Opinion: The recent outing of actor Kit Connor is part of a disturbing trend in which public figures are coerced to come out due to campaigns of online harassment.
———-
On Oct. 31, 18-year-old actor Kit Connor tweeted, “I’m bi. Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself.” This came after he experienced waves of speculation and harassment about his sexuality online. He became known for playing the role of Nick on the hit Netflix show “Heartstopper,” which is about a romance between two teenage boys who are coming of age and discovering themselves. His character in the show is bisexual.
Simon Scannell, a member of the LGBTQA3 organization on the University of Oregon’s campus, said that Connor’s character “was ideal bisexual representation.”
Connor’s role, as well as the show as a whole, had an incredibly positive impact on many of those who watched it. “Heartstopper” depicts the journey of teeangers trying to figure out their identities, which is shown to be a different path for each individual. Each personal journey demands the grace and patience of the people around them. As Connor himself stated, the people who harassed him to the point of forcibly coming out entirely missed the point of the show. It is shameful and ironic that a piece of media that held such positive connotations will now forever be tainted by the actions of bad actors online.
“I felt kind of ill,” Scannell said. “Having that [Heartstopper] be the backdrop and having people be so vile is disgusting.”
This is far from the first instance of public figures being harassed about their sexualities. Though, given Connor’s age and close connection with fans online, it is especially disturbing. While mainstream culture has gradually become more accepting of out queer people, it is still a large step to make and one that he wasn’t ready for. Having such a desire to know the sexuality of people in the public eye is reductive and invasive. It creates an atmosphere where peoples’ private lives are unjustly scrutinized and benign actions are questioned.
“Outing him took the power out of his hands for the rest of his life,” Scannell said.
It all began when Connor was seen holding hands with Maia Reficco, his co-star in the upcoming movie “A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea And Tomorrow” and was accused of queerbaiting. The term was originally coined to “describe the practice of enticing and luring an audience with the promise of queer content without any intention of acting on it.” Queerbaiting, once used exclusively for critique of fiction, is now being used as a catch-all phrase to tear down people who aren’t open with the public about their love lives. Not only is this brigading for the sake of “combatting queerbaiting” needlessly destructive, but also completely against what the LGBTQ+ community is supposed to stand for. Queer characters can be brought to life by actors who aren’t LGBTQ+ or openly LGBTQ+ because the most important part is the writing and sensitivity behind the role. The onus does not belong to the actors and their personal identities.
“This is not a reflection of who our community is or what we want it to be like,” Scannell said.
The series of events that led to the outing took place entirely online. This stresses the importance of building and maintaining in-person LGBTQ+ spaces. Also, it shows that the extent of entitlement people have towards the lives of those in the public eye is unsustainable. There needs to be clearer boundaries erected for the sake of all of those involved.
Outing is a horrifying ordeal to go through in any context. It is something many young queer people have to reckon with, and having it happen on the world stage is terrifying. Connor is only 18, the age of many first-year college students. Instead of being allowed to grow his career and protect his privacy, his life has been forever changed. Everyone must stand against what happened and do what’s possible to prevent anyone else from being put into such a devastating situation.
