01.07 / 12:19
Pride
Glee
Towie’s Demi Sims: Glee’s Santana and Brittany were my Heartstopper: ‘It made me feel more accepted’
In 2022, Heartstopper arrived on Netflix, and everything changed.It was an absolute gift for LGBTQ+ teens and young people, centering around two teenage boys who figure out their feelings for each other, without any death, disaster or gratuitous cruelty.For LGBTQ+ people who had grown up before, positive representation of same-sex couples were rare – but they did exist, and they were vital.As Pride month comes to a close, Metro.co.uk are catching up with LGBTQ+ people about the on-screen romances that meant everything to them growing up.We’ve had Skins’ Emily and Naomi, Six Feet Under’s Keith and David, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Willow and Tara.Today we speak to The Only Way Is Essex star Demi Sims, who came out as bisexual at 19 and has been open, honest and unapologetic about her sexuality since.Demi has offered brilliant bisexual representation as fans watched her date and fall in love with girls on reality TV, including on Celebs Go Dating and Eating With My Ex.Demi, 25, didn’t have Heartstopper as a closeted teenager, but she did have something else: Santana and Brittany in Glee.They began as friends, moving on to friends with benefits before starting a proper romantic relationship before, finally, getting married in a double same-sex wedding alongside Kurt and Blaine.The marriage episode aired in February 2015 – before same-sex marriage was even legal in the United States.Demi found it ‘so important’ to find a show where ‘love is love no matter what gender’Reality star Demi discovered Glee when she was ‘so young’, and was entranced by the way it portrayed same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ characters, particularly Santana and Brittany.‘When I was a teenager and I wasn’t out yet, watching that was like the first gay,
