NERD INITIATIVE

Growing up I moved around a lot. Unfortunately for me, every time it was always the same small closed-minded type town that we’d move to.

I would constantly get bullied because everyone around me always seemed to know I was gay before I even knew what gay was. Don’t get me wrong, ever since I was very young I’ve known that I’ve had an attraction to men, but whenever 7-year-old to 13-year-old me would think about a relationship, I could only see myself with a woman.

I think it largely has to do with the fact that there was no representation in movies, TV, or media, everywhere I’d see a couple it was always a heterosexual couple.

I didn’t know any gay people, (until I found out much later on that my uncle was) so I thought my attraction to men was just something wrong with me and it would eventually pass.

Spoiler warning, it didn’t pass.

As time went on, I started to see more representation of gayness in tv shows I watched like Kurt in Glee, Captain Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Lena/Stef in The Fosters.

This made me start to realize that maybe being gay wasn’t the problem, maybe it was everyone else.

I finally started to accept who I was, but while still living in a small community so it was tough as I was the first openly gay kid ever in my school.

As time went on I saw stars that I used to watch growing up come out like Garrett Clayton from Teen Beach Movie and Hayley Kiyoko from Lemonade Mouth. Finally, we moved to a more accepting and open-minded community for my last two years of high school and it was so great to finally not only come to terms with and accept who I was but embrace it.

Of course even today there are moments that I struggle, as I’m sure most of the queer community does too.

We have come a long way from where we once were even since I was a kid but we still have a long way to go. That’s why Universal Pictures’ newest Rom-com is so important.

Bros is the first ever gay rom-com by a major studio and it also has an all-LGBT principal cast. Ever since we got a trailer for this movie I have been very impatiently waiting for its release because this is exactly what I could’ve used when I was younger trying to figure out my sexuality, actually seeing it represented in pop culture.

I knew this movie was the real deal and breaking history for the community.

I was lucky enough to attend the LA premiere of the movie last week and it was the most amazing full-circle moment. I am from a small town in Wisconsin and only four years ago my city was voting to retract pride month just three months prior.

For me to be able to attend the premiere of the first gay rom-com after growing up in a place where the odds were always stacked against me was a dream come true.

I got to meet many of the people mentioned above that I grew up watching which helped me realize that I’m gay and that gay is okay.

It was such a surreal moment to be able to be in the same room as so many inspirational people not only in the media but in the LGBT community especially.

I think the most amazing part of the night was that there was something so special and heartwarming about watching this film in a room filled with people from the queer community.

You could almost feel the hearts of everyone finally breathing a breath of air because we finally have this; we are finally being represented by us for us, this was a huge moment.

This was basically the Marvel movie experience for the gays; we packed in that theater shoulder to shoulder, laughed, cried, and let out screams, it was an emotional rollercoaster that I will remember for years to come.

This movie truly shows what gay life is like; how we feel, how we date, how we socialize, it was finally something real and not the stereotypical gay movie. While of course there are a lot of Hollywoodized things in the movie and it may have gone a little too long in my opinion, the movie itself is so important.

It is paving the way for more films like this and hopefully more acceptance by the community. The day Bros came out there was a trailer released for another Gay rom-com coming out this winter starring Jim Parsons called “Spoiler Alert.”

This proves that this is history in the making and it’s so easy to be a part of it by going to your local theater and supporting Bros.

Right now it is not doing that hot at the box office despite the great reactions. You don’t have to be gay to see it, the community needs the support of all its straight Allies just as much as it needs the support of its own!

It’s so important for the younger people who may struggle to find themselves to have this representation. Bros is now in theaters so “come out” to theaters with a big group of friends and see the rom-com of the year!