’s special about this film is that it’s triumphant. So often (nearly always) LGBTQ stories are marked by tragedy: Loss of friends, family, home, health, or life.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
9/ These stories need to be told because our community is at disproportionate risk for woes, but god damn does it wear you down when that’s the only time you see yourself represented.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
10/ Love, Simon is a romcom, and it’s a gay one. At the end of every screening I’ve gone to people literally cheer and holler. It’s so nice to see a sweet, to the level of saccharine by the final scene, story centered around an awkward gay kid.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
11/ A line they keep using in advertising is ‘Everyone deserves a great love story.’ I absolutely love that. I hope this movie does well so more can be made, and all LGBTQ folks regardless of gender identities, sexualities and race get their great love story too.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
12/ I urge the adults who either are attempting to speak on behalf of teenagers or speaking over them to stop and actually listen to them, they might learn something.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
13/ I really loved the film. I’m grateful for @beckyalbertalli for creating the story. I’m grateful for @GBerlanti for leveraging his producing power to make it a reality. I’m thankful that a generation of kids will have something I never did. There’s something special about it.
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) March 20, 2018
Check out the trailer for Love, Simon below:
Lvng1Tor
I lived in Philly and NYC for over 20 years before returning to Grand Rapids, Michigan where I’m from and this guy has it 100% right! Since returning I took a job at the Grand Rapids Pride Center and I can tell you kids need to see films like this portray them in a positive and realistic life. Just because it isn’t your experience doesn’t mean it lacks validity. Living in the bigger cities we forget and turn a blind eye to everything that is happening especially in the more rural areas of the country. Now Hollywood needs to get it in gear and produce well made big budget films that represent the rest of our rainbow in all its beautiful colors, races, genders, and sexualities. This film will save lives and change hearts and minds. It is just the start though and one day we won’t need to call them gay or trans stories, they will just be human stories but that day is far off…it’ll happen but it’s not today.
MacAdvisor
I’d rather the kids saw better movies where the central gay character was not a sock puppet manipulated to advance the plot, but a character who acted like a real person with motivation and backstory. If we are going to wish, let’s wish for good stuff, not just good-enough stuff.
Lvng1Tor
Is that what you got from this film? OK. You do you. That is not what I got. But I do share your sentiment that we should expect quality, not just quantity.
JPDonahue
MacAdvisor: Then make something better.
GayEGO
I have always like guys since I was a baby in a crib as I could feel their presence.
I had a crush on a boy when I was 5, fooled around with several boys as a teenager. I even tried necking with girls, but my willy went to sleep as I had no inner/sexual connection to them. When I was in the Navy, I learned the world gay, met my lifetime partner of 56 years, got married in 2004, and we are both retired and living the American dream.