I adored Heartstopper, but it hurts to see the young queer love I could never have
Heartstopper launched just five days ago, following Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring, two school boys who fall in love, overcoming their shame, fear, and bullies, proudly coming to terms with their own sexualities and becoming able to hold hands in the school corridors like all their other classmates fortunate enough to find their first teenage romance.Already its impact on LGBTQ+ audiences has been extraordinary.Just hours after its release, one teenager said they’d used the moment Nick came out as bisexual to his mother (played by Olivia Colman) to come out to their own family.Others said the scene, which sees Nick’s proud mother reach out her hand and tell her shaking son that she loves him, was the inspiration they needed to follow Nick’s lead.And whoever you are, there will be something life-changing to take from Heartstopper.I know that I’ll likely be joined by most LGBTQ+ people old enough to remember queuing up to buy Baby One More Time in thinking; ‘If only I’d had Heartstopper when I was 15.’Adapted from the series of graphic novels by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper is a story that embraces queerness like no other; it’s hope that all of us will be loved, with a clear message that we shouldn’t have to wait until we’ve flown the nest and found wherever we feel safe until we find the person who will love us back.But it’s not just the story I wish I’d had growing up, it’s the story of a reality which, like so many others, was never going to be available to me as a queer kid who felt unable to come out.
