OPINION: Reaction to Stevens\u2019s tragic tribute to his late partner shows the nuance of queer life in the spotlight<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, beloved singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens released his 10th studio album, Javelin<\/em><\/a>, to much critical fanfare<\/a>. But Stevens\u2019s Instagram post<\/a> marking the album release got almost more attention than the music itself, as he seemingly confirmed his queerness publicly for the very first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis album is dedicated to the light of my life, my beloved partner and best friend Evans Richardson, who passed away in April. He was an absolute gem of a person, full of life, love, laughter, curiosity, integrity and joy,\u201d Stevens wrote, accompanying an image of Richardson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not a traditional \u201ccoming out\u201d by any means, but the message was certainly read as a coming out by the media. Us Weekly<\/em> <\/a>wrote: \u201cSufjan Stevens comes out, dedicates album to late partner,\u201d whereas Queerty<\/a><\/em> wrote: \u201cSufjan Stevens comes out in emotional note about new album dedicated to his late partner.\u201d PinkNews <\/a><\/em>opted for \u201cSufjan Stevens comes out with moving album dedication to \u2018beloved\u2019 late partner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n These headlines all say the same thing. But I think it\u2019s worth asking: is this actually a coming out? Stevens is an artist who\u2019s been embraced as queer by queer fans for decades. Are we doing a disservice to Stevens\u2019s life and grief by forcing this intimate tribute to his late partner into the coming out mould?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost people think they don\u2019t know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes,\u201d Eichberg said in a 1993 interview<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past 30 years, the landscape has certainly changed when it comes to coming out. More people are certainly aware of the queer and trans folks in their life. With one in five Gen Z Americans identifying as queer, it can often seem like coming out isn\u2019t that big of a deal anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many queer and trans folks these days, myself included, will point out that we\u2019re sort of always coming out\u2014transness is disclosed when you take off your shirt at the pool to show top surgery scars, queerness is revealed in holding a partner\u2019s hand in public. Thriving online communities have made space for young queer and trans people to not feel so alone, and to come out slowly. And broad representation in media means that we often don\u2019t have to explain the very concept of queerness or transness to loved ones\u2014that door is already partially open. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And broadly speaking, small acts of visible queer or transness are easier and more publicly accepted than they used to be (though many right-wing lawmakers seem hell-bent on rolling that acceptance back).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the personal disclosures and coming outs to loved ones, depending on how we feel they may be received, can still be big and scary and momentous, particularly if we\u2019re unsure of how those loved ones will respond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So while the overall landscape of coming out may have changed in recent decades, the concept of coming out and its place in queer and trans culture remains cemented, from average everyday folks like you and me, to the queer and trans celebrities we look to. A community under siege needs a flag to wave and flag bearers to carry the banner. And while politics can manifest in other ways, coming out still matters, and so does a day like today that acknowledges it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am grateful that we are no longer in a world where celebrities have to come out on the cover of TIME <\/em>magazine and say \u201cYep, I\u2019m gay!\u201d<\/a> But the big, momentous comings out of famous figures can be cathartic and inspiring\u2014I attribute a lot of my own trans journey to seeing Elliot Page speak so openly about his, for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The queer community collects famous queer people like Pok\u00e9mon cards, slotting them into our emotional binder to show off and say \u201cSee! One of us!\u201d to anyone who asks. Every time someone comes out, it\u2019s a story, whether it\u2019s a Big Brother UK<\/em> contestant sharing her trans identity with the house, or Stevens nodding to his queerness in an Instagram tribute to his late partner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And while what was once maliciously invasive speculation into the sexuality of celebrities has largely become less malicious in recent years\u2014tabloids don\u2019t treat being gay as the \u201cgotcha!\u201d it may have once been\u2014it\u2019s not necessarily become less invasive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Oct. 11, is National Coming Out Day. It\u2019s a day that queer and trans folks often take to mark the momentous occasion that coming out can be. Activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O\u2019Leary, who established the day in 1988, originally meant it as an extension of the mantra \u201cthe personal is political,\u201d a phrase that captures how homophobia and transphobia thrive in silence, that if friends and family knew that they had LGBTQ2S+ loved ones, they\u2019d be less likely to be homophobic or transphobic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n