Why LGBT representation in pop culture matters

Remember that moment when Korra and Asami kissed? Remember swooning to Hayley Kiyoko’s “Girls Like Girls”? Cheering for Queer Eye? Crying over Moonlight or Love, Simon?

Rare moments in pop culture allow LGBT people to see themselves fully, such as in Tangerine or Sense8, but in other moments we learn to catch glimpses of ourselves, like when Magnus and Alec fell in love on Shadowhunters or Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer” emotion picture. These moments are few and far between, and sometimes we invent them: there’s a queerness to certain pop culture icons that are never fleshed out even as others live the lives we wish we could.

This is a space where pop culture becomes a mirror and delivers with it a reckoning of who we really are. This is a space for People Like Me.

People Like Me

Natalie Wee is a writer and community-builder of Peranakan descent.

Keep Reading

Eve Lindley from behind in a cowboy hat, blue button up, jeans and a brown leather belt riding a horse. She has long brown hair and looks over her shoulder.

‘National Anthem’ is a breakout role for Eve Lindley’s free-spirited cowgirl

The trans actress says the queer rodeo film gave her space to shape new dimensions of herself 

‘Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. The World’ returns for Season 2—in the shadow of ‘All Stars 9’ and ‘Global All Stars’

Can a cast stacked with “Drag Race” veterans help this season stand out?

7 queer and trans storylines to watch at the 2024 Paris Olympics

From Nikki Hiltz to the Olympics’ first openly gay male judo competitor

In ‘The Default World,’ Naomi Kanakia skewers the hypocrisy of progressive rich kids

REVIEW: The novel is scathingly funny, painfully realistic and relentlessly critical in its view of the world