Simms LGBT Blog : February 2016

Hollyoaks Jasmine/Jason Costello

Jasmine Costello or at least that's what we first know her as, is a somewhat awkward teenage girl who is new to Hollyoaks and is clearly a tomboy but her Mother is trying to encourage her to be more feminine like her older sister rather than like her twin brother Seth and older brother Riley. The thing is Jasmine is not a tomboy nor is she trying to be like her brothers she is instead trying to be like her true self, the one she feels she is forced to hide as she is trapped in the wrong body. Jasmine feels trapped in all senses as she is unable to confide in anyone, she is not able to be her true self and she is constantly being encouraged to wear make-up and tight fitting clothing by her Mother rather than the baggy-ish clothes she constantly wears. Jasmine finally makes a friend in Bart McQueen another teenager within town, the two strike up an unlikely friendship and soon become thick as thieves. The only issue is that Bart is more than happy to be Jasmine's friend but he'd rather be her

boyfriend. Initially Jasmine is horrified by the idea as it's not what she wants or who she is especially as Bart tries to be publicly intimate with her with holding hands and kissing but she soon succumbs to the idea as A) it annoys her father and B) her Mother nags her less as she sees it as her being slightly more feminine. However when Bart wants to go further in their relationship Jasmine agrees to it but it is incredibly difficult for her as she is not comfortable with her body, seeing it naked, letting another person see her naked or the act of sex unless it's as what is originally seen as her alter ego Jason. The ironic thing is Jasmine frequently goes out as Jason but since she is new to town no-one seems to have put together that the two resemble one another. Jasmine or should I say Jason sneaks out one night to go to a house party at the McQueen's that's been thrown by Bart unbeknownst to his Auntie Myra, Jason ends up in a lip lock with Anita during a game of spin the bottle.

Anita and Jason are left alone in one of the bedrooms in the house where they openly talk and get to know one another on what Jason assumes as a friendly basis as neither of them seem to be into mingling with their peers at the party. It seems like a friendship is blossoming however Anita thinks she's found herself a cute/sweet and rather charming boyfriend. Initially things seem to be running smoothly for Anita especially when she runs into Jason in town where she promptly kisses him and engages him in a brief conversation. The trouble between Anita and Jason or should I say Jasmine occurs when she tries to get his number from Jasmine but she brushes her off saying Jason has a girlfriend and he's not that great of a guy. Anita instead gets the number off of someone else and calls it when in the vicinity of Jasmine to her horror it's Jasmine's phone that starts ringing and she puts two and two together realizing that that is why she thought she knew Jasmine before they had formally met because they had already met indirectly. Anita turns out to be a good confidant for Jason someone he can talk to and really let know how he feels as he definitely can not confide in his family and he doesn't feel comfortable talking about it with his twin brother as he knows he will not understand. Anita understands all of this as she is dealing with her own demons but she reassures Jason that he should let someone know how he feels, who he is, otherwise he's just hurting himself in the long run. A problem occurs when a young girl at school finds out that Jasmine is Jason and begins to blackmail him when he resists her advances. The young girl believes that Jason is transgender but straight so she thinks they can date and he can be her 'beard' but Jason soon declines the offer and things turn nasty for a period. Jason initially only confides in his older sister who doesn't really understand but accepts it as she loves her younger sibling but she warns Jason that their Father will never understand it so for the time being just continue leading the double life.

Eventually it all comes to light and Jason has a rough time both at school and at home, he's being bullied and ostracized at school by his peers especially his so called friend Bart and his own twin brother Seth and his family have practically disowned him thinking that what he is doing is wrong/not normal. His Mother Heidi even goes to the extreme of getting Jason counseling in hopes that it will make him 'normal' again and that she will soon have her daughter back rather than her so called son. Little does Heidi know that going to counseling is actually making Jason feel more at ease with being transgender as he is now around other transgender teens so he has a support system who not only understand him but are also going through the same thoughts, feelings and emotions as him. As well as he now has the means of getting hormone blockers so that he does not have to witness his body go through puberty as a female when he is most definitely a male. The only issue that arises there is that he needs his parents consent as he is young, so will need his parents to sign off on it.

With all the trial and tribulations Jason goes through he is eventually accepted by his family and his best friend Bart. Although it seems to be harder between him and Bart as even though Jason is a gay transgender man, Bart is a straight man who is hoping he will one day reconcile with his ex-girlfriend Jasmine but in the end he accepts that Jasmine is long gone and his feelings for Jason will eventually just become friendly ones. Before they reached that understanding though the bond/love between the two young men was very strong and the lines were often getting blurred even when Bart was in a relationship. They both knew they would always be each others first love but that it was never meant to be as Bart wanted a girlfriend and Jason obviously could never be that (a near death experience and being held hostage can do that to you).
The gender dysphoria was handed really well, the story line, behavior, actions of the character seemed so life like and believable. It opened peoples eyes to what transgender men and women go through everyday and the hardships that they go through every day whether it's from peers at work/school or their very own family. That body dysphoria is a condition that isn't always understand by others and can often be dismissed. With Jason Costello's story line it may have helped a family member with a relative who is transgender or at least opened their eyes to what they deal with everyday.

