Love, Simon is the first film by a major studio depicting a gay teen. The theater was packed with people who cheered and clapped when the film reached its climax. Director Greg Berlanti was adamant that the sexuality of the film’s protagonist was central to the storyline of the film. In today’s day and age we are seeing an increase of LGBTQ+ in the media, TV shows, books, and films. This film is based on the book by Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which was published in 2015.

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Simon Spier is just like you and me, except he has been keeping his sexual identity a secret from his friends and family. However, when Simon is approached by a peer who has read Simon’s emails to Blue, an anonymous student that Simon has been talking to, he finds himself being blackmailed. Simon is not just worried about coming out, he is worried about Blue’s identity being revealed. If the emails are posted on the school’s unofficial gossip blog, creeksecrets, Blue may never speak to Simon again.

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The film follows Simon as he lives out his senior year of high school with his friends, going to school, participating in the school play, and going to parties with his friends, all the while coming to terms with his sexuality. Simon finds himself inspired by Blue posting to creeksecrets that he appears just like everyone else from the outside, except he is keeping the fact that he is gay a secret. Blue and Simon begin sending corresponding emails that bring them to come out to their families, friends, and eventually their peers.

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No one can deny the reception that the film has had on Twitter of people feeling inspired to come out thanks to the film. Even the star, Nick Robinson, reveals that his brother came out during the filmmaking of the movie. It is bringing families closer together and making teens and families realize that their voice matters and that they should not be seen differently because of their sexuality. Even people in the post-coming-out stage feel empowered to see stories with protagonists like themselves on the big screen. The more representation the queer community gets, we can hope that young people will feel less stigmatized for their sexualities.

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Love, Simon brings attention to the fact that we are still living in a heteronormative world. Heterosexuality is the default and homosexuality is seen as the “Other.” There is a lot of anxiety around the thought of coming out for young people. We may live in a digital age where it is easier than ever to reach out and connect with others like us, it is still the responsibility of kids to “come out.” However, the film pokes fun at the thought of the process of coming out with a scene that depicts the absurdity of someone who is heterosexual coming out to their families. This film shows us that our society has made progress, but there is still a long way to go.

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Furthermore, audiences should see Love, Simon as the beginning of more normalized representations of people of other sexualities. I think what we should begin asking ourselves are where are the representations that normalize lesbian relationships, bisexuality, pansexuality, asexuality. While we are seeing more mainstream representation of non-heterosexual relationships, we need to begin to give other stories the same amount of attention in order to normalize other sexualities.