Positive impact of Teenage LGBT Representation on Television Spoilers Alert

"Tonight was different. Tonight I was living the dream. I was buying my girlfriend a drink and nothing could stop me." Kim

'Sugar Rush' was the first open lesbian/bisexual teen show I saw on television for two reasons obviously!! First one being Lenora Crichlow (yep first lesbian crush) second being it was a show kind of expressing how I felt about girls. I'd often heard about 'The L Word' but it came on too late and it was far too graphic for teenage me who blushed at everything and probably would have been accused of watching porn (not really a show that a teenager wants to be caught watching by their parents). 'Sugar Rush' came on once a week(could watch the next episode on E4 which I did but then you were constantly a week ahead) and you were lead through the confused thoughts and feeling of Kim as she tried to restrain herself from both admitting and confiding in her best friend Sugar that she is a lesbian and in love with her. Kim eventually falls out of the closet is the best way to describe it, initially she's horrified but she soon accepts it and tries to date someone only to be pulled back in by Sugar at the last minute. These two sort of have a brief happily ever after but it is soon shattered when Sugar is arrested. This show not only made me feel somewhat normal but it also reassured me that being a girl who was interested in girls was not an issue, you just had to be brave enough to come out and tell your friends and family in your own time. Maybe they'll accept it maybe they won't but as long as your open with yourself you'll be fine. However the show also conjured up a few theories...was Sugar in fact in love with Kim too but afraid of her feelings (in that are some girls too shy to come out due to various different reasons but will come out in their own time?) Was Sugar afraid of her feelings for Kim and so went on a guy rampage and shared all the explicit details with Kim to gage her reaction to it to see if she too is interested in Sugar in the same way? Was it really just a one off between the two girls? A way of a sweet goodbye before their actions caught up with them?
Sugar Rush also showed me that there are children out there with parents of the same sex who are treated just the same as of that of a child with heterosexual parents. Tom, Kim's next door neighbor has two Dad's. When you watched the interaction between Tom and one of his Dad's after he is rejected by Kim who finally admits that she is a lesbian, you realize that it mirrors that of any other Dad. His reaction to his son isn't any different just because he is gay. It's blatantly obvious that the love between them is also the same, the only difference is that Tom feels he has to make it known that just because his Dad's are gay does not automatically mean he is gay. Which I now find very interesting as it's like the show was trying to show then that gay parents does not = gay children!!!

Ashley Davies: "Whatever people consider to be normal, it never is."

'South of Nowhere' yet another show based around teenage sexuality and high school, the complete opposite from 'Sugar Rush' as the teens in this show were somewhat more open and accepting of their sexuality (as well as me yet again fancying the main characters Spencer and Ashley, thankfully when I got caught watching this show since it was so innocent there were very few questions ). What I took from this show is that it's okay not to fit in, to not be the same as your friends, to not want the same things. Just be true to yourself and in time if people really love and care for you they will eventually see things your way or leave your life as they never really loved you in the first place. Ashley showed me that you didn't need anyone's acceptance to be who you are, as her mother wasn't exactly maternal nor was she impressed that her only daughter/child was bisexual or maybe in fact a lesbian. That true friends accept you no matter what the past holds (Aidan was always there when Ashley needed him partially because he is in love with her and because he knows she has a good heart so he doesn't want anyone to take advantage of her.) That you should never give up on your one true love, it takes love, understanding and patience for a relationship to work. You may go through your ups and downs, break ups but.....if you're meant to be with your one true love then nothing will stop you from being together. Patience is they key.

LGBT Community and whether they should have families?!?!

"You wanna have kids? But you're gay. It's not possible."

At work I got into a somewhat heated conversation with a co-worker about whether or not people within the LGBT community should be allowed to have/foster or adopt children. What started off as a general conversation soon took a veer down a homophobic, prejudice and bigoted road. Now I am by no means someone who thinks that everyone should agree with my opinion on the subject. However I do think you sometimes need to take into consideration who you are talking to before you spout off such comments as...

"Children are impressionable, if they are raised by two parents of the same sex they will think it is right. I'd rather a child have a Mum and a Dad or just a more or just a Dad....but not two Mums or two Dads."

So let me get this straight a child or children who could have a loving home with a gay couple or a lesbian couple should be penalized and left in a care home as living with a gay or lesbian couple will make them gay? There's so many questions to that one question alone

How does your parent's sexuality influence yours? Did it influence your sexuality?!
What kind of STUPID are you to believe that children can't receive the same sort of love, care and security from parents of the same sex? Did you experience it to know what to expect from it?
When was it EVER proven that having parents of the same sex can impact your life negatively? Did you go to school and see how it negatively impacted someone? Was it you?!
Why are you trying to convince someone who is a part of the LGBT community of your bigoted thoughts and opinions?

The issue is when arguing with some one that is that close-minded you might as well just be arguing with a brick wall. He has the audacity to tell me that children need the stability of a mother and a father as it's the right thing to do, it's the only way the reproductive system works, how the bible doesn't agree with it. At that point I wanted to point out the other things that the bible says is wrong that people do everyday for instance the fact that he lives with his girlfriend and they are not yet married, but that seemed irrelevant as all this so called 'Saint' can see is that what my future may hold is always going to be wrong as I chose to be a lesbian and live that lifestyle and that I should not impose that on a child or children who don't have a choice in the matter. I'd like him to see teenage me and see when she chose to be a lesbian and how it must have been such an easy decision that I came flaunting out of the closet singing "I'm coming out, I want the world to know. Got to let it show." When the reality is that most if not all lesbian/gay/bi/transgender people have a hard time coming out and that for everyone of us that comes out there are a few who then are beaten up, tortured, killed or worse still end up committing suicide.

"You chose to be gay, children would not chose to have two Mums or two Dads. It's not right."

Obviously my counterargument was that straight people have gay children all the time, how comes the 'heterosexual family unit' didn't influence the children into being straight and leading a 'normal heterosexual life' with 2.5 children? I myself am from a family with both a Mother and Father yet out of the three children they have I am a lesbian, clearly my parents must not have influenced me as much as they did my older sister and younger brother. Let me just point out to people with their close minded views if you're not LGBT tolerant or accepting then when voicing such hurtful and ludicrous comments you should first think 'Are they gonna understand it from my bigoted point of view?' Since you are clearly talking to a female who you know full well is a lesbian who intends on having children with her girlfriend who is to be her future wife you should probably not engage the conversation any further you should instead agree to disagree. Nope in 2016 where marriage is legal both for gay and straight couples you instead want to try argue your case. The icing on the cake however is

when others were brought into the discussion and everyone seemed to be in favor of it as their best friend, sister, brother, cousin is in a same sex relationship and bringing up children who see it as nothing different to the children who have a Mother and a Father. He seems to have missed all the straight couples who have children that they put up for adoption as they don't want them, or have abortions as a form of contraception. Gay and lesbian couples never accidentally have children so for them to go through IVF treatment, surrogacy or adoption means they are in it for the long haul, every birthday, school event and graduation just as the straight couples who love and want the best for their children.
In this day and age where same sex parents is even fully recognized on television without it seeming as an insult to the LGBT community just shows how far the generations have come and how they have learnt to become more accepting rather than just hate something they do not understand. The television show The Foster's features two Mum's bringing up both biological and adopted children, nowhere does any of the children resent the fact that they have two mum rather than a mother and father instead they acknowledge that when they are scared, sad, happy, excited, lost it's there two Mums they can rely on.

"DNA doesn't make a family, love does" Lena Foster, The Fosters.

Even before gay marriage was legalized the television was portraying what would eventually be reality, through Susan and Carol getting married on 'Friends', Sophie and Sian being engaged and almost married on 'Coronation Street', Mitchell and Cameron both married and fathers to their precious adopted daughter Lily on 'Modern Family'. We the viewing audience also witnessed Spencer and Ashley 'South of Nowhere' go through all kind of hardships to finally end up together with the support of both of their families but

not without the ridiculous prejudices of some of their parents first. They also went through ridiculous measure to even air some of the scenes as a television couple, the whole not being to lie on a bed together in a loving embrace or anything sexual for that matter as they were a couple of the same sex, whereas now we see lesbians/gay men cuddled up under the sheets together. Both with 'South of Nowhere' and 'Coronation Street' the two young teenage lesbian couples were only allowed to be intimate with one another in ways that would not always involve the usual kissing and cuddling instead they had to convey their love through, hugs, hand holding, longing looks. So not only are you trying to portray that you may have just realized that you're gay/lesbian you're also not meant to show it through kisses as it may offend some people viewing it. So with Sian and Sophie they were only able to kiss and what not in episodes that aired after 8.00 p.m whilst the straight teen couples in the show could kiss and what not during any of the episodes, which seemed to anger and confuse some of the staff but there was nothing they could do about it at the time.
We the viewing audience also witnessed through 'The L Word' not only what would have been a lesbian wedding between Shane and Carmen but also a legalized lesbian adoption with Bette and

Tina being the adoptive Mums to their daughter Angelica. Now we see a vast amount of celebrities having children or fostering/adopting children. So far none of the children of same sex parents have been treated any differently to how the children with a Mum and Dad are treated. Also from what is portrayed through both the media and social media they do all the same things and love their children just as much as any other set of parents do. The likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Elton John, Sara Gilbert just go to show how much love and joy they share with their children who seem to unfazed by the fact that they have gay or lesbian parents as it's the norm to them and not something that can or will influence them into being either gay or straight in the future